Three hot days in Eilat – the analogue ecstasy.(p2)
I have a question. How many of you are still doing this wonderful old school process – printing taken photographs in size 10×15 or even a little big bigger, with the goal to have with you your visual portfolio, and to give these “postcards” to your friends and acquaintances? I was doing this very often, until the day, when the photo store, printing for me photographs, closed it’s doors forever. Many years ago I chose this specific shop because of the high quality of the printing and especially because of the correct work with the colors.
Well, i always printed black and white, and here is the point – when the printers are not calibrated in the daily basics, the black and white photographs are never turning out black and white. I mean BLACK AND WHITE and not having bluish or greenish tones. Before choosing this place, i had very bad experience with the printing results in a few places, considered super professional. But the final result always was very bad. And the owner of this place surprised me just with the first test. When he closed the service, i just stopped printing my photographs, but continued looking around.
Yesterday, i printed some 20 images in the new for me place. During the small talk the owner of age 80+ managed to impress me with his knowledge and experience. But, to my deep disappointment, all the photos turned out to be very contrasting and with a strong blue tone. As it turned out, he hasn’t been printing in his studio for a long time, but sends them to the nearest place, which doesn’t give a damn why I want to see mine BLACK AND WHITE works not not tinted in different non-existent tones.
That’s all for today…
Even hot days has life goes on thats how i felt looking at your photo .always wonderful messages. As for your question .. i have to admit no much skills :):) but i remember my father he was like you :):) film only , of course back then was only film. 🤍🖤
Thank you Naomi for the kind words. Yes, once it was the only choice or to paint pictures 😉
Actually i use my digital camera from time to time. And many of the printed yesterday images were digital. But right these days I am almost 100% dedicated to film 😉
I’m sympathetic, Victor. I shoot film half the time … sending film to a lab (they develop and send me scans and the negatives) then I print them myself using an Epson P800. I will get a slight (but noticeable) purple color cast unless I let the printer control the color and set the “Print Settings/Printer Options/Printer Settings/Print Mode” to Advanced Black and White. Then there’s no color cast. (the same happens if I shoot digital and convert to B&W)
Hi Allan. Thank you for taking a read and for these recommendations. I will check this printer and maybe for some available alternatives. Another need is to find a good and not too thin paper for the exact feeling of the postcard.
The photographs are beautiful Victor. I think self printing is the way to go if you can.
Thank you very much. I will check this. It’s about both kinds of media – film and digital.
I have tried a bunch of different print services too; and I’ve seen that same problem with some. I don’t know if they’ll ship to you for a cost you’ll find practical, but I use https://www.mpix.com/ It couldn’t hurt to shoot them the question (or poke around on their site; I didn’t see anything specifically about international shipping).
Love the shots, Victor. Always glad to see your posts.
Hi Matt. thank you for the kind words and for the recommendation! I will check mpix !
Anytime. I hope they can help. They are in Kansas (GMT -6)
Once again, very fine captures Victor. When I had my darkroom set up it was easy to make a few extra copies of single choices to give to friends and family. All the timings and stops were set up for enlarger, developer soak, paper grade or filter choice, etc. in order to get a constant. When I began scanning the negatives due to taking the darkroom down, was when I stopped printing. Just filing the scanned negative results for keepsakes. I had no printer good enough to print out quality results. I noticed colour tint capture on a very few scanned negatives which was always a puzzle as to why.
But I had a cheap CD disc ‘altering programme’ uploaded into the laptop which the programme was then accessible through a desk top icon. So could change and manipulate the scanned results in minor ways. Contrast, pure black and white, etc. Certainly no Adobe level of possibilities.
All this was years ago. My old Epson scanner was incompatible with the new Samsung laptop I bought at the time. My old laptop was breaking down, so useless. The scanner suddenly became redundant. No ‘plug in’ was available to allow the new Samsung laptop to recognise the Epson scanner. This was about fifteen years ago. And nothing done film wise since. I still have the Pentax LX and some out of date film. And a gentle promise to myself to go and take more black and white film. Even have my film developing tanks, and would love to try the natural way. Using coffee as developer, etc.
I did see your Naomi video by the way. Fine work too.
All the best Victor.
Hi Gray. Thank you for taking a look and for very interesting reflections about the status of your analog gear. It’s not easy to build all the way of doing film photography at home. My process is also not 100% as I am willing to have it. Scanning is ok, i use a V800 Epson machine which i bought in used condition. I really prefer to make the real dark room printing process. Not sure when this will be possible for me.
Have a nice day, Gray !
Thanks for the reply. Even though the darkroom was small, it felt comfortable and produced some nice prints. Bought some vintage single grade papers once which was the best time. 4 and 5 grade so quite high contrast. And gave an aura due to age. But nowadays, it will be more a hobby and a future blog down the line re: capturing film imagery may be realised. But the music is more the focus now. Hence my especially liking, amongst your other great captures, your musician images.
Cheers. Have a nice day too Victor.
I don’t have any knowledge about the dark room printing, even i attended the process a few times in my childhood in the darkrooms (usually bathrooms) with my friends.. In USSR it.was very popular and usual for many families.
Photographing music events is a very special pleasure Gray 😉 It’s like attending the band 😉
I can understand your views on photographing bands Victor. We knew a photographer back in the day who was constantly at gigs and rehearsals. Even though it was decades ago, his Facebook uploads nowadays provide past images for the musicians to reflect on those amazing and brighter days of young life. It also brings the musicians to collectively discuss on Facebook about those times too. Good for the soul.
Darkrooms? I found the ambience and quiet nature very soothing. The stresses of the day were washed away when producing the images. Back when we were children, a couple of my Father’s friends had ‘bathroom’ darkrooms. So, yes, it seemed it was a popular hobby.
Thank you for the reply Victor.