On the way home from our most recent trip to Burlington for a Burlington Photo Art Group meeting, my friend Jim Blomfield convinced me to try split grade printing (see also this tutorial) rather than using the mixed-filter settings on my Devere 504 enlarger. The Devere supports filter grades from 0 to 4 (not 5) in 1/2 grade increments. Jim suggested that with split-grade printing I’d get better results since the light colour that is exposing the paper matches exactly the emulsions within it: magenta and yellow.
So, on this latest batch of prints I’ve made of Saskatchewan I followed Jim’s instructions, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. Here is my favorite of those that I’ve printed thus far:
| Camera: Toyo 45CF field camera |
| Film: Ilford FP4+ developed in Kodak D-76 |
| Lens: Fujinon 135SW with red filter |
| Exposure: unknown |
| Print: Ilford Multigrade FB Warmtone Glossy developed in Ilford Multigrade developer |
This ranch house ruin is located in the West block of Grasslands National Park, south of Val Marie, Saskatchewan. I made this image while on a Wild Prairie workshop led by James R. Page last summer, in the 3rd week of June.
The image above is from a scan of an 8×10 print on Ilford Warmtone FB Glossy developed in Ilford Multigrade. I used the same paper/developer combination for the 11×14 print that will hang at the Second Cup cafe near the University of Waterloo sometime next week.
I’m pleased with the result – the print above was how I had visualized the scene before I made the photograph. The portrait of me on my about page was taken the same day at the same site; largely overcast, a “straight” image was going to be very, very dull. At the time, I decided to try to take advantage of the clouds and make a stronger, bolder image more suggestive of the approaching thunderstorms that hit us 30 minutes later.
Split printing rocks but it does not solve all the problems. Dodging and burning is still essential to 99% of all your prints.
In this case, on my monitor (calibrated) I do not see pure white or enough highlights except in the sky. To me this means that your printing time is a bit high. For this shot, for me, the foreground subject is the focal point. I would likely have set my timer for good tones there, and burned in the sky.
Hope that helps – Marko
Thanks for your comment, Marko.
I was satisfied with this particular print as it appears, though I find the scan a bit dark compared to the print itself. Nonetheless I’ll keep your comment in mind. I have noted that when trying the split printing technique my prints have overall become somewhat darker. I like that appearance, generally, but as the saying goes, there can be “too much of a good thing”.