VIEW CAMERA
The ultimate measure of our success in
black and white photography is the quality of our prints. This involves both their technical quality as
well as the ability of our prints to aesthetically convey the state of our
seeing and personal philosophy. The
latter qualities are more subjective and will involve us in the study and
practice of the art of seeing and also the development of our visual intuitive
abilities. It also usually involves
questions about what it is that we are trying to say with our camerawork and
how our visual message should relate to those goals. Observations about this kind of personal work
would involve a separate article, so we will confine these remarks to technical
considerations in producing a fine print.
One of the single most important tools we
have in photography, whether produced in the wet darkroom or in the digital
darkroom, is the control of tonalities in the negative and later in the print. Most of our technical decisions will be made
as a means of creating and controlling the tones of gray we have chosen in our
minds as important for the success of our image. In order to see all of these potential
decisions in their relationship to each other, I recently organized 23 techniques into two groups based on their
effect on “overall control of tonalities”(11) or on “area control of
tonalities”(12). Of these technical decisions
that could impact our image tonalities, 15 could be employed with negatives
before and after processing and 8 could be applied to the print. They have all been discussed may times and
I’m sure I will need to add more ideas to this list.
The important thing is to have a checklist
of these ideas and consciously decide, as we work in the field and darkroom,
which of these techniques we can employ for individual images. As I discuss the print accompanying this
article, I will comment on the use of some of techniques as I use them in my
work. The photograph was taken on the
I employ the Zone System exposure method
with a Zone VI modified Pentax Digital Meter. There are no moving parts, it holds its
calibration well, and is quick and efficient to use in the field. It has become indispensable, my crutch, when
reading and responding to the light in the field. I hang it from my vest, so it is always
secure and ready to go. I have studied
all aspects and opinions of Ansel’s 11 step Zone
System (full black to pure white - Zone
O to Zone X) and use it in all my field work. However, I have modified its use and
application, so that I can work more quickly and intuitively, both to speed up
my work and to be able to avoid losing fleeting images. I encourage anyone to understand and use this
system, but to modify and adapt it to their own way of working, so that they
never feel encumbered by the technical issues and time involved with using
it.
The Leaf Cluster photograph was exposed
placing the central leaf on Zone VI and VII and the darker leaves on Zones III
and IV, with normal development. The
filter and exposure and later the paper contrast choice all helped to raise the
tonal value of the leaf to the desired level.
If I had not used a filter to raise the value of the leaf, I could have
used Selenium Toner on the negative by very carefully adding toner just to the
leaf, in order to raise its density about one zone. With roll film, I do not want to adversely
affect grain or sharpness by using normal plus development, if I have another
way to expand the tonalities.
I currently have started using XTOL film
developer, recently developed and introduced by Kodak. It has been demonstrated to me to be as
effective as Pyro in providing good edge sharpness
and in its ability to develop separation in the high value areas. It also appears to achieve full rated film
speed with the films I use. I dilute it
1:1 in order to achieve slightly greater sharpness and a more convenient
development time with normal minus development. I have previously been using D-76 and
Clayton F-60, both very good general purpose film developers.
When printing this negative in the past, I
have used a grade 3 1/2 contrast with Ilford Multigrade paper, in order to develop the tonal brilliance
in the central leaf and some of the darker leaves. By doing that I created the need, which often
happens to me, to dodge the darker shadow area along the left side and also in
the center of the image, where the lacy fern needed to be opened up. I could have dodged these areas by inserting
a dodge/burn mask using frosted mylar
with pencil shading (discussed by Alan Ross’ in recent View Camera
articles.) However, I was able to take
care of the simple dodging needs by using a hand dodging tool. However, this required dividing the full 16
second exposure time carefully between the two areas. With a dodge/burn mask in register with the
negative and appropriate pencil shading, the two areas could have been dodged
during the basic exposure with no hand tools required. I have used a D/B mask with a problem negative
and it saved the print. The glass
negative carrier in my Omega D5500 enlarger, with a ZBE cold light head, makes
this procedure very effective, using just an anti-newton
ring glass with frosted mylar
with pencil shading above it. The
registration pins in the carrier can register the negative and the unsharp mask and the frosted mylar can be taped above the anti-newton
ring glass.
When making this print, I had to follow the
basic exposure and dodging with seven burn areas around the perimeter, to keep
the emphasis on the central leaf. I do
this with a burn card (I have several with different sized openings) that is
white on top and black on the bottom. I
did a test with a white face on the bottom of a burn card and proved to myself
that there is extreme danger of fogging the print when burning in with the
white surface on the bottom of the card.
There can be bounce light through the hole to the print and back up to
the white underside of the card and then back down to the print. I demonstrated this in a test and have since
used only black and dark grey on the bottom.
However, it is very convenient to use white on top in order that burning
techniques can be carefully watched as the image appears on the white
card.
My current favorite paper developer is LPD
which I use at a dilution of 3:1. It
gives me a very slight warm black with Ilford Multigrade in comparison with other cold tone papers and
developers and they say that a greater dilution will give an even greater warm
tone result. It also has a long tray
life, although I like to keep my paper developer fresh and will change it if I
have a long printing session and always use plenty of solution so there is no
chance of exhausted paper developer affecting the results. I develop for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes normally and
always Selenium tone my prints at 20:1 for 3-5
minutes.
I use the Ilford
recommendation for fixing prints for 60 seconds in film strength rapid fixer
and then always use a 10 minute soaking in hypo clearing agent, as Ilford recommends along with the short fixing time. Washing is then shorter and more archival
they say than traditional methods.
When Jerry Wolfe and I decided to develop a
workshop in unsharp masking techniques, I decided to
print this image with a mask in order to see how much edge effect would result
from the mask. I exposed two masks on
Pan Masking Film to my enlarger light for six seconds @ f22 and developed one
for 2.5 minutes and the other for 3.5 minutes in HC 110 at
© Dick Garrod June 14, 2001