So it has been a week and I need to take the "Q" train to B&H and get my weekly fix of paper. I decided to go Canson Baryta Photographique in 17x22 to print for expanded detail, not knowing of how to deal with the extended trailing margin.
The price point with the Canson Baryta Photographique is at $94.00, I save $5.00, and get 17x22 over 13x19 Canson Platine Fibre Rag. The Platine is the 100% rag paper that feels so nice in the hands, but the Baryta is smoother, brighter (trace amounts of OBA's), and is buffered cellulose.
I carry a large archival museum box of prints to show my pals in the used department at B&H, and Pedro at the door told me to go right in, so my concerns about having to check in my parcel were unfounded. I felt mighty cool.
When I opened the box of prints, Brent respectively just looked at the top print. My guess is that he did not want to handle or damage the prints knowing that they were inkjet prints, so then I wet my finger with my spit and I wipe the surface of the print and then squeege the moisture across the print with the palm of my hand. "It is O.K. to pick up the prints and handle them as if they were wet prints," I said. Anyways the demo drew lots of attention and a flash mob began to happen.
What universally happened is that everyone was kinda blown away. The small prints had punchy contrast and everyone loved the black-black, but the larger prints were favored for the expanded tonality and additional fine detail. I further explained how the detail from my Monochrom holds up and expands even further in 20x30 prints.
The largest prints were 13x19 almost full sheet size except for 1/4 inch borders. Everyone like the PP print of the white Montreal Dog over the K7 print. The image had a more 3-D rendering and depth, but I had to point out that the dog's right ear displayed slightly higher resolution in the highlights on the K7 print. Perhaps in a larger print this tiny/subtle difference might get amplified, but in comparing 13x19's the difference requires very-very careful study to notice. Basically I had to point it out.
I was asked if nightshooting is what I do, and I revealed I chose the night shots for testing purposes because I wanted to explore the blacks and shadow details. I explained the Montreal Dog shot as one of those shots of reflections in plate glass windows that look so good in a viewfinder that are so difficult to render in a print, and the Highline car/food vender shot was to render the dusky orange golden hour on the West Side of Madhattan with split tone and strong contrast. I was also asked if the night shots were taken with a tripod because of the detailed rendering. (Monochrom 800 ISO, Nikkor 35/1.8 LTM single coated retro glass).
So anyways I deeply impressed a group of guys who have trained eyes with my early printing that have been just experiments over the past 10 -12 days.
Last night I printed some 12x18's. I used a paper size of 17x20 allowing for an extended trailing margin to avoid those dreaded head strikes. This seems to be the size where tonality and fine detail gets revealed. I would say that this is kinda where you need to print if you are shooting a Monochrom. Smaller prints seem to be compressed.
It seems that I am ahead of schedule as far as printing pages for a larger book. It seems like I am assembling prints that use 12x18 image size for a 17x22 inch book.
One image I printed last night is an almost black on black print. I thought this would be a difficult print to print due to ink load. Last summer there was this high rise building that had a decorative canvas shrouding perhaps a 25 or 30 story building on 57th Street. The canvas depicts a building and hides the building being renovated behind the canvas, and it seems drawn over scalfolding. Now imaging this image at night. Anyways it appears as an abstraction.
In the 12x18 inch print there appears to be fine Arcros like grain (Monochrom 800 ISO) in the blacks, but not in the highlights. The sky is black, like intense black, vividly black, anyways no real way to describe it except you have not seen black like this. There is warmth from the splitone, and a neutral grey that adds depth. This print is "stunning."
Anyways I still reserve judgement and need to compare even larger K7 and PP prints. I do know that I will likely dilute my shade 3 further in my K7 splitone to more closely resemble the results I get with PP. I will mix my shade 3 to be 33% Selenium instead of 25% to tone down the warmth further and make the midrange have a broader "neutral" spread between shades 3 and 4. Perhaps what I'm seeing in PP is the darkest black available, cool highlights, neutral mids, and warm shadows. Basically a broader midrage due to a neutral difference between the cool highlights and warm shadows.
The split tone really is four way and I think that a revised K7 with increased dilution in shade three will reveal a more neutral midrange that perhaps is a little broader to add yet another layer of distinction and detail that draws the eye in. Basically yet another nuance.
IMHO Piezography kinda requires at least a 13x19 sized print, otherwise you don't have the image size to exploit the distinctions and advantages. It seems a 3880 is kinda limited, and from experience owning a 3880 that one will always wish for a larger printer. I'm so glad I have a 7800.
Cal
