Large Lith Prints

[Rlibersky]

Thomas, if you want to do the work yourself I have the room and the equipment for you to make a print this size in my darkroom.

[Mike Té]

Sheesh; seems there's a lot of APUGers in the Twin Cities area!

[Videbaek]

Good luck, Thomas. That's a beautiful picture and I understand how you want your customer to get it in its finest incarnation. I'd just like to mention that I've sent a picture to Mr. Carnie at Elevator to try Lambda printing on that special new Ilford B & W paper. A friend of mine in Sweden wanted a certain picture, and I thought I'd send it to Bob to see what happens. Been very curious for a long time. Of course, I had to have one made for myself as well, so I could see what my friend received. Well! Never mind what I think -- my friend is very happy, and he knows about these things. Cheap, it wasn't. But a master print-maker cannot be expected to cheaply make a large print by hand in the darkroom and tone it in sepia, gold and iron blue. I have complete confidence in Mr. Carnie's interpretive abilities. The experience has opened up a world of possibilities for me, and set me to work on my first proper series thinking of the particular strengths of this printing method.

[Sparky]

I have a question about lith printing in large magnifications... not sure here - perhaps Mr Carnie would be best qualified to answer this - but since the color/tonality of lith depends on the tonality of the negative... does a large size print 'fall apart' when there is apparent grain - i.e. - wouldn't the whole gamut of response be completely different since now you would have a field of black grains on white...? Does this question make sense to you? See what I'm driving at? (no longer a continuous tone original past a certain size).

[rootberry]

Thomas, you should be charging so much more for one of your killer lith prints at this size!

[Bob Carnie]

How did I all of a sudden become Mr Carnie????
If anybody around the lab heard that they would be pissing their pants laughing.

There should be no problem making the Large Print, I am using a 2000w Durst Horizontal Enlarger with glass carrier to project on the wall.
I have ordered 10 rolls of 42inch x 100ft Fotospeed which will arrive shortly. I am very confident of the results.
The grain will in fact be a added bonus with the larger print and at proper viewing distance will have the same look as a 11x14 print from the same neg.
Pulling the prints will be a bit of a pain as it needs to be quick.. at 40x60 size I will have a technician on the other side of the sink and we will both pull the print from one tray to the others so as to speed up the transition.
To flash the paper I will have lights aimed at the wall on a timer , so I will load the roll onto the magnetic wall, Flash if needed , then do the main exposure, then develop the print.
For Lith Images I use Tri X pushed 1 1/12 stops and dev in HC110.
I find the more grain the better. I am never looking for smooth tonalities unless it is for Fashion Work.

on a more serious note
I plan on making a Series of Images using the rolls mentioned above.
My Project will be called Pin Head Big Head, and I am looking for people with either enormous craniums *Les McLean* or small craniums *Dinesh*, If any of you have an odd size head I would love to photograph you for this series.. I think the Fotospeed in lith will be just the ticket to project a good semblence of my subjects.

I have a question about lith printing in large magnifications... not sure here - perhaps Mr Carnie would be best qualified to answer this - but since the color/tonality of lith depends on the tonality of the negative... does a large size print 'fall apart' when there is apparent grain - i.e. - wouldn't the whole gamut of response be completely different since now you would have a field of black grains on white...? Does this question make sense to you? See what I'm driving at? (no longer a continuous tone original past a certain size).

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Well, I finally ended up doing a smaller 16x20 print for this customer. After viewing 8x10 samples in both lith and standard chemistry, he went for standard chemistry on Ilford Warmtone, later toned in selenium and sepia.
The good news is that it now hangs in the accounting office at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Not a bad place for a print of mine, and even though I got paid less for it, my profit margin was much better.
Thank you for all of your help and encouragement. I'm kinda miffed I didn't get to do the huge lith print, but so it goes. Some day I'll have a large darkroom... Just have to sell a few more prints first!

- Thomas

[Fintan]

Excellent Thomas, Niceone!!