8 posts tagged “hand toned photos”

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. 

Why I use Color Film.
  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 Tinting my Black and White Prints.

This is a Color Photo the Classic way.

This a Black and White Photo the Classic way, delivered inside my darkroom.

This is a Hand Tinted Black and White Photo the Classic way, Never computer aided in any way. Photo Art is Original and signed.

My Photo Art is Original. No one does it better. I can use either a Color or Black and
White negative to create my Photo Art the Classic way.

*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.

   History should be recorded on film. There were many inventions in the 19^th Century..  The car was invented and massed produced as a means of a new and efficient mode of transportation, which rendered the horse and buggy obsolete. (Co2). The incandescent light was discovered replacing  candles and kerosene lamps. Our world today is a glow with many types of lighting, i.e. xenon, led, neon, led, and many more. The light bulb as we know it will become extinct. The conveyor belt was implemented in manufacturing to speed up and increase production (The late Ray Kroch). Most of all of our goods today are products of automation and robotics. The discovery of Dynamite gave way to new methods moving mass amounts of land. We are now in the nuclear age, we can now remove countries from the face of the earth with the push of a Button.  

   The camera was born and it became know as Photography, it changed the way we record visual images. Of all the inventions Photography had the greatest impact in our lives. We have computers which allow us to transfer large amounts of data to any place in the world. Most internet traffic consist of transferring photo images. Iphones,ipods, black berries,cable, faxes, lap tops, gps, cell phones,the list goes on. What is the speed of information ? Does any body know ?  

     Digital Art is here to stay, Classic Photography has taken a back seat for many reasons. Digital Art has change the Art world like no other, affording any one with a digital camera and a computer a chance to take photos with little knowledge. Digital Photo Art is very easy to create with the proper soft ware and a little practice.    

There has never been an era that so many photos taken and recorded in such a short period of time.

    Classic Hand Tinted Photo Art can be processed using Archive methods of the past will last for generations. Digital images lack zone A (subject to film) and zone B (film to print). Of  all the inventions, some will never change, the wheel, and Classic Photography, the laws of Physics makes this impossible to replace them. I developed  a 2 Zone Technique to create my Black and White Photo Art the Classic way. Never computer aided in any way.

**The zone scale at right has ten steps and is based on Ansel Adams's description of zones in his book The negative. Zone 0(zero) relates to the deepest black print value that photographic printing paper can produce. Zone V corresponds to a middle gray, the tone of a standard-gray test card of 18 percent reflectance. Zone IX relates to the lightest possible print value-pure white of the paper base.
**The Zone System allows you to previsualize how the tones in any scene will look in a print and to choose either a realistic interpretation or a departure from reality. Using the Classic way to develop and expose your prints, and understanding the Zone System will help you get improved result in the final print stages.
**This is why I use Color film to produce my Black and White Prints. Color film reacts to Black and White enlargement paper better than your average Black and White film. Color film records the colors as they appear, and Black and White film records tones, which are directly related to each tone scale. Color film gives greater details and contrast than black and White film.
**I use the Zone System in my final print stages. This is where I can dodge and burn my details. My Photos are printed in Zones III to VII, it allows me to Hand Tint my Black and White Print with vivid or soft colors. The shades of gray intensifies the hue and tint of each color.

  Any one interested in learning how to Print Black and white Photos the classic way, I will be more than willing to help. I wish more people would learn this new Technique. It's not latin, but I am only the one that can speak what I preach. It does me no good if others can't learn and understand this wonderful language of Hand Tinting Black and White Photos.I will be the next Ansel Adams or George Eastman Kodak