15 posts tagged “black and white photo art”

Mr. Magic.

I have found a technique that allows me to add metallic colors to my hand tinted black and white photos. This Black and white photo is Hand tinted the "Classic way", never computer aided in any way. I use color film to produce my Black and white Print. My photos are produced on fiber based, double weight black and white printing paper. All of my photos are toned with selenium, copper, sepia, gold, nickel, platinum-palladium, coffee's, or tea's.

My next project that I will complete before new year is my stereo hand tinted photo art using mirrors placed at a 45 degree angle; the late  Dali Salvador had many failed attempts making a stereo picture work using stainless steel, polished aluminum dishes, metals and of course mirrors. Philippe Devaud  (2001) from Switzerland had the opportunity to work  with Dali in the early eighties. Philippe had a theory on how to solve Dali's problem with the double image that distorted his stereo art work. Philippe noticed that the double image was due to the rear silver coating,  stereo pictures that worked were merely a choice of mirrors. Philippe had that discovered that if you use a front coated mirror the double ghost image disappears. I apply this same theory to my stereo photo art. 

*I want to bring Hand Tinting back into the main stream. Since we have our computers and high tech soft ware we often fail to realize that computer generated imagery or photos are not the same as in the past. The reason is, that the computer generated images lacks Zone "A" and Zone "B". Its merely a copy or a duplicate of a scene. All computer generated photos or prints will oxidize or fade. The sole purpose of making Photographs are to record, document historical events, creating advertisements, family events, weddings and the list goes on. Archiving Photos that are computer generated defeats this goal. In most museums you will only find Black and White Photos, they know that any other type of print won't last long enough to achieve their objective. Digital Photography has its' place, and should be recognized as an Art form based on its content and style.
*When we look back in the early 1800's, most Photo images that were produced have looked as if they were made yesterday. What if our Great masters used pixels to record there Art. They would have never imagined of wasting there time and effort to gain fame by employing methods other than the Classical techniques to create their Art. When history is written, those who have negatives and Hand developed Prints will have works of Arts that will be priceless.
*The Great masters such Van Goghs, Picasso's, Rembrandts, Cezanne's, Seraut's, El greco,s, Constables, Botticellis, Angelico's and Bounnarroti's would not exist today as we know them if they had used digital assisted soft ware to create their works of Art. I have over 50,000 images and over 90,000 negatives that will be worth more than any digital print or digital file made today.
*Photo Art has been around in the main stream for quite some time. No one has change or improved on what George Eastman, Joeseph Niepce, Giovanni Battista, Thomas Wedgwood and Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre attempted . The computer can never allow any one the freedom that gives you the ability to capture an image as on sees it. Ansel Adams was the last person to that gave us a new set of rules and technique.
*I have developed a "2" Zone that takes his ideas and the other great Photographers of the past and improve how we see and reproduce our Photos.
Don't miss out, if you can have the luck of buying a old Photo of the past, you will own tomorrows Picassos' Van Goghs' or even an Rembrandt.
*The only worth while investment in todays Art Market will be a Hand Tinted Photograph. The other Great works of Art merely exchange owners and becomes more expensive in the process.

 How long does a Photograph last ? Some of the first ever made have held up perfectly, their images as durable as if they had been carved in stone. For Black and white Photos, archival processing is not very different from customary method of developing, fixing and washing. It basically an extension of the ordinary procedures, involving a few extra steps.
During development, those grains of silver salts that have been exposed to light are reduced to black metallic silver, which forms the image; but unexposed grains are reduced and remain in silver form of a silver compound.
When these silver-fixer complexes decompose they produce a brown-yellow compound may discolor the entire print. Archival processing includes procedures that eliminate the traces of residual chemical that washing alone cannot entirely remove.
 I Hand Tone all of my Black and White Photo Art the Classic way. There are several reasons for toning a black and white print: to make the photograph more permanent; I love to use BERG BROWN/COPPER Toning Solution is a single bath solution used for toning black and white prints or films, having no offensive odor. The tonal range is very long, giving initially a warming effect, then a brown tone, followed by a sepia and flesh, and finally a deep metallic copper tone. The actual tone produced depends on the length of time of toning and the photographic material.
                                               Color Photo Art born inside a camera.

Pumped, Germany, 1999.

Pumped.

Pumped, Germany, 1999,Limited Edition.

 A Black and White Negative is a reversal of the tones in the original scene. Where the scene is bright, the negative develops many dense, dark grains of silver. These dense areas hold back light from the paper, they prevent the formation of silver in the papers emulsion and so creates a bright area corresponding to the bright area in the scene. Where the scene was dark, the negative is thin or even clear. It passes much light to the paper and dark silver is formed in the emulsion, resulting in a dark area in the print.
   Color films records most all the color of the spectrum, nearly all colors can be reproduced by mixing only a few basic or primary colors. Color films are made with three color-sensitive layers, each of which records the wave lengths of lights in a different third of the color spectrum. Colors negative film is processed to be the opposite in colors and density of the original scene; then it is printed onto a sheet of sensitized paper to make a positive color print.
   This is why I shoot color films to Print out my Black and White Photos the Classic way. Color films gives more details in my prints. The colors remain true and the tones are richer. I use the actual color photo as a guide when my Hand Tint my Black and White Prints.
                        Color Photo Art Born inside a Camera the Classic way.

Petals, Seoul, Korea,1982.

Black and White Photo Art delivered in my Dark room the Classic way. 

Petals, Seoul, Korea, 1982

Petals, Seoul, Korea, 1982. Limited Edition.

Black and White Photo Art.

**I want to bring Black and White Photo Art back in the main stream. Its the only affordable Art investment that yields substantial Dividends. Photo Art is the Latest craze in the Art Market.
**The Current Art market is in a recession. In New York last week Nov 10 2007, Sotheby's was particularly rattled by the lackluster evening: its share price plunged the next day by 38 percent. The company on Friday reported that, mainly due to a 14.6 million dollar loss on guarantees for this week's auction, it recorded a third quarter loss of 20.9 million dollars, third-quarter loss shrank to $20.9 million, or 33 cents a share, from a net loss of $30.7 million. Christies took some Losses in their Art auctions as well.
**Don't miss out on chance to invest in one of the fastest growing sectors of Modern Contemporary Art. Now is the time to update your Art portfolios. The Black and White Photo Art, they are on the Walls. On the streets, the Bulls are on the run, only the wise will take heed

 Based on the concept of visual change in negative exposure of one stop ( a factor 2x). This change in tone is referred to as a zone in

Black and White photography. Most prints contain about 9 zones. The 18 % reflectance grey card responds to zone V (5). In the Munsell system of color notation, middle value of 5 has a reflectance of approximately 18 %.

  I print all of my Black and White Photos in the range of zone 3 to zone 8, it give me 5 zones to Hand color in the final print. Only the neutral colors ( Blacks , Greys, and Whites), have no hue and zero chroma.

  In my Prints I add color to predetermined points of interest in the fore ground , middle ground, and back ground. I will also add colors to the bottom, in the middle and on the top of each print. This enhances the third dimension and gives the print some what of a fourth dimension. The colors have a tendencey to levitate and float.

  I use only color film to create my Black and White Photo Art. Color films have three layers and Black and White Film have only two

layers. I find that color films record the true mood of each scene as it really is. Reds are red, blues are blue, and greens are green.

Black and white films records the tones and not the hues and the chroma of each scene as it exist. I use my color prints to aide in my color balancing process Hand tinting each black and white print.

 I have a simple formula that I created, to acheive my color balance and color contrast of each final print. The foreground = A, middle = B, back =      

C. The bottom = 3, middle = 2, and top = 3. I can place my hues of color in one the cubes to create unimaginable illusions of Grandeur.

**When part of a picture is sharp and part out of focus (or soft), a viewer
looks first at the sharply focus area. What exactly is sharpness and how
much can it be controlled ?
**How sharp an image apears depends on the size of the circles of confusion,
the tiny, overlapping circles formed by the lens as it focuses the image.
The circles are seldom actually seen as disc although occasionally, when
bright points of light are photographed, individual circles do appear. The
smaller the circles, the less they overlap and the sharper the image appears
to be.
**In theory, a lens can focus the image of objects at only one distance at a
time and objects at other distances will be more or less out of focus. Several
factors control the extent of the depth of field, the f-stop used, the focal
lenght of the lens and the lens to subject disance.
**The relationship is a simple mathematical one: the f-stop number equals
the focal length of the lens divided by the aperture diameter. If the focal
length of the lens is 100mm and the actual diameter of the aperture is 50mm,
the f-stop is number is 2.
** I shoot all of my Black and White Photos between f-3.5 and f-11. This
gives me the needed depth of field to bring the middle field in focus. When I
print my Black and White Prints I set my enlarger accordingly. This gives me
added depth and contrast in zone B. All of my black and white prints are in zone
IV to zone VII, I prefer middle grays oppose to typically print a Black and White
print. When I Hand Tint shades of middle grays the colors seem to float or
levitate. The color are more vivid and intense.
**My 2 Zone Technique works only when using roll film the Classic way. This is the
reason why digital Photogrpahy has it limitations. With digital cameras, the
photographers imagination is held hostage to technology at hand. I will never
shoot a digital camera for this very reason. I want complete control of what my
camera sees.
**I become an interpreter of light when I capture images that I see. My camera
can't make adjustments as required to capture a scene as I would like. I use no
computer soft ware to create my Black and White Photo Art.

**Black and White printing papers come in a wide range of grades. Most Photographers prefer
a glossy smooth surface. A typical reflectance range for a glossy print is 1:50 (whites
reflect 50 times the light that blacks do), compared to as low as 1:15 for a rough-textured,
 matte print.
**Paper weights of Black and White Printing paper varies from single weight to double weight
paper. Single weight paper is less is expensive than double weight paper. Double weight paper
will be easier to use since it curls less and less easily damaged.
**The texture of paper comes in smooth to fine grain to rough. Some finishes resemble canvas,
silk or other materials. Smoother surfaces reveal finer details and any graininess of the
Black and White negative more than rougher surfaces do. Glossy Black and White paper has a
range from glossy(greatest shine) to lustre (medium shine) to matte (dull).
**Resin coated (rc) papers absorbed very little moisture, which allows a shorter processing
time. Glossy RC papers dry to a sheen without ferrotyping.
**I print my Black and White Photo Art on Fiber based double weight paper, with a matte finish.
This allows me to Hand tint my Photographs with different mediums. Fiber based papers will
curl as soon as they begin to dry. I mount my prints while they are still moist using masking
tape.
** Matte paper has a rough surface or teeth to absorb and pick up the tints that I apply.
It takes about two days to dry depending on the temperture. I prefer this type of paper
because it has a canvas like feel to it. My Photo Art is processed using Archival techniques.
**I love to Hand Tint and Hand Tone my photos the Classic way. They become richer in Tones as
they age. Black and White Photo Art is the new craze of the future. Thanks to the digital
world it has become more apparent that roll film is the only way to create photo art. They
don't oxidize or fade.