Start of 2021 Prints

Apparently I haven't been in the darkroom since September last year! This is of course when I began to prepare for the fall season of photography. During the fall I probably took in excess of 100 photos most of which were on my large format camera. This has been an incredibly productive in terms of number and quality of my work. It has been helped by having a focus on a subject (woodland photography). 

Unfortunately my darkroom work has taken a back seat to fall photographs that went through a long productive period over the summer. I took to making smaller prints with wide margins and even went so far as to fashion simple frames to display them. 

Expired Developer and Concentrate

This week I returned (slowly at first) to the darkroom and reacquainted myself with that aspect of my work. I had a modest backlog of black and white images from this past summer I had not printed yet. I had the inevitable problems of assessing equipment and chemicals. While I had just mixed a fresh batch of Moersch Eco 4812 print developer back in September that had barely had any use, its famous long life did not seem to survive this long period despite being in an airtight container. 

The Ilford MG Art 300 paper which develops to completion in 2-3 minutes normally in this developer was taking 4-5 minutes. (I had a similar problems last summer but only with Ilford MGFB Classic that mystified me at the time.) I mixed a fresh batch from concentrate but that also took on the order of 5 minutes to develop completely. I decided my concentrate had expired as well. Looking back at past emails this developer is at least 5 years old. The datasheet suggests 2 years in an airtight container. Seeing as I have at least doubled this I came out pretty well. I then sent an order for fresh developer. 

Never-the-less, I made a print with the longer developer time as I waited for the fresh developer to arrive. (Thanks Silverprint.) Then, with the new developer I made the next print and the development times were fast and back to normal. Interesting though the blacks were strong in the expired developer which can often be a problem with expired developer. 

Images

This first image I took in Holme Fen with my Mamiya 645 Pro using a 150mm f3.5 lens and a 2x teleconverter (300mm f7 equivalent to about 180mm 35mm format crop factor). This is my longest medium format lens combination and as I noted in a post at the time a very useful combination. I was also experimenting with Ilford Delta 3200 Pro film at ISO 1600 at the time. This was one image that seemed to summarize the potential of this marriage of fast black and white film and a relatively long lens. 

Four + One

I printed these images on Ilford Art 300 paper as 5 1/2x 8 on 9 1/2 x 12 paper leaving 2 inch margins all around. This is like a 'poor man's' matte board in that the extra border is part of the print. The texture of the paper helps I think. It does not preclude the use of a conventional matte board on top either.

Ilford MG Art paper is my favorite paper for hand coloring with pencils. I took one of the test prints and hand colored it. It looks pretty nice. This may inspire me to make a proper print for hand coloring. I find it helpful to print it about a stop lighter so the color can better dominate. The pencils don't transfer a lot of powerful color on the emulsion. I have also read that sepia toning for a warmer tone can help so that may be worth a try as well. Below is this first take on hand coloring. 

Hand colored version

 

Typically I mount these on Bristol board which is cheap and archival. The Art 300 paper lacks optical brighteners like other modern fiber-based papers and appears slightly warm against truly white paper. When scanning these prints I am faced with how to accurately represent this warm paper tone as it is not apparent in the print when held but the warmth is apparent when compared directly to a whiter paper. 

This next image was again taken with the x2 teleconverter but on Ilford HP5+ film pushed to ISO 800. This is my standard black and white film/technique now for most images.

East Field Pond

This next one was taken on Monk's Wood as well with the 150mm/2x Teleconverter on my Mamiya 645 Pro again. It was early in fall and this field maple leaf plastered to the mossy oak tree trunk seemed symbolic of the season. I cropped it to a square to keep a tension between the leaf and the empty space in the upper right corner. Printed on Ilford MG Art 300 paper.

Signs of Fall

 

On the same day I took the East Field Pond (above) I made a slightly different image which I printed below. Taken on the same day on an adjacent frame it as a different look. This one I printed on Ilford MGFB Classic paper with its pure white paper base and neutral to cool tone. 

East Field Reeds (7"x10" image on 8"x11" paper)

The next series is based on an image I made with my Intrepid 4x5 with a MPP 6x9 film back using Ilford FP4+ film. This is a another take on a similar image I made a year earlier in the same grove of small silver birch trees at Holme Fen. Since I printed these on my 6x6 (cm) enlarger I had to make crops from the 6x9 (cm) negative. The first is a 7"x10" image on 8"x11" paper to approximate a 4:3 aspect ratio. Next I made smaller square prints on 6"x6" paper first 5"x5" then 4"x4". Again these wider borders when placed in a narrow frame give a simple look with out the complication of a traditional matte mounting. These different prints were easy to make after the first using my light meter method to change print size which I detail here.

Rectangular Silver Birch (7"x10" on 8"x11") 

Square Silver Birch (5"x5" image on 6"x6" paper)

Square Silver Birch (4"x4" image on 6"x6" paper)

Next is an image I made the day before yesterday. This month has not been a great one for me in terms of motivation. I think the extended lockdown is having a negative effect on me mentally. I did however force myself out the other day. Two days earlier it had snowed a couple of inches and now it no longer had the fresh look coating everything. I missed the peak of the snow. Furthermore I went out with my Fuji GSW 690 camera but forgot a light meter. I intended to go to Monk's wood for a long afternoon out. Without a meter however I curtailed my plans and decided to shoot the last 5 images on the roll of Ilford Hp5+ I planned to push to ISO 800. The film is cheap enough and I figured I could sunny 16 it. 

I had been meaning to walk out to three trees I could see from the highway that I drove past frequently on my trips to Woodwalton Fen and Holme Fen. It would be a short trip and I could at least get back in the game again.  As I said the conditions were not great, the fields still mostly covered in snow and gray overcast to the sky. I walked past a copse of trees where I took a couple of bracketed exposures before moving onto the trees I could see from the road. Alas they were not much to look at up close so I kept walking and finally took another pair of bracketed exposures of some stubble in the snow which had a nice pattern  to it. I reached the other highway and so turned around. 

On my way back I immediately saw what I guess I been out to see that day. Another set of 3 very different trees and the copse I passed earlier were laid out in a most appealing fashion. I could see the composition and I walked to the right spot and took an image with my last frame of film. No bracketing f32 at 1/250th. I call it the mathematical trees. Mathematical as their spacing and proportions seem almost like a numerical series. 

I again had to opt for a square crop as I was on the 6x6 enlarger. This means I miss most of the copse on the right that makes the rectangular image more appealing that the a square crop. I experimented with leaving the copse on the right completely out of the crop but found it needs to be there to balance the trees on the horizon on the left edge of the image. 

I made two different prints. The first more conventional in that I included and even balance of #00 soft filter and #5 hard filter. This left the sky and snow with a faint hint of gray enough to define the borders of the image. However the area in the tree branches picks up a lot of gray and the image I had in mind was more of a lithograph with little gradations of tone. A minimalist image. Definitely a Michael Kenna vibe in these images...

Mathematical Trees square crop
(soft and hard filter) (11"x11" on 12"x12" paper)

I made the second print with only the #5 hard filter. I made #5 test strip and found the first exposure that got me full black on the tree trunk (16 seconds in this case). This second image is my favorite as it caries the stark form of the landscape quite powerfully. 

Mathematical Trees square crop
(hard filter only) (11"x11" on 12"x12" paper)

I intend to load the full image into The Beast my 4x5 enlarger upstairs and get the full image printed soon. 

Print Making Details

I made 2 slightly different versions of each of these prints. 

Four + One

• Ilford Art 300
• 5 1/2x8” on 9 1/2x12”
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 7.0
• #00 8 seconds
• #5 32 seconds

Slightly lighter #00 filter to accentuate contrast. 

• Ilford Art 300
• 5 1/2x8” on 9 1/2x12”
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 7.0
• #00 7 seconds
• #5 32 seconds
• #5 burn left corner and grassy bottom 15 seconds

East Field Pond

• Ilford Art 300
• 5 1/2x8” on 9 1/2x12”
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 7.0
• #00 16 seconds
• #5 23 seconds
• #00 burn left side 8 seconds
• #00 burn corners 8 seconds

More contrast (less #00 and more #5)

• Ilford Art 300
• 5 1/2x8” on 9 1/2x12”
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 7.0
• #00 13 seconds -1/4 stop
• #5 27 seconds +1/4 stop
• #00 burn left side 8 seconds
• #00 burn corners 8 seconds

Signs of Fall

• Ilford Art 300
• 6x6" on 8x8"
• 150W
• 1xND
• f16
• Ev 5.7
• #00 27 seconds
• #5 32 seconds
• #00 burn none tree area 32 seconds

East Field Reeds

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 7x10" on 8x12"
• 150W
• 2xND
• f11
• Ev 5.4
• #00 32 seconds
• #5 13 seconds
• #00 burn left right sides 16 seconds

Rectangular Silver Birch

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 7x10" on 8x12"
• 150W
• 2xND
• f8
• Ev 6.1
• #00 45 seconds
• #5 32 seconds
• #5 burn ferns 32 seconds
• #00 burn lower corners 45"

Square Silver Birch 5"x5"

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 5x5" on 6x6"
• 150W
• 2xND
• f11
• Ev 6.4
• #00 38 seconds (45 -1/4 stop)
• #5 27 seconds (32 -1/4 stop)
• #5 burn ferns 32 seconds
• #00 burn lower corners 45seconds

Square Silver Birch 4"x4"

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 4x4" on 6x6"
• 150W
• 2xND
• f16
• Ev 6.1
• #00 45 seconds
• #5 32 seconds
• #5 burn ferns 32 seconds
• #5 burn tree tops 32 seconds
• #00 burn lower corners 45 seconds

Mathematical Trees square crop (soft and hard filter)

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 11x11" on 12x12"from 6x9 negative
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 6.1
• #00 16 seconds
• #5 16 seconds

Mathematical Trees square crop (hard filter only) 

• Ilford MGFB Classic
• 11x11" on 12x12"from 6x9 negative
• 150W
• 1xND
• f11
• Ev 6.1
• #5 16 seconds