Bruce Barnbaum - The Art of Photography - An Approach to Personal Expression

There are several determining factors in regard to size. Technical considerations are, of course, preeminent. If the print appears sharp as an 8″ × 10″ but not as an 11″ × 14″ (and if sharpness is important, as it usually is in my images), then 8″ × 10″ will be the maximum size. On the other hand, if everything is technically perfect, tonal considerations are next in importance. Sometimes an area of soft tonal modulations holds up well at 8″ × 10″ but becomes too diffuse or boring at 16″ × 20″. Other times, a dominant area of deep tones or light tones can become visually oppressive if enlarged too much.

Sheer size is another factor. The scale of the various compositional elements has great emotional impact. A sweeping compositional line may be impressive in 16″ × 20″ but merely pleasant in 8″ × 10″ or smaller. Large prints tend to have greater impact, so if I’m looking for impact I gravitate toward the larger sizes. If I want a quieter image, I tend toward the smaller sizes. Of course there are exceptions to this general rule, but most often it holds true for me.

Subject matter used to be very important to me in determining print size (a vast landscape had to be big; a tiny flower had to be small), but it plays little role anymore. The size of the image I print is based on the characteristics of the photograph alone, not on the subject (Figure 10-18).

Finally, there is a subjective feel that nudges me larger or smaller as I see fit. I would be hard pressed to say anything more than, “It just feels right in that size!” A musical analogy explains it best for me: some pieces of classical music are written for a string quartet and some for a symphony orchestra, and they should not be reversed. I wouldn’t want to hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony played by a string quartet. It wouldn’t work! The scale of orchestration is similar to the scale of a photograph; it should be appropriate for the image.

I have heard many photographers talk about making some prints small in an effort to force people to look at them closely and carefully. This is fallacious reasoning. I have observed people looking at photographs for over forty years, and they always look at a photograph closely no matter how large it is! Perhaps they are looking to see if it’s sharp, or grainy, or something else of great moment that I have yet to discern, but it never fails. Thus, a photograph of any size will draw the viewer close, but a small print eliminates the distant view. I feel an image should be printed to the size that best enhances the intended message: small if a small size enhances its message, large if a large size enhances it.

Whatever size I choose, I can generally employ the same burning and dodging procedures, as well as similar flashing or reducing techniques as on the 8″ × 10″. Sometimes the printing technique changes a bit. Sometimes it changes drastically, because the size demands a different look to maintain the tonal integrity of the image. As the emotional impact of the print changes with scale, printing may have to change to compensate for it. Some of the changes can create very surprising results.

Selenium Toning Prints

After I complete all my printing for a darkroom session and accumulate the prints in a holding tray of water, I tone them. Toning is a post-development procedure that takes place in full room lighting, and has several effects on the print. First, it alters the color of the print either greatly or subtly depending on the paper, the toner and its concentration, and the length of time the print is immersed in the toner. Second, it gives the print greater overall contrast and increased density in the blacks. Third, it gives the print greater permanence by making it less susceptible to damage from aerial contaminants, particularly acids.

Note

I usually have a good idea about the size of the final print as I stand behind the camera to make my exposure since I feel it’s a necessary part of visualizing the final image. The scale of a print materially imparts an emotional response to the image .

I tone all my prints in Kodak’s Rapid Selenium Toner. I don’t use Kodak’s recommended dilution, however, for I feel it’s too strong, producing a red-brown color that I find terribly distracting. On the toner’s label it states that the print should be thoroughly washed otherwise yellow stains may appear. I have found that warning to be correct. To avoid any yellow stains, I first place each print in Kodak’s Hypo-Clearing Agent. This assures that no significant amount of fix remains on the print that can cause staining. I place one print at a time in the solution—about a minute apart—and gently rock the tray periodically. After five prints are in the tray, I remove the bottom one each time I add a new one and place it in a holding tray of water. When all the prints have been through the Hypo-Clearing wash and are in the holding tray, I proceed with toning.

I dilute seven ounces of Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner in a gallon of water. (The dilution changes with different papers; this is the dilution I use with Adox MCC 110 paper, recently released.) Then I place the first print from the holding tray into the solution and rock the tray gently for a minute, then place the next print on top of it. After another minute of agitation, another print is placed on top. After five are in the tray, I pull the bottom one out and compare its color and density with the one just placed in the solution. The toned print is altered in color—its gray-green tone is changed to gray-blue or gray-purple. Also, contrast is increased as the selenium combines chemically with the silver of the emulsion, intensifying the deep grays and blacks.

Because toning occurs slowly, it is unwise to watch a single print tone until it reaches the right color. It’s like watching the hour hand of a clock: it moves, but you can’t see it happening! The best thing to do is to compare a toned print with an un-toned one. If my comparison shows that the print’s color has not changed sufficiently, I leave the print in the solution and add another print at approximately the same one-minute interval. When the print finally reaches the desired color, I remove it, place it on my vertical plastic sheet, and hose it thoroughly with water. It then goes into another tray of fresh water. With that, I have established an assembly line timing system in which I add and remove a print every minute or so. If there are many prints to be toned, I gradually lengthen the toning time as the toner slowly exhausts itself. Of course, If I’m using several different papers during my printing session, each may respond to the toner at different rates, so I alter my procedure to account for that.

I used to mix the Rapid Selenium Toner into the Hypo-Clearing Agent, but I could use the solution only once because Hypo-Clearing Agent oxidizes rapidly, rendering it useless a day or two later. Selenium is a metal and does not deteriorate in solution. By separating the two processes, I simply dump the Hypo-Clearing Agent after each use (which represents no real environmental damage, to my knowledge) and I can now use the Rapid Selenium Toner several times. After toning is completed, I pour the solution back into a gallon bottle and cap it tightly. After several uses, the toner is quite exhausted and the clear liquid turns a bronze color, making it difficult to judge the degree to which prints are toned. After five or six uses, it must be discarded.

Because of characteristic toning differences among papers, I always begin my toning with the prints that I want to tone the longest and end with those that require shorter toning times, when the toner is a bit exhausted. I use my dilution rather than Kodak’s recommendation to give only a subtle color change. I generally feel that black-and-white prints have more impact with subliminal color variations than with overt color variations. However, I have recently begun to use toning and bleaching to produce more overt coloration to black-and-white prints. (See Chemical Coloration below.)