Digital BW, The Print

David Kachel <david@...> wrote:

> **
>  ...
> Before digital (BD), NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, was after a "neutral"
> print! ...
>

I agree, within limits.  I preferred and used mostly lightly selenium toned
Kodak Polymax paper.  The net result was what I'd call visually neutral.
 The Lab B was rather flat through the 50% point and then the shadows got
cooler -- just like the "333" profile combination I just described.  The
light selenium took care of most of the green.

From what I can tell, we see a Lab A = 1 as more neutral than Lab a = 0.
 I'm not sure how accurate our spectros are down that low, but most of the
papers seem to target a slightly elevated Lab A.

My approach to "visually neutral" also assumes that the print is displayed
matted and on the wall.  In that display environment, the eye is going to
do a white balance on the mat board or other bright "white" surface near
the print.  This white balance really affects how we perceive the print
tone.  When viewed next to a very cold monitor or typing paper, all our
prints look brown.



> ...
> The goal was either selenium purple or one of hundreds of flavors of
> brown/sepia. I don't recall anyone ever seeking "neutral".
>
> So my question is: when and how did "neutral" become the holy grail of B&W
> fine art photography?
>

I think many of us in the "western landscape" tradition like what has often
been referred to as "cool" prints.  As you note, they are not cool or even
dead neutral, but compared to the older sepia prints, they were downright
cold.  When clouds and snow are significant features of a print, yellow is
not what  lot like to see.  Ansel Adams' prints were often described as
"cool."

What those of us here have been fighting is that carbon is usually warmer
than we'd like, but the third party color inks needed to cool them were not
well matched in their fade rates (and often just plain weak).  Also, to
challenge the silver print and its assumed longevity, we needed the highest
carbon content possible.

Outside of the "western landscape" genre, I suspect a medium warm is the
preferred print tone.  The sepia tone that you prefer is not what most
landscape photographers target.

(Where is Jerry Olson when we need him?)  (For the newer members, he liked
cold - very cold - about as much as David likes brown.)

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com


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