After much hemming and hawing and having the equipment around for a while, I've finally begun making Platinum/Palladium (Pt/Pd) prints, about a dozen over the l ast two weeks of pretty intensive printing, from 8X10 and 12X20 in camera negs, using the traditional developing out process and not POP/Ziatypes. I've really been very excited and drawn in by the whole process, the hand-coating, the degre e of control of contrast and color, the relative ease of printing negs with a ve ry broad tonal range that were painful or impossible in silver, the warmth of th e image and the ability to render with great subtlety and force values at the ve ry lightest end of the scale. All the stuff that everybody else likes, I guess! It seems that much of silver printing involves various tricks at the time of s hooting/processing (eg the Zone System) or printing (dodging, burning, VC papers , etc)to get around the fact that our eyes can easaily take in a brightness rang e of a dozen or two stops (I should know the exaxct #: I'm an ophthalmologist!) , but silver papers can only print a fraction of this. Pt/Pd accomodates so muc h of a broader range that I feel I can really focus more on the presentation of the image and less on technical "tricks" like dodging and burning, which can be maddeningly difficult to repeat.
I know there are a number of people following this site who have extensive exper ience with Pt/Pd (Carl Weese comes immediately to mind). Those of you with expe rience, what appeals, or doesn't appeal, to you about Pt/Pd? (you can leave $ an d time out for the minute, just talking about the results and one's control over them, or any other subjective aspect you'd like to comment on) Do you tend to do most of your work in silver or Pt/Pd? Do you prefer Ziatype or developing ou t processes, and why? When will you go for Pt/Pd and when for silver, if you us e both? I guess I'm curious to elicit people's subjective feelings about the Pt /Pd process and its place in their work.
Finally, I'm not looking to Pt/Pd as a panacea, or a "fix" for work I'm unsatisf ied with. I've actually been happier than ever with my silver prints recently, but had always been curious about the Pt/Pd process and just found time recently to take the plunge. I think I may be hooked!
I have read Carl Weese's and Dick Arentz's books, by the way, and several other general refs on Alt process, and have spent some time on the B+S alt process ser ver, though not actively posted there.
Thanks for your thoughts, and Happy Holidays!
Nathan
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