Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/03/08

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Subject: [Leica] Magnum & the Dying Art of Darkroom Printing
From: mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:55:02 -0500

Yes even with single grade printing you can still easily burn with any
contrast you want..

With split printing you dodge usually while using the low contrast light.
That way as you lighten an area instead of it loosing contrast it gains.
This is so ideal you wont even believe it.
And it makes it hard to lighten an area too much as you never loose your
black; getting a washed out look.

-- 
Mark R.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/winterdays/


> From: Tarek Charara <tcharara at mac.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:34:08 +0100
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Magnum & the Dying Art of Darkroom Printing
> 
> Ah, yes? Split grade printing! I have bought a 4x5 coldlight splitgrade 
> print
> head last year. Haven't had time to experiment with it too much. I noticed
> that the setup was pretty good at yielding a regular, non-refined print 
> right
> after mesuring all the highlight & shadow areas. A bit too light to my 
> taste,
> but I'll manage that. Now i have to get used to the dodging and burning 
> "new
> style" (i.e. in two channels) - I'll do that right after I set up my 
> darkroom?
> I still have a few boxes to unpack after the move and next exhibition is 
> not
> before september.
> 
> All the best from Paris!
> 
> Tarek
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> Tarek Charara
> <http://www.tarekcharara.com>
> 
> NO ARCHIVE
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Le 8 mars 2012 ? 11:19, Mark Rabiner a ?crit :
> 
>> For me what I'd done last time in a print like years before seemed to come
>> back to me. I get a feeling many of my dodges and burns were exactly like
>> I'd done the decade before. Ones hands have memory. Like playing the 
>> guitar
>> or piano.
>> But I'm a much much better printer now than I was a decade before.
>> And I probably will make a much better print than I'd made various times
>> before. So The idea of starting from scratch from a neg and printing it as
>> if I've never printed it before has often been an exciting game plan.
>> 
>> Also my last ten  years of printing I used the two exposure split printing
>> method one exposure with the blue high contrast light for the blacks and 
>> the
>> other exposure with the green low contrast lights light. (then burning 
>> with
>> one of the other or a mix)
>> This entire new approach to printing made me rethink the balance of my
>> entire body of work which was mostly black and white and always they'd 
>> come
>> out way better than before.
>> I needed that two color thing right then because I was getting a bit
>> frustrated with the limitations of darkroom printing. You could go through
>> many sheets of paper and still not really nail it. Better luck next time
>> you'd think.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Mark R.
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/winterdays/
>> 
>> 
>>> From: Tarek Charara <tcharara at mac.com>
>>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>> Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:55:40 +0100
>>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Magnum & the Dying Art of Darkroom Printing
>>> 
>>> So? I like achieving similar results for a particular print and so I do 
>>> note
>>> my dodging and burning on my final test prints. I would go crazy if I
>>> didn't?Specially when doing limited edition prints and don't do the whole
>>> batch at the same time. And IF I change papers, I usually start with the
>>> results I noted and go from there. If I want to achieve a different
>>> interpretation, I also start from that particular annotated print and try
>>> new
>>> stuff? It's not perfect, but sure is better than re-inventing the wheel
>>> every
>>> time. And ymmv?
>>> 
>>> And as to time spent in the darkroom? 35 years here. But I must be a bit
>>> younger? ;)
>>> 
>>> All the best from Paris!
>>> 
>>> Tarek
>>> 
>>> -------------------------------------------------
>>> Tarek Charara
>>> <http://www.tarekcharara.com>
>>> 
>>> NO ARCHIVE
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Le 8 mars 2012 ? 09:43, Mark Rabiner a ?crit :
>>> 
>>>> Its just that I've over 4 decades printed and half my friends did the 
>>>> same.
>>>> As in printed the same neg on different papers different times. 
>>>> Different
>>>> sizes for different shows or clients. RC and or Fiber. C print or
>>>> Cibachrome.  And had our assistants do It and or a custom printer do it.
>>>> Its scintillating horsepucky.
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> Mark R.
>>>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/winterdays/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> From: Tarek Charara <tcharara at mac.com>
>>>>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>>>> Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:12:33 +0100
>>>>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Magnum & the Dying Art of Darkroom Printing
>>>>> 
>>>>> You'd have to make those note at some final stage so that you don't 
>>>>> start
>>>>> the
>>>>> whole trial and error process all over again. years later when you 
>>>>> need to
>>>>> print again.
>>>>> 
>>>>> All the best from Paris!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Tarek
>>>>> 
>>>>> -------------------------------------------------
>>>>> Tarek Charara
>>>>> <http://www.tarekcharara.com>
>>>>> 
>>>>> NO ARCHIVE
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Le 8 mars 2012 ? 06:06, Mark Rabiner a ?crit :
>>>>> 
>>>>>> I cant figure out if this is an example of a kind of obsesive 
>>>>>> compulsive
>>>>>> psychosis or an attempt at humor. There is also a famous one of a head
>>>>>> from
>>>>>> Avedon. An image marked up way past any reason or comprehension.
>>>>>> I'll tell you what I think it is its drugs in the 80's.
>>>>>> But it might be Public relations. Your clients are supposed to think 
>>>>>> that
>>>>>> even though you  yourself are not making the prints the relation 
>>>>>> between
>>>>>> you
>>>>>> and your assistant or printer is so involved that its worth all the
>>>>>> ridiculous money they are paying you for the job and or print.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> In reality when you go through sheets and sheets of paper in the 
>>>>>> darkroom
>>>>>> its a rather organic process of trial and error. And you cant be 
>>>>>> reminded
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> it from a mark up or controlled by someone giving you a marked up 
>>>>>> thing
>>>>>> like
>>>>>> that. The printer has to sweat it out themselves. Adams called it a
>>>>>> performance of a score. But your head is not buried in the score. You
>>>>>> have
>>>>>> to look up from time to time and cue your orchestra.
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> Mark R.
>>>>>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/winterdays/
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information




In reply to: Message from tcharara at mac.com (Tarek Charara) ([Leica] Magnum & the Dying Art of Darkroom Printing)