Need Help with Platinum/Palladium Print

[Dankinnane]

Hi, I'm hoping someone could give me notes on my Pt/Pd print. I'm having difficulty figuring out what I might be doing wrong.

After following users' advice on the forum, I left my paper in a humidity-controlled room for about an hour or so and bought a Richeson brush. I also followed Bostick and Sullivan's advice on 20 drops of Pd, 20 drops Fox, and 5 drops Pt for an 8x10 print. My exposure times were 15 minutes. My coated paper and negative were about 2" from my UV lights.

After all of that, my prints still end up washed out. The thing I can't figure out is that the black brush strokes on the border seem dark, (could maybe be darker, not sure) but the shadows in the image are still very light and washed out. So it seems to me that my exposure time is right, but there might be something wrong with my digital negative.

Please have a look. Grateful for any advice!

[Alan9940]

Lots of variables involved here, but I'll take a stab at it...

In general, the print looks under-exposed; I would expect the border area around the image to go black because it's probably clear film there. Since the blacks around the image area don't looked solarized, I doubt your exposure was too long. That said, however, I've been printing pt/pd prints for years from digital negatives and my exposures are no where near 15 mins. In fact, exposure for my pt/pd prints from in-camera negatives runs about 12 mins. And, in my experience my in-camera negatives have always required quite a bit more exposure vs my digital negs.

How old is your FO? What paper are you printing on? Did you use Tween? How much did you brush the emulsion? I ask these questions because your coating may have sunk too far into the paper leading to the washed out result. How was the negative made? Did you test for a standard printing time?

[Vaughn]

If the paper is over-sized and/or if one used a hair drier to dry the freshly applied platinum/palladium solution too soon, then one can have the situation where much of the pt/pd solution dried on the surface of the paper where it can float off during development.

This was an early mistake of mine. I noticed the issue when I saw a lot of exposed platinum and palladium (dark particles) were coming off the paper in the developer -- instead of being held on to by the paper fibers. I found it best to let the paper air dry instead (w/ fan).

Was your 5 drops of platinum in the form of Na2?

[bob carnie]

I. would be interested in what. the humidity level of the drying room is where you put the coated paper?

[Dankinnane]

Thanks for all the responses! I'll try to answer everyone's questions.

- My FO was purchased from Bostick and Sullivan back in Dec. So about 4 months old.
- I'm printing on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
- I did not use tween
- I brushed the emulsion until there were no more pools of emulsion. So pretty much until it soaked in completely. That's interesting to hear that it's not supposed to sink in too far. How would I know that it's sunk in too far into the paper?
- The negative was prepared in Photoshop using Bostick and Sullivan's advice on their website and then printed onto Pictorico Pro Ultra Premium OHP transparency film.
- I did not test for standard printing time. How much emulsion should be used to test?
- Yes, I used a hair dryer to dry the coated paper quickly. I understood this was OK, but apparently not?
- Yes it was Na2
- For the humidity I put a humidifier into a small bathroom and closed the door. I understand the humidity should be around 50% but I watched a printer on youtube who left his humidifier on in a room with his paper what seemed to be all night long. So I assumed it took a long time for the paper to reach the right humidity level. I did not have a lot of time to wait, so put my humidifier on high and after an hour I checked my hygrometer and it was around 80%.

Thank you all for taking the time to help me! I really appreciate it.

[bob carnie]

The first thing I would do at this point is to check that you are getting good negatives... download a 21 step wedge and print this on your emulsion once you get 21 good steps that are corresponding in a linear way then
you have your starting point.

It sounds like you have plenty of humidity, if the room is too dry and the paper dry the emulsion will sink to the bottom of the paper and your prints will be gritty and light.

If you prefer there are people that will help you remotely calibrating your negative like Richard Boutwell. I use his program with a buddy in New York who creates the curve that I use.
Sometimes this is all you need to help you get in a good working ball park and not be wasting precious metal.

Also you should not saturate the emulsion but rather use just enough to get an even coating, and in my world I GLIDE the emulsion on rather than BRUSH the emulsion into the paper, with the right humidity (50% in my space) the emulsion will naturally sink into a proper place , to heavy of brushing can be destructive I have found.

good luck
Bob

[Alan9940]

Bob is the expert here and I certainly agree with all his good points.

Your FO should be good; stored properly it will generally last about one year, but I mix it fresh from powder about every 6 months. I and a lot of printers I know use Tween with HPR paper. If you follow Bob's tip on the brushing, it will help you apply a smooth coating. FWIW, I use Richard Boutwell's program to calibrate my digital negatives for pt/pd printing and I've always been pleased with the results. As an academic exercise in the recent past, I tried calibrating using the EDN website (used by B&S), but was not happy with the results. That's not to say it's not a good program, rather it just didn't work for me.

Good luck! Make sure you have your lucky tee on when printing and you should be good!

[Fred L]

Can't add much more than what Bob and others have mentioned. fwiw, I believe your issue is likely not enough exposure. Having said that, 15 minutes *shld* enough based on a colleague's times with digital negatives so guess more testing is in order.

As a comparison, my 7x17 in camera negatives, expired HP5, processed in Pyrocat, will run around 45+ minutes., Would love to get an led exposure unit like Bob has, to cut the times down dramatically.

lastly, after Bob mentioned this previously, I now try to glide (or float) the solution onto the paper (Revere Platinum) but I use Kobayashi-san's hake brushes.

[Dankinnane]

Thank you all for the great advice! I'm excited to take this new knowledge and put it into practice.

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions!

[Dankinnane]

I just thought of another thing: Bostick and Sullivan's offers an ICC printer profile for printing digital negatives. I have not used it yet but I wonder if that will make a difference.