Paper Again
Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:36AM 
All week I have taken some time every day to do a little printing. All prints were 8X10 and I started with a partial box of Ilford Neutral Tone paper. I was having a little trouble getting what I wanted out of the paper and was a little frustrated because I thought the negative were good and I really liked the images. But as I worked through the last of the paper it became a little easier. Then, finally, the last sheet was printed and time to open a new box of the Ilford Warmtone paper. The very first print was WOW! Great tonality, contrast, I got what I was looking for out of the paper. Instead of compromise the prints were quite pleasing, rich beautiful prints you can be proud of showing rather than the much work for compromise.
Now, to hear this compared with even 6 months ago is rather surprising to me. I was barely able to discern the difference between the papers at that time. The difference in the tones (neutral vs. warm) was obvious but the subtle differences in the papers was only marginally visible. This time it was almost a slap in the face with a wet rag.
So vision continues to develop as you work. This one was obvious partly because it has been a while since I printed with the warmtone paper and partly because the negatives were better than usual. They were little more dense and had higher contrast than usual, This was deliberate as part of a suggestion made by Randy Efros almost a year ago. It is nice to see that coming together as well.
The photo above was scanned from a print. The scan of the negative was lower quality. My knowledge and skill in scanning is weak and may not improve. I scan the negatives as a way to provide something like a contact sheet for myself. From those scans I decide which negatives to print. This works well for me and I see no reason to change it or to work hard to improve the quality of the scans since they are never printed. On the rare occasion I shoot color, I scan and will sometimes print that file. But those are for my own use. When I wish to show or sell a color print I take it to a professional.
