Books on printing technique

[bojanfurst]

Just a question.

I am a photojournalist by training and a really lousy printer Now that I don't have to make a living exclusively by taking photos, I am back to using film most of the time and would like to improve my printing skills (it won't take much). I tend to learn well from books and am looking for recommendations beyond Mr. Adams's trilogy...

Any help will be much appreciated.

Bojan

 

[Yammerman]

John Blakemore's Black and White Photography Workshop and Way Beyond Monochrome by Ralph Lambrecht helped me but it depends on your current knowledge. Roger Hicks site is free now I believe and I can't imagine you would not get sound advice there.

 

[venchka]

Barry Thornton. David Vestal. Probably only available used.

 

[shadowfox]

This one from David Vestal is very good and very practical:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Black-White-Enlarging/dp/0061818968/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[Yammerman]

Barry Thornton. David Vestal. Probably only available used.

I'd forgotten Barry Thornton's Edge of Darkness another of my favourites.

 

[bojanfurst]

Thank you everybody. I knew I could count on the knowledgeable people here. I am by no means a darkroom neophyte, but I could sure learn a few tricks. Speed used to trump quality and I am pleased that I am now at the point where I can do it the other way around.

Bojan

 

[Al Kaplan]

Ansel Adams "The Print".

 

[FS Vontz]

Lee Frost did one, entirely black and white though, and with some other stuff about composition thrown in too.

 

[le vrai rdu]

http://astore.amazon.fr/bonplanphot-21/detail/291267915X

 

[nyx]

Best book I've read so far about printing is Black & White: Photographic Printing Workshop by Larry Bartlett. Plenty of examples showing you what has been done and why, previous tries and why they didn't work etc.

No other book matches it (imho) and I've read plenty of them.

 

[raindog61]

Absolutely, The Print by Ansel Adams. But rather that put the horse before the carriage, I suggest you read "The Camera" & "The Negative" first.

Another book I sugguest, is the Zone VI workshop by Fred Picker.

Another suggestion: Get out to the museums and see what a good print looks like.

_Harry.

 

[shadowfox]

Absolutely, The Print by Ansel Adams. But rather that put the horse before the carriage, I suggest you read "The Camera" & "The Negative" first.

Another book I sugguest, is the Zone VI workshop by Fred Picker.

Another suggestion: Get out to the museums and see what a good print looks like.

_Harry.

Not to be picky, but Bojan already mentioned that he's not a beginner. And he indicated that he's looking for something else besides Ansel Adam's "Camera, Negative, Print" trilogy.

That's why I suggested David Vestal's book. It's practical, but from being trivial.

Lee Frost's books seems to me acts like his own personal showcase rather than teaching you *how* to do things in-depth.

I'll throw in another suggestion, George E. Todd's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Showin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259943683&sr=8-1

This is a good one for inspiration on how to establish a good thinking process and workflow.

 

[laurentb]

Beyond AA's trilogy, I found "Way Beyond Monochrome" very informative. It woill take me years to get through all of it, but it's already improved my technique.

"The Darkroom cookbook" is a wealth of information.

 

[Henk]

Larry Bartlett

Larry Bartlett

I second nyx ! Indeed the best book I read about B&W printing

 

[sepiareverb]

The new version of the Ansel Adams books are much better for modern materials. They're the 8 1/2 x 11" paperback volumes (one grey and one red) that have replaced the old standby ones. Worth the cost even if you've memorized the old ones.