Words Words Words

approximate meaning. finding the way. crossing the divide. making a bridge

Two worlds. Two cultures. Everything changes. Everything stays the same.

Finding meaning and having the means to reveal that, to yourself and maybe others. Both the problem and the driver.

at first an observation. What prompts that. Is it a small nit, or does it take a large shaking abruption. Usually crossing currents provoke the most. Change in flows provide great energy, most is wasted, passes on without utility.

So this provoke began when a technician of graphs asks how else to describe what matters about an emulsion. Actually, he wants to complain about a description of a developer. XY people don’t grok PR people.

amateurs need guides; they await the ice-cream truck.

Such as: Fred Picker. https://bwbarlow.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/the-fred-picker-legacy.pdf

These are secondary sources; people I didn’t know, nor did I read until this century. I read them now only because I’m studying the failures of the forums. The staggering load carried by weekend workers. Members of bands that none will remember. These sales force folks sell sweets.

they tell you what you tell yourself: it’s the stuff that makes me better. at least, it’s the stuff i can talk about. like gossip by the fish fryer out at manlake lodge.

no girls says the sign . no words say the words

whether they’d like it based upon your likes…all things taste like chicken to a person of consensus taste

like a spoon in the knife drawer the amateur photographer is, of course, something else by weekday; like cross-dressers, their week sees them one way, their weekend another.

But, then again, my path crossed just now because I was looking for CVI materials. They were found in an archived Picker Newsletter.

Fine Art Photo Supply: FA-1027 is what snapped the string on this topic.

Anthony Giudice sold Fine Art Photo Supply to Photographer’s Formulary for personal reasons.

Fine Art Photo Supply is a new company in Rochester, NY. Much like the old Zone VI Studios, we are a company marketing photographic merchandise and we are photographers ourselves. I have been involved in photography since 1972 (just after I quit my high school basketball team!); and my wife Vicki, who handles the administrative end of the business, has done lots of color commercial photography: 2 books, and over a dozen magazine articles (including 4 covers).

And like most first time, low factor salesmen and entry managers, they move to the extreme. Selling too hard or too soft. They will pass just as all weekenders.

Description is always based upon something else. There is no qualitative, boundless, fully functioning explanation. Not in physics, not in math, certainly not in any developing growing human pursuit including photography, a very self absorbed drawing system.

The color of the silver developed image… what does it mean? We had more options in 1950, but we also had a much more limited vocabulary. Warm. Cold. Developer and paper names didn’t have any basis other than commercial convenience.

How about charts. They always look good. Like something from a math course blackboard.

We call them “characteristic curves” which has to make them readily useable., as well as being beyond just words. Right?

At last. A Table of values. We can put this to use, can’t we?

Yep. If we are using those developers and we have a good working time at 68F, then these provided percent changes to that time should produce the same resulting negative.

This if from 1950. Probably not as useful this year, even with those developers since you won’t be using the lovely films made back then. You can use Ansco 17, particularly if you are doing separations.

of course, just having the words well defined and in a table won’t make them useable, nor used.

this is for an inkjet pigment printer. Note that it does use a pigment — and it seems to get through those tiny jets just fine… this is from a decade ago technology. The dumbwaiters from the forums still think that size defines a colorant.

Purdy pictures certainly seem persuasive. Reading them does require more… picture language is always more demanding.

The colored area is an ICC profile of Dye Transfer colorspace. It is overlaid atop, so you can see how it is contained within, an inkjet pigment printer profile from 2013. A decade ago inkjet printers had wider color range than dye transfer.

Plus, that same inkjet printer calculates out at over 100 years life expectancy before visual difference in color.

Use words that you find useful. Simple enough. The finding is much less certain. Words in all its form make distinctions clear to those experienced in using them. Gaining your own experience; making your own dictionary is just a first necessary step, and the biggest difference between those who ride the hobby horse and those who ride a work horse.


Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.


Paulo Coelho
pictures catch the eye; words the mind
words tell; pictures convince

sidebar: ORTHO LITHO. confused online photo sites, like love and online dating. Ortho means the response of the emulsion; litho is jargon for the original use of lithography — a high contrast, usually thin film. Ilford makes Ortho+ sheet film. Arista sells a lith film which seems refactored from the silk-screen industry. This latter, ortho-lith film is frequently what is being referenced by the onliners. Kodak’s Kodalith was the premier version of this film. It also came in types, one was panchromatic, so there used to be Pan-Litho film. So it was.

LPD: worknotes

UPDATE: JUNE 2021: KEEP IT SIMPLE. USE DEKTOL

NOTE- if you’re PHOTRIO, or Large Format Forum registered, you may not use this material. Please, leave this site now! thank you. https://webionaire.com/2023/09/17/drew-wiley-photrio/

WHY exclude you?

in the aggregate, they are destructive; limited vantage points coupled with faltering egos means they reject far too many options — they do not grow others; they diminish them, so that their stature isn’t threatened.

Taking from here, is not in the big interest. If I wanted the information posted, I, too, could free load post there. I have tried. The fight would have absorbed more than I could gain. Others have tried; they also abandon the effort — redirect their time toward their work. The forums are not intended, not in founding, not in managing, to advance skills of craft, concept — they serve as idle chat where middle skill hobbyists jockey to impress unskilled googlers —

If you print little (less than 500 prints/yr), or infrequently, LPD may not be worth the cost or effort. Dektol is a good product that has served the clients of most of the worlds greatest printers.

What do I use: Ilford Bromophen, Foma PW, Moersch Catechol


Official contents information has changed in the past 40 years. Now, it is a secret.

ALTERNATIVE:


Ethol LPD dilutions

dilution paper tone

LPD — lasting paper developer. LPD is sold in two forms: powder or liquid. I have always used the powder, mixing it to stock and using, mostly, with replenishment. The stock seems to last for years, while the working dilution can be used for days or weeks with replenishment. This is the developer to use if you want something that you can put hundreds of prints through without change in density or image tone.

It also is a developer that readily adjusts paper tones. Not as much as changing emulsion, but you can certainly tune for tone. Once you get what you want, you can keep printing through the entire box of paper.

The above chart is based upon the POWDER form of LPD. Recently, I bought the liquid form – mainly as confirmation that it would satisfy a friend who is afraid of powder chemistry in her house. It works, and works well. With my first set of tests completed, I’d say it could be used instead of the powder form. I don’t have any way of estimating how long the liquid in a bottle will last as compared to the powder in a can. Instinct says the powder will store longer. But then, instinct isn’t knowledge.

Between Forms: The liquid is more concentrated, meaning that a 1+4 mixture for the powder form should become a 1+8 mixture if starting with the liquid LPD.

Reminder: LPD (like dektol) contains hyroquinone, meaning that developer activity slows quickly, and noticibly below 68degrees. Try to keep your print developer at 70 degrees or better.

If you don’t print much, then you don’t need LPD. Use good ole Dektol. Or maybe a liquid developer made by your paper maker: Ilford, Adox, Foma.IMG_1019 IMG_1018

Replenishing

Any replenishing is an effort to maintain a process in a balance, usually to save some effort or expense. Since LPD is stable and long lasting replenishing seems almost a wasted effort, yet I do replenish. I have a bottle of ‘muddy river’ that is over 5 years old. My replenishment practice is based upon maintaining a level in the tray, draining prints to the drip point, and adding refresher solution made from fresh LPD. I also keep tight fitting lids on my trays, covering them even during a session when not using that chemical (developer/stop/fix) This comes from my early years as a dye transfer printer.

Ethol Direction Sheet

replenishing LPD

Originally (1975) Ethol attached a paper to the cans, it was Bulletin 8K. Not anymore. If you need numbers, approximately 30 prints (8×10) (15 11x14s) need 300ml of replenisher. The replenisher is made from the original stock mixture. When making the stock solution divide into 2 separate gallon jugs – one is ‘work’ the other is ‘replenisher’ — since I use LPD at 1:1 working strength I mix the ‘R’ jug 1:1. Just since buying the liquid LPD, I am using it as my replenisher, so mix my ‘R’ at 1:2 for replenishing my working tray.

IMG_0935
gone in a month

In a typical session I make between 30 -50 11×14’s … I print a lot.

This is my ordinary printing volume. A reason for using LPD

My Procedure

The developer tray is oversize- 10×12 and 5 inch deep. I put 2 liters of LPD into this tray. It has a tight seal lid which is in place when I’m not souping the paper. Generally, I soup one print at a time.

At the end of the developer time, I drain the print till it drips. Then stop bath, and fix. I have timers for developer, for fix, and wash. 3 separate timers. I wash in 3 separate trays made from plastic tubs. Intake water is through jets of water; water flows by pressure siphon from the bottom of the tanks.

I know how many prints have been processed, because I put 25 sheets of paper into a safety bag (labeled) and in a paper safe (also labeled). Also, as the prints are finished washing, they are dried. Pretty easy to count the stack on the drying racks or table. After 15 (11×14)s have been through I replenish by 200ml (sometimes more)

At the end of a print day, I pour the developer into a 4 liter clear plastic measuring tank; bringing the level of developer up to the original 2 liter mark by adding replenisher. The amount used is marked on my wet-room blackboard.