The joy of printing

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sojournerphoto

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Been pretty tied up with work this last couple of weeks and not managed much creative activity. Always leads to a GAS risk… so tonight I printed some of the scans I’ve done this year - only small on 7x5 paper in the epson, but even simple pictures make lovely objects and inspire photography and not acquisition - apart from more paper.

These were from a couple of test rolls - the first two Kentmere 400 in caffenol with a 7artisans 35/1.4 Wen and the second pair HP5+ in excel/ordinal shot in an MDa with TTArtisan 28/5.6.

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Happy printing - however you do it;)

Mike
 
As part of my one camera, one lens project I've committed to shooting at least a roll a week and making one print from each roll. I had an old box of Red River 11 x 14 UltraPro Satin, so I'm using that. I'd call these work prints. Lightroom print presets and Epson's ABW make it easy to keep up with. Now I'm looking for a nice storage box.

Sample Prints by John Wolf, on Flickr
 
Everyone’s prints look really nice here.

I have printed on Baryta paper and like the results. I need to do some more printing sessions soon.

My First 5x7 Baryta Prints - Your Economical Printing Workflow?

I thought I’d try some baryta paper with my meager small home all-in-one printer. These are my first two prints out of the shoot and am pretty happy with the results. I didn’t use any ICC profiles as I didn’t see any for my machine and just made small adjustments in the print settings. I just...
rangefinderforum.com rangefinderforum.com
 
I like to see darkroom action. Glad to know I’m not the only one who bothers. Here are my efforts from yesterday.

PS - About the one in the foreground: you know those photos from the African savannah, with scores of baboons sitting around on rocks or in trees, all watching the same thing? It’s hard to unsee it once you’ve made the connection. 😁
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All my pics here on RFf are gelatine silver prints, "wet prints" on traditional fiber silver-based printing paper, Ilford Multigrade FB classic glossy. Nice to see that other members make prints too!

This one I've made last night. My enlarger is a Leitz Focomat IIc from 1963.

gelatin silver print (summicron 50mm f2 collapsible LTM) leica lll

breeding coot, Amsterdam, 2024

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Erik van Straten said:
All my pics here on RFf are gelatine silver prints, "wet prints" on traditional fiber silver-based printing paper, Ilford Multigrade FB classic glossy. Nice to see that other members make prints too!

This one I've made last night. My enlarger is a Leitz Focomat IIc from 1963.

gelatin silver print (summicron 50mm f2 collapsible LTM) leica lll

breeding coot, Amsterdam, 2024

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Erik, you are a phenomenon! What an amazing rate of production of classy images, all properly printed.

This may be an appropriate time to mention that your scans from prints always appear very dark on my screen, compared with other posts in the same thread. Do you adjust them with your screen brightness on maximum, perhaps?
 
Jonathan R said:
Erik, you are a phenomenon! What an amazing rate of production of classy images, all properly printed.

This may be an appropriate time to mention that your scans from prints always appear very dark on my screen, compared with other posts in the same thread. Do you adjust them with your screen brightness on maximum, perhaps?
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The last picture is indeed very dark, but that is on purpose! Just look here on Flickr to compare the tonality of the prints. The coot's beak is white as is the border around the print.
 
Erik van Straten said:
The last picture is indeed very dark, but that is on purpose! Just look here on Flickr to compare the tonality of the prints. The coot's beak is white as is the border around the print.
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Please don’t take my comment as any kind of criticism - I love your photos. What I can say is that your highlights are spot-on in every case, it’s the mid-tones that are darker than I expect. But if that’s how you like it, my comment is irrelevant. Best regards, Jonathan
 
Jonathan, could also be the photopaper. There is only one brand left, Ilford. I was used to Adox - much better for the light tones such as skies - but Adox is no more. At the moment I am experimenting with Ilfords developers, but also there is the choice extremely limited: only two kinds available.
 
Erik van Straten said:
Jonathan, could also be the photopaper. There is only one brand left, Ilford. I was used to Adox - much better for the light tones such as skies - but Adox is no more. At the moment I am experimenting with Ilfords developers, but also there is the choice extremely limited: only two kinds available.
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I never experienced Adox. I used to switch between two developers in the days of single grade papers. (One was Dektol, but I’ve forgotten the other. Some 25 years ago now.) With Ilford MG I just use Multigrade developer, and the result seems to suit all the other variables in my system.
 
Jonathan R said:
I never experienced Adox. I used to switch between two developers in the days of single grade papers. (One was Dektol, but I’ve forgotten the other. Some 25 years ago now.) With Ilford MG I just use Multigrade developer, and the result seems to suit all the other variables in my system.
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Jonathan, there are three kinds of paper developer from Ilford now: Warmtone, PQ Universal and Multigrade. I now use Multigrade, but I'll try PQ Universal soon (if it is still available). Warmtone I dislike.
 
Jonathan R said:
I never experienced Adox. I used to switch between two developers in the days of single grade papers. (One was Dektol, but I’ve forgotten the other. Some 25 years ago now.) With Ilford MG I just use Multigrade developer, and the result seems to suit all the other variables in my system.
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Selectol Soft? That was the usual 2-developer approach for printing.

Marty
 
Freakscene said:
Selectol Soft? That was the usual 2-developer approach for printing.

Marty
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Nowadays one must be happy if he or she finds one kind of developer in a shop. Usually there is in even the best shops nothing for wet printing. I live in Amsterdam, but I have to order my needs for printing in Belgium. In this world there is no 2-developer approach for printing anymore, I assure you.

It is a well-known saying in the Netherlands that in Belgium everything happens fifty years later.
 
Erik van Straten said:
Nowadays one must be happy if he or she finds one kind of developer in a shop. Usually there is in even the best shops nothing for wet printing. I live in Amsterdam, but I have to order my needs for printing in Belgium. In this world there is no 2-developer approach for printing anymore, I assure you.

It is a well-known saying in the Netherlands that in Belgium everything happens fifty years later.
Click to expand...

@Jonathan R was talking about 25 years ago. But it is easy to do today too.

In Germany, not so far away, Fotoimpex have several print developers Erik, and Moersch Fotochemie makes some really innovative ones including several suitable for, and a kit specifically for 2 bath development. Freestyle Photo in the US makes a Selectol Soft copy off the shelf.

It’s also really easy to make Selectol Soft yourself:

Water 52C. 750mL
Metol. 12.3g
Sodium sulfite (anhydrous) 36g
Sodium carbonate (anhydrous). 30g
Potassium bromide 10% solution. 18mL
Cold water to make 1L

Scale it up as you need it. You can buy the chemistry from dozens of sources. It works extremely well as the ‘soft’ developer with Dektol/D-72.

I showed someone how to print on graded paper in two baths on Thursday. It’s not so hard.
 
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