Shadow behind me

I showed you man behind me at previous post. Here another photograph of the shadow man. It is at left side of the photograph as is before post. Is it just coincidence or ... ?

And print details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber Warmtone 24K Semi-Matt

Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)

Image Size: 15.3x22.8 cm (6x9in)

Developer: Ilford Multigrade  Developer 1+9 (2 min.)

Toner: Untoned

Film: Rollei RPX 400 rated 250 135 mm

I am using Ilford papers for years and I tried almost every type of their paper range. I haven't used this semi mat paper before. Also Omar, who is great printer and blogger, suggest me to use warmtone paper with a normal developer. In this print as you see above I selected Ilford Multigrade developer instead of a warmtone developer. Results are impressive. I loved surface and tones I get. It has a "real" creamy whites and shadows between yellowish and brownish. I am getting angry myself for ignoring this paper for years. I am planning to use this paper as my matt choices.

Furthermore, I installed another enlarger which is Durst M800 and I print this photograph with Durst. Also a Rodenstock Rodagon 105mm f:5.6 was installed on it. I printed a medium format photograph before this print and I bother to change the lens and condenser for 35 mm :).

Someone watching us

I am in a bad mood nowadays. I feel tons of loads over my shoulders that I couldn't carry and I feel someone always watching me. Finally I managed to catch that man behind me. You can see the shadow of him at the left side of below photo.

Print Details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy

Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)

Image Size: 14.8x22.8 cm (5.8x9in)

Developer: Ilford Harman Warmtone Developer 1+9 (3 min.)

Toner: Untoned

Film: Rollei RPX 400 rated 250 135 mm

Summer Days

Summer days about to finish and this year summer was too busy for me. I couldn't swim even. For this reason I couldn't post for awhile. In this post let's smell a summer breeze.

Print Details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Image Size: 14.8x22.8 cm (5.8x9in)
Developer: Ilford Harman Warmtone Developer 1+9 (3 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film: Rollei RPX 400 rated 250 135 mm

In this image I used a warmtone developer with a normal paper. It gives a little warmth to the paper which I liked. Also this developer is slower than Dektol. I think this enhance the shadow details a little in the print. 

Monster

Today I want to share a photograph from my book that I mentioned before. This image is one of my favorite one in the book. It was taken at April 2010, Kadikoy, Istanbul.

Contrary to common belief, taking photographs at demonstrations is very difficult task. There are lots of things going on all around you in demonstrations and you have to analyse and filter these complex situations as a photographer. Unfortunately, most of photographers are affected by this confusion environment and can not concentrate enough. 

Another difficulty is foreseeing the right moment in this fast evolving sequence of events and taking photograph at that right moment. For doing that a high concentration level and a sophisticated prediction talent are needed.

Here, I believe that I managed to overcome these difficulties in below image. Man with flag at the right and man with mask at the left of the image were both walking towards to me. I saw both of them in a second and I just imagined this frame. I could take only one frame in that moment. Even I didn't have enough time to focus. For this reason If you look carefully you can easily indicate that the image is a slightly out of focus. I felt I did something good when I took this photo. I am still getting exited when I look at this photograph.

Here are the image details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 24x30.5 cm (9½x12in)
Image Size: 19.6x28.5 cm (7.75x11.25in)
Developer: Dektol 1+2 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film Format: 35 mm

Rising the Bird

I have only one digital taken photograph in my portfolio. Hence I couldn't print it at darkroom, I was feeling uncomfortable. Then, one day I decided to print it by using an alternative processing technique and started to search an appropriate one that I can do. Most of them need several chemicals and they are too hard to find for me, but I faced with gum printing that need  just one chemical for making. It is potassium dichromate. I found it and decided to give a chance to it. 

For making these print I converted the digital image to negative and printed it to a A4 transparency sheet. Then prepared a 5%  solution of potassium dichromate. The other metarials that I used were gum arabic and  prussian blue gouache paint. For paper I preferred 425 gpm hand made, textured watercolor paper.

Paper was prepared under dim light conditions by applying solutions using a brush. Dried papers are contact printed under direct sun light.

Here are the print details:


Paper: Hand made, textured, 425 gsm, watercolour paper.
Paper Size: 21x29 cm (8.2x11.5in)
Image Size: 16.8x22.3 cm (6.6x8.8in)
Developer: Water
Toner: Untoned

Uploaded image is the best one that I could make. First problem that I faced was the exposure. What I read from the internet was suggesting 5 to 8 minutes exposure time under sun light. But in my situation I found best exposure time is 1 minutes. 

The other problem was details in shadows. I prepared three different negative which were low, normal and high contrast. This image was made with high contrast one. Unfortunately none of my negatives were not contain enough shadow details. I understand that I have to prepare contrast and more dense negative. 

BTW, most of the source I read about gum printing were suggested to size the paper but I didn't do it.   

Print taste

When printing a photograph generally you easily decide the contrast and exposure levels of the print. But pushing the boundaries at some photos may change the whole atmosphere. Here is an example of this.
At a heavy cloudy and very bad day, sun showed its face for a moment and below scene just happened. It was a perfect light with a darker background. I dreamed this atmosphere as soon as I saw it. In the darkroom I increased the contrast till the see was placed Zone II (Black areas with detail.) Also I placed the sail at Zone VIII (Textured white) by adjusting the exposure.

Here are the print details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 24x30.5 cm (9.5x12in)
Image Size: 18.5x28.2 cm (7.3x11.1in)
Developer: Dektol 1+2 (2 min.)
Toner: Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner
Film Format: 35 mm

Also you can see the standard print preference at the below:




Which one do you prefer? :)

Star of Greece

After awhile I manage to post another image. This image taken at Alexandroupolis (Dedeağaç is the Turkish name), Greece. This images is forcing my imagination. Whenever I look this image, I am dreaming lots of shapes and also I am making stories. Form on the sky part is a star or a dancer? What do you think? :)

Here is the print details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 24x30.5 cm (9½x12in)
Image Size: 18.5x28.2 cm (7.3x11.1in)
Developer: Dektol 1+2 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film Format: 35 mm