How to become a 'Master Printer'

wontonny

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I've been watching various documentaries on photography and the term 'Master Printer' keeps coming up. How do you gain the title? Where do you learn? Do you just print so many times that you know what can be done with a photograph? What are some books for more advanced darkroom techniques?
 
You've got to be really good at replacing ink cartridges, swap a 5 ink set in less than 30 seconds.

Seriously- 'The Master Printer's Workbook' by Steve Macleod is great. Gives lots of examples. A good friend of mine is a real 'Master Printer' with prints that are literally hard to fathom. He's printed a lot, not tons more than me, but just has something hardwired in that works. Practice makes perfect, but mastery makes drop dead gorgeous.
 
sepiareverb said:
You've got to be really good at replacing ink cartridges, swap a 5 ink set in less than 30 seconds.

Seriously- 'The Master Printer's Workbook' by Steve Macleod is great. Gives lots of examples. A good friend of mine is a real 'Master Printer' with prints that are literally hard to fathom. He's printed a lot, not tons more than me, but just has something hardwired in that works. Practice makes perfect, but mastery makes drop dead gorgeous.

Yeah I saw in a magazine once of an example of a complete working of a negative to a print. The guy had circles all over the progressions of images having like different grads for different parts of the image and burn/dodge notes. It's funny how these probably only few options in a darkroom make legendary prints, whereas people in photoshop have hundreds of options at their disposal and they still cant make a decent print. ahaha
 
One of the best printing books that I've seen is "Black & White Photographic Printing Workshop" by Larry Bartlett. It has many great examples of the things you can to do make a print look great even if the negatives are not perfect.
I don't know how one gets a Master's title, but I'm sure it takes many years of printing to become one.
 
Roma said:
I don't know how one gets a Master's title....
Popular acclaim. Even then, not everyone agrees.

No institution worth its salt would dare try to give out 'Master Printer' certificates.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
...No institution worth its salt would dare try to give out 'Master Printer' certificates.

Cheers,

R.

You said it.

I printed 5 days a week from 1984 till 1987, first for Macy's advertising dept., then for an editorial photographer, then in a commercial/pro lab. Practice really helps, and I printed 100 times better after that first year than I did coming out of school, and better still at the end of the three years. A long time printing on graded papers helped too, as there are all kinds of little tweaks you have to figure out to get the print right when you can't switch to 3 1/2 or 1 3/8 like with a VC head. Now with the VC head I feel like I have it all.
 
wontonny said:
I've been watching various documentaries on photography and the term 'Master Printer' keeps coming up. How do you gain the title? Where do you learn? Do you just print so many times that you know what can be done with a photograph? What are some books for more advanced darkroom techniques?

It is a developed skill, and it is way beyond basic print making. You need to learn literally hundreds of darkroom techniques, get very good at them, and have a knack for putting the right techniques together to get the result you want. You gain "the title" when you have earned it -- when GOOD photographers, the better professionals, start calling you that. When Gabriel Rigon and Spencer Tunik start sending you their negatives, you can start calling yourself a master.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Popular acclaim. Even then, not everyone agrees.

No institution worth its salt would dare try to give out 'Master Printer' certificates.

Cheers,

R.

If they did, people would just laugh at them.
 
Oh rats!

I bought Tim Rudman's book "The Photographers Master Printing Course"
So that I can be a Master Printer :rolleyes:
Guess I should read it too :D


(It's very good, It'll take years to get to try some of the techniques described, let alone understand them....)
 
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Here is my 0.02 cents: I am not sure how anyone earns the title Master Printer, however, with that being stated here are my following points of view about this. If a person just learns some basic techniques to print one particular style, does not experiment very much, yet has been printing the same way for 20 years they have mastered a certain technique, but I would not call this person a "Master Printer."

There are a few ways that people earn this reputation:

1) The person has been printing commercially or in a commercial lab and has built up a reputation in that particular community, and everyone goes to that person to have their prints printed. One example is the person, who started Gamma Lab in SF. and is an incredible printer. What makes him so incredible is that he really knows his tools and how he manipulates how to use the various filters during the printing process. He might need to use a grade five filter one part of the print, a grade 1 filter on another part, etc . . .

2) A printer who has overtime picked up well named clients such as Magnum photographers, and by reputation all the magnum photographers go to that one person to start printing for them. I forgot her name, but she was living in NY printing for a few of the magnum clients, then moved to SF. Her clientele has dropped a little, however, she still has a following based on her reputation of the services that she offers such as selective bleaching and selenium toning.

3) Another way is that someone has learned how to print from several well known photographers who have built up that reputation and passed it on to an apprentice. Ansel Adams was notorious for having many well named people who assisted him, such as Dorothea Lange, and there were many more.


I also know that there are many people, who have had their own experiences learning how to print and have been printing for numerous years, more for themselves, yet who also have never developed a reputation for themselves of any kind, but kind of learned on their own.

I have been printing for the last 30 years. However, I do not consider that I really learned how to print until 1990. I mark this as the beginning of my photographic, both as a photographer and printer. Prior to this I was just doing the same thing in the darkroom. Setting up my chemicals printing 8x10 RC prints.

In 1990 I felt like I woke up and realized how much more one can really accomplish in the darkroom just by varying your printing technique. I started to take classes with one photographer learned a little, then between 1990 and 1995 I began seek out people who really knew how to print; Frank Espada was one of my greatest instructors, who was Eugene Smith's assistant. I was also able to take a brief one or two hour printing session with Brett Weston, another great influence, who I was able to spend some time with is Roger Minick. I also started to learn how to do alternative processes such Daguerrotypes, platinum palladium printing, and anyone else I could seek, who would be willing to teach me what they knew.

So now when I make the master or gallery exhibition prints, I spend hours testing the image. I start my developer at 68 degrees, and start with graded paper test strips. First, I determine what grade this image is best suited for. grade 2 or 3 and sometimes grade 4. Once I sort have determined a a grade, I will spend hours testing the image at different dilutions and temperatures of developers. I will also add chemicals to my developer. once I figured out a combination with this, i will sometimes test the image using a two developer bath, usually selectol soft and dektol. Again, testing the image at various development times and at different temperatures. Once I finished with all of this, I will begin with a full sheet of paper, burn areas where I want to burn, but never dodge. I print for the shadow, and burn down the highlights and midtones.

From there is becomes a process of selectively bleaching prints or deciding if the whole print needs to bleach, and then toning the image. I will also experiment with images, different types of papers, developer, and developer combinations, I will also experiment with various additives that enhance certain things when developing a print. Once I am done testing print, I will make various prints from my notes and then decide which combination I like best. I will make several full sheet test prints for various purposes, but to mostly test with the variations I can enhance the image by toning.

After spending many hours, especially in the beginning years, you eventually just look at the images and know what kind of developer combination will be most effective along with your knowledge of toners and how they will effect the particular paper and image that you are using. It becomes second nature sometimes getting the results you want from all of your previous experience and the knowledge you have gained from the people who have taught you.

In conclusion, I would consider someone a master printer, where printing has become second nature to them, where they can look at an image on a negative and think of a few different ways to print that image that would enhance it to make it more intriguing or powerful.

I hope that helps.
 
Study under acknowledged Master Printers is one of the best ways I know of to learn more about the printer's art. You can pick up a lot from books- and there are some good ones out there- but working under a true master and learning from them provides experience that nothing else can come close to. I've studied under George Tice, Mark Markheim, and Jim MeGargee- all true master printers, and while I wouldn't call myself a master printer, I have printed for some famous photographers (including some Magnum shooters) and many other artists who have been pleased with my work. My hope is that I never stop adding to my arsenal of techniques and abilities. I do this by taking workshops and classes where I can, reading as much as I can, and above all practicing my craft. If others one day applied the moniker of master printer to me, I would be pleased, but I wouldn't seek out a certificate with the title from anyone any more than I would presume to call myself a master. We just keep working at it.
 
Sisyphus- Very well said. Few people realize just how many variables there are in developing alone, and just what effect changes in developer/development can have on toning later on in the process. Experimentation is key, and sadly as an instructor I find fewer and fewer students 'playing' in the darkroom like I and it sounds like you did & still do when the negative requires it.
 
Drew (or anybody else), could you please suggest some good books?

I have bought a a few the last year but unfortunately, I haven't had much time to practise. My favorites so far are Lambrecht/Woodhouse's Way Beyond Monochrome and Ctein's Post Exposure. The latter is pretty theoretical but full of information, from film speed testing to film development and enlarging. I also got one of Tim Rudman's books, as well as one by Les McLean.

I'd love to take a darkroom course or workshop somewhere but it's a real PITA to find something on this side of the big pond. As much as I'd like to meet Bruce Barnbaum or John Sexton, it's just not plausible! :(

Anybody know of B&W darkroom workshops in Europe?
 
"The Master Printer's Workbook" by Steve MacLeod is very good, he doesn't instruct as much as suggest, a good springboard for approaching your own negatives differently, with a lot of good tips buried in there. Great printing of the book, so you can really see what the different paper/developer/toner combinations do.
 
Experience.

How does one become Master anything? Guitar player, painter, plumber, playboy, sculpture, financier - you name it - experience that comes with time, trials, error, and learning.

In photography, many of the renown masters have been mentored. Having said this, ambition can get you there eventually.
 
John Sexton was tutored by Ansel Adams and I think so was Chris Rainier. The list of mentoring is endless. Even Diane Arbus was mentored but I do not remember by whom at this moment.

Sisyphus said: "I have been printing for the last 30 years. However, I do not consider that I really learned how to print until 1990. I mark this as the beginning of my photographic, both as a photographer and printer..."

Interesting observation. I have been taking pictures since 1971, when I enlisted in the Army, however, I do not consider myself a amatuer photographer until 1991 when I purchased my first Leica.
 
Sisyphus said:
1) The person has been printing commercially or in a commercial lab and has built up a reputation in that particular community, and everyone goes to that person to have their prints printed. One example is the person, who started Gamma Lab in SF. and is an incredible printer. What makes him so incredible is that he really knows his tools and how he manipulates how to use the various filters during the printing process. He might need to use a grade five filter one part of the print, a grade 1 filter on another part, etc . . .

Don't forget split-contrast printing. A sheet of multigrade paper has two layers of emulsion and each layer can be developed seperately. In other words you can use a #5 filter and a #2 filter on the same section of the print. The first filter works only on the high contrast layer of emulsion and the second works only on the midrange layer.
 
wontonny said:
Yeah I saw in a magazine once of an example of a complete working of a negative to a print. The guy had circles all over the progressions of images having like different grads for different parts of the image and burn/dodge notes. It's funny how these probably only few options in a darkroom make legendary prints, whereas people in photoshop have hundreds of options at their disposal and they still cant make a decent print. ahaha

Actually, it is the people in the darkroom who have more options. It is just that most people never bother to learn what they are-- probably because the learning curve is a whole lot steeper. With the sole exception of the "undo" button, every single one of the photoshop techniques comes from a darkroom technique. Yes, this includes things like "unsharp mask," "despeckle" and all the odd effects filters.
 
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