Recently at Morse Brothers Studios I have been focused on getting back into the darkroom and making prints again. I have also been improving my darkroom printing process by reviewing the process and adopting more techniques used by master printers.
As a part of this I have made a series of three prints from a trip to Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales last October. Whernside is the tallest point in Yorkshire and part of the Three Peaks. It is a good strenuous walk to the top with wonderful views. When I visited I came away with 3 printable photos taken with my Fuji GSW 690 medium format camera. I used Ilford FP4+ which is my go-to black and white film.
The three images featured are...
The way this is achieved is through two basic manipulations, exposure and contrast. Modern photographic paper allows contrast to be controlled through the use of colored filters. (Prior to this one picked the paper depending on the amount of contrast desired.) Exposure determines how light or dark different parts of the print are and this is where most of the compression of tonal range occurs.
Finally the images presented here are scans of the original prints and while faithful do not convey the full range of tone and sharpness one experiences holding a print in hand.
Hours later as I started to descend from the top of Whernside I was tired and sore. I looked out across the valley and suddenly beheld the late afternoon sun picking out the viaduct. I hurriedly metered, focussed, and framed the shot. I think what the print captures for me is how this monumental Victorian engineering marvel is dwarfed in the vast landscape. The light almost gives it a sacred quality and in some sense allows god to enter the work of man and nature.
The story of how I got to this print (and the others) involved hours of work and 8 test prints to build up the image. I printed this on Ilford MGFB paper at 12"x16" with 1/4" borders. MG means Multi-Grade which refers to the variable contrast paper mentioned above. FB means Fiber Based which is generally considered to be the material of choice for fine art prints. Properly processed a print can last 100 years or more.
The method I work to is to perfect the initial exposure and contrast for the darkest part of the image. In this case the shadow band at the bottom of the print. This allows me to 'burn' or add more exposure for the lighter parts of the print.
On this print the area above this bottom shadow band all the way to the horizon is too light. In part because of the sunny patch around the viaduct. If I didn't burn this section then it would appear washed out and without contrast. Too much burn and I would lose the lovely highlight of the sunlight of the viaduct.
Next I concerned myself with the sky. Typically the sky in a scene is 1-2 stops brighter than the ground. This means 2-4 times brighter. Again, if I did nothing the sky would appear white and the print would lose the drama of the dark cloud hovering over the center and sense of light streaming in from the right. So I burned the sky as well.
The burings I did in two stages. The first stage was from the top edge of the shadow to the top of the print. I added about the same amount as the base exposure for the entire print again to this area. I used a black card to shade the shadow band from the enlarger in the process. I do this again from the horizon to the top of the print. The burn plan looks like the following illustration. Getting this right requires numerous test prints.
As a part of this I have made a series of three prints from a trip to Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales last October. Whernside is the tallest point in Yorkshire and part of the Three Peaks. It is a good strenuous walk to the top with wonderful views. When I visited I came away with 3 printable photos taken with my Fuji GSW 690 medium format camera. I used Ilford FP4+ which is my go-to black and white film.
The three images featured are...
- Ribblehead Distant
- Whernside Greensell Tarn
- Force Gill
Print Making
The challenge to making a good print is that while film can record up to 10-11 stops of light (each stop being a doubling of light) photographic paper may be limited to 7-8 stops. This means paper can express a range between 1/4 to 1/8 the range of light. (An inkjet image is not any better than this and a computer screen is at best about 8 stops of range.) The challenge of the printer is to compress the range of light expressed on the negative onto the paper and convey the image to the observer in a way that faithfully represents the mood and feeling from the moment the photo was taken.The way this is achieved is through two basic manipulations, exposure and contrast. Modern photographic paper allows contrast to be controlled through the use of colored filters. (Prior to this one picked the paper depending on the amount of contrast desired.) Exposure determines how light or dark different parts of the print are and this is where most of the compression of tonal range occurs.
Finally the images presented here are scans of the original prints and while faithful do not convey the full range of tone and sharpness one experiences holding a print in hand.
Ribblehead Distant
Below is a final print I call Ribblehead Distant. Most photos of this landmark are taken right next to the Ribblehead Viaduct itself. It is an iconic landmark and at the start of the day's walk is impressive to stand underneath. I did take a photo of the viaduct from the ground but I wanted to do something different with the subject. Not sure what that would be at the time but...Hours later as I started to descend from the top of Whernside I was tired and sore. I looked out across the valley and suddenly beheld the late afternoon sun picking out the viaduct. I hurriedly metered, focussed, and framed the shot. I think what the print captures for me is how this monumental Victorian engineering marvel is dwarfed in the vast landscape. The light almost gives it a sacred quality and in some sense allows god to enter the work of man and nature.
The story of how I got to this print (and the others) involved hours of work and 8 test prints to build up the image. I printed this on Ilford MGFB paper at 12"x16" with 1/4" borders. MG means Multi-Grade which refers to the variable contrast paper mentioned above. FB means Fiber Based which is generally considered to be the material of choice for fine art prints. Properly processed a print can last 100 years or more.
The method I work to is to perfect the initial exposure and contrast for the darkest part of the image. In this case the shadow band at the bottom of the print. This allows me to 'burn' or add more exposure for the lighter parts of the print.
On this print the area above this bottom shadow band all the way to the horizon is too light. In part because of the sunny patch around the viaduct. If I didn't burn this section then it would appear washed out and without contrast. Too much burn and I would lose the lovely highlight of the sunlight of the viaduct.
Next I concerned myself with the sky. Typically the sky in a scene is 1-2 stops brighter than the ground. This means 2-4 times brighter. Again, if I did nothing the sky would appear white and the print would lose the drama of the dark cloud hovering over the center and sense of light streaming in from the right. So I burned the sky as well.
The burings I did in two stages. The first stage was from the top edge of the shadow to the top of the print. I added about the same amount as the base exposure for the entire print again to this area. I used a black card to shade the shadow band from the enlarger in the process. I do this again from the horizon to the top of the print. The burn plan looks like the following illustration. Getting this right requires numerous test prints.
Whernside Greensell Tarn
This is a small lake, locally called a tarn, at the base of Whernside. This was again a challenging print to make due the range of light and shadow. I followed a similar process to achieve the end result.
Force Gill
This is a stream on the side of Whernside on the hike up the mountain. This is actually Low Force. Force or Foss is a local term for waterfall. Again I wanted to place the waterfall in the larger context of the landscape and use it to give scale to the surroundings. Typically you see waterfalls as the major subject. I however wanted the mountain and terrain to figure more into the image.
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