Eight Months with my M-8

[Patrick Kolb]

Early this year I started to come out of the darkroom, so to speak. After years of large format photography, 5x7 and 8x10 cameras, and making platinum/palladium prints, I purchased a M-8 and started down a very long road of learning the very first steps of this whole digital workflow. Added to that, I still wanted to make platinum/palladium prints, so with my limited new knowledge of Photoshop I started to make digital negatives for my process. It’s been a long road, but enjoyable, and now I have some prints.

Next up was setting up a website, again another new process to learn. But now I have found a simple web format and have just finished me site. I would like to invite you to take a look and let me know what you think. All of the photos in the “New Work”
section are with the M-8, along with everything from “Italy”.

www.patrickkolb.com

Thanks for looking, and looking forward to your suggestions.

 

[helenhill]

Hello Patrick

Cool website
Truly LOVED your Italian Series my FAV.... Civita Bagnoregio Magical
the Italy shots drew me in and I keep going Back
Makes me Crave an M8
just like alot of the FAB M8 players & shooters here @getdpi / Lovely
Best-H

 

[fotografz]

Thank God! Supreme craftmanship is alive and well.

Thanks for sharing.

(Good reading also.)

 

[jlm]

patrick:

nice classic work; i particularly like the Oregon scenes.

a question: are you making digital prints? i thought I read on your site you were making digital negatives in PS for pallladium printing. How do you do that?

john milich

 

[ecliffordsmith]

Hi Patrick,

I too really enjoyed the Italy gallery and new work. Very nicely done.

 

[Patrick Kolb]

Thank you for looking and taking the time to answer my post.

I got my M-8 in late March and we headed off to Italy in mid-April, so I barely had time to work with Capture One before we left, I got CS3 when we got back. But the hardest thing for me was using a camera without a tripod. It had been 15 years since I did that.

John, I am sure that some of the Oregon images must bring back some memories, for everyone else, John and I were in grade school together.

To make the platinum prints, you are right John; I first have to make a digitally printed negative. Right now I am using an Epson 3800 printer and the Harrington/Reeder QTR printer rip for printing on Pictorico Transparency Film. Then it is the normal procedures for making pt/pd prints.

 

[nei1]

Love the zig zag lake and the treee on the hill especially,does the paper have texture?is it matt?Beautiful tone to all the images.The digital negative that you make Patrick,what size is it?Are you losing any quality with this method?Sorry for so many ?s but the idea of a digital interneg is intriguing,.....Neil.

 

[Patrick Kolb]

Thanks Neil,

Part of the joy of making pt/pd prints is the different papers you can use; color, finish (texture) and final tone of the print are up to the photographer, along with developer temperature and paper humidity, which has some effects on the final tones. I picked a certain paper for my prints from Italy that gave me the feel of the warmth I got from the country. My landscapes seem to do better on a brighter paper. It sounds confusing, but actually it is not.

In making prints, just think like you are making contact prints – the size of the negative equals the size of the final print. I made a very simple UV light box for exposure, we don’t have many sunny days in Oregon, and have been able to keep my times around 6 to 7 minutes.

Once I got a handle on the QTR (quad tone rip) settings, I now think I have more control over the print than from the conventional darkroom negative. Making pt/pd prints is a forgiving process because the print is more about the luminosity of the print and not so much the detail. At the risk of maybe offending someone, I feel I have not given up any quality at all with this method and in some ways, I have better control of the final print.

Where are you located, I would be willing to show you how I do this if interested.

Patrick

 

[jlm]

patrick; it was high school

 

[nei1]

Wish I could take you up on youre kind offer Patrick,unfortunately Im in Spain.
Sorry for another question but what is the quad tone rip?The materials you use to make the digital neg,are they easily available? Thanks Patrick,regards,Neil.

 

[Patrick Kolb]

Neil,

Here are two links that will help explain the QTR for making the digital negative and another about Pictorico film, I would think that it is available world-wide.

http://www.ronreeder.com/articles/QTRManualv2.pdf

http://www.pictorico.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=52


Let me know through my website if I can be of any further help after you review this material. I would be happy to share my printing curve for making the negatives. But let me warn you now that there is something very special about a pt/pd print. After I made my first one, I have not done anything else since.

Patrick