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Platinum/Palladium prints
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:56 am    Post subject: Platinum/Palladium prints Reply with quote

The time has come for me to step ahead in my Alternative Photography journey. After 2 years of experience with cheaper processes I decided to start printing in Platinum and Palladium, the most exquisite (and expensive) photographic printing processes. I started with Palladium because it’s cheaper than Platinum. But, at 150€ for 30ml of sensitizer, it's still quite expensive.
The Platinum, Palladium and Gold prints are the most archival prints that can be made. The noble metals are quite inert chemically and the life of such a print is estimated at more than 1000 years. The paper is supposed to be the weaker part of such a print. Therefore in Europe and USA only 100% cotton papers with neutral PH are considered suitable for the process. Some Japanese papers are also known for their very long life and are very desirable. Some paper mills ( Bergger, Arches, Ruscombe mill and a few others) have developed special papers for Platinum and Palladium printing.
The Platinum photographic process was discovered in the first half of the 19-th Century and in the first half of the 20-th Century Platinum and Palladium sensitized papers were produced commercially (even Kodak made them) and were quite popular. The Palladium process, which is essentially the same as Platinum, with the principal exceptions of cost and color, was introduced during World War I. Gradually the Silver Gelatin process took over and the Platinum/Palladium process remained to be mastered by a minority of photography artisans.

The Platinum/Palladium printing process produces images that are among the most stable in photography, that have an extraordinarily long tonal scale and sensitivity to delicate values and that allow for a wide range of tonal and color temperature choices. In the eyes of many, it is the perfect alternative process and it’s highly apreciated by the collectors.

My first attempts were pure Palladium prints made on Bergger COT320 paper. I have used a developer (Ammonium Citrate) that produces a slightly yellow-ochre tonality. Other developeing chemicals can produce different tonalities.

#1 The ancient fortress of Enisala


#2 Arches


PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fantastic Dan!! Very happy to see you stepped up!!
CONGARTULATIONS!!
Like 1 Like 1 Like 1


PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you!
Thank you, Klaus!


PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Superb results Dan, I love them! Like 1


PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even had I not known that exotic materials had been used, I would have liked the result.


Like 1 Like 1


PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Edgar and Chhayanat!


PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dan_ wrote:
Thank you Edgar and Chhayanat!


It is coincidental, but I spent several years in Romania. And many of the photographs which I upload are of that country. It is without doubt the country where the rural life of Europe is preserved the best. As I have stated many times elsewhere, the horsecarts are not for decoration. Possibly, the Romanian people do not appreciate what they have
fully but that is their business.


PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like 1

you shot these directly on paper with a LF camera?


PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks kansalliskalaCafe.

No, you start either with a film negative or with a digital image. If you use a digital image to start with you should print on a special transparency film a negative of it as large as the final Pt/Pd print and then contact-print the negative on a Pt/Pb sensitised paper under a source of UV light (the sun or an artificial UV light source). Almost all the light-sensitive chemicals used in the Alternative Processes are only sensitive to UV light and have a very low sensitivity compared to the classical argentic emulsions. No enlargers can be used - the print can only be a contact-print and it can only be the size of the negative. You can't shoot a Pt/Pd image directly on paper in a LF camera because you'll get a negative image and the exposure time will probably be in the range of a few hours.


PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having a great chemical stability the Pt/Pd process can be used in combination with other processes.
I have tested it in combination with the gum-bichromate process. In this combination a Pt/Pb print can get any tonality one wants. If the colorants of the gum print are chosen with care the result could be as archival as with the plain Pt/Pb process. The famous print of Edward Steichen "The Pond--Moonlight" that recently sold for ~3 000 000$ is such a Platinum-multi-layer-gum print.
Her is one of my tests with the combined process (the same photo as above, to be able to see the differences):



PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2018 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is an image taken with a soft focus lens - a Kodak Meniscus Achromat lens from a Vest Pocket Kodak camera made in ~1914.

Spring Flowers - Pure Palladium print on 8.5x11 Bergger COT320 paper.


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2018 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wonderful artistic work Dan!! Congratulations!!

Like 1 Like 1 Like 1


PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful! Like 1


PostPosted: Tue May 08, 2018 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank You Dog
Thank you, gentlemen!


PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 8:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking forward to seeing more of your great work Dan,
if you would be willing to share it here Wink


PostPosted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 11:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kds315* wrote:
Looking forward to seeing more of your great work Dan,
if you would be willing to share it here Wink



+1.


I love the spring flowers. The photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is more known for pushing the boundaries of portraiture in her day, but for some reason she sprung to mind when I saw Dan's Spring flowers.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the appreciation, gentlemen. Thank You Dog

kds315* wrote:
Looking forward to seeing more of your great work Dan,
if you would be willing to share it here Wink


I will, Klaus. I got quite busy with my regular job lately.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great results, very well. Looking forwards on next works.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you!
Thank You Dog


PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 10:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know this is the resurrection of an old thread but (a) I love the prints and (b) it was fun to see somewhere I have visited that is a bit off the beaten track.

I don't know if Dan is still active here, but I'd love to see more.

K.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some interesting info on here, good to read and some cool shots, thanks.