Printing For Profit in Platinum From Digital Negatives - The Concise Guide - Part 1/7
Part 1/7 - Printing in platinum for profit.
Unless you are an already collected artist, it is unlikely that you will be able to sell your platinum/palladium prints at a high or even fair price. Many emerging photographers try to get their work out as much as possible, with low cost sales and frequent exhibitions, in the hope to receive attention. Because of the high costs of platinum printmaking this is something to keep into proper consideration. Throughout the articles I will therefore be focusing on the second most important issue in platinum printmaking: keeping your costs to a minimum, to produce some profit even when you have to sell at a low price. Mastering the process is not complicated, it is a long curve more than a steep one. To succeed though, you need much practice, and consequently sales to pay for your labour and materials.
Frequent low price sales will allow you to practice more and thus be able to obtain a level of consistency that will allow you to make as little mistakes as possible in order to keep your costs low. The low cost will allow low price sales and so on. Do not get stuck in this circle though. Higher price sales will eventually follow as you master the technique and become known. All the following notes, of course, will also interest those who print in platinum as a hobby (who does not want to save some money).
The first most important aspect is, of course, quality. Platinum prints should always be made to gallery standards and flawless. When you present a platinotype keep in mind that viewers expect excellence. Following the simple techniques that I am going to expose, you will be able to do that.
Printing for high volumes means that you must find a consistent way to make your prints, and this is easy to get, as we will see in Part 5, the digital negative. We need to save time as well as money, therefore test prints and guesswork should be avoided.
Printing for low cost sales means selling an 8x10" print mounted to museum standards in the $50-$100 price region. Editioning your work, like I do, is one way to sell at a price higher than that. I normally use a three-price tier system with increasing prices as the edition sells. Of course, the low price scenario applies mostly to generic photography, such as landscapes. If you do something more specific, such as nudes, or portraiture, you should be able to sell at a higher price.
I mentioned the cost of the noble metals. For many printers, a generically called platinum print is often an almost pure palladium print. It is not only because of the lower cost. Compared with platinum, palladium offers many advantages. It is easier to use, gives better coating, smoother tones, a longer tonal scale, deeper blacks and a fantastic color. Especially if you are starting with the process, I would recommend printing in pure palladium.
It is also true that, since we are going to use NA2 (Sodium Chloroplatinate) for contrast (albeit in very low percentages), technically we can not say that our pd prints are pure palladium. In time, your portfolio will probably contain 100% pd prints, 50/50 pt-pd prints and different mixes within these quantities. So how would you describe your work? I have seen prints with the quantities noted in pencil on a border (sometimes including exposure time and contrast), but, since I dislike giving out too much technical information, I present all my prints with the generic term platinum prints. Many others I know do the same. Even if you plan to go for palladium only, I would recommend, however, getting a small bottle of platinum, for not always the greater warmth of pure palladium is desired.
The second expensive item in the process is obviously the paper. It is possible to use almost any paper - including the humble watercolor paper that one can find at the local art shop. In fact, many papers for water colorists will work if you soak them for five minutes in a weak solution of oxalic acid (and then wash it of course). I would, however, definitely NOT recommend saving money on paper. The paper that I use is Crane's natural, called Crane's Platinotype in USA (until 2006, now, I believe, is called Crane's Diploma Parchment) and Crane's Crest Natural White Wove in Europe (at least in England, from gfsmith.com). This fine paper is relatively easy to find, it is smooth and easy to coat, needs less solution than some other papers (saving us money), and it is not terribly expensive. It is available in natural, my favourite - and white.
Of course, the paper is indeed a personal choice. For example many suppliers recommend Crane's Kid Finish to beginners. To me this paper looks too thin, more difficult to use, does not flat well and I would not recommend it. I, however, heartily suggest being familiar with at least a second paper, should the paper of choice be (or suddenly become) unavailable. I recommend Arches Platine, which costs slightly more than Crane's, but it is heavier, easier to find, it is also beautiful and easy to work with (no acidification required etc.). The only difference with Crane's (except maybe 20% more exposure) is that it does not clear in citric acid, so you need to keep a little a stock of Kodak Clearing Agent as well. What about fancy papers, such as the expensive Japanese Gampi for example. Printing on hand made papers can be rewarding both aesthetically and financially (my sales skyrocketed for a while when I presented old work on Gampi) but I would recommend leaving any possible further difficulties when you will be experienced, so for now let's stick to Crane's (or similar).
Part 2/7 will discuss the equipment needed in detail.
Unless you are an already collected artist, it is unlikely that you will be able to sell your platinum/palladium prints at a high or even fair price. Many emerging photographers try to get their work out as much as possible, with low cost sales and frequent exhibitions, in the hope to receive attention. Because of the high costs of platinum printmaking this is something to keep into proper consideration. Throughout the articles I will therefore be focusing on the second most important issue in platinum printmaking: keeping your costs to a minimum, to produce some profit even when you have to sell at a low price. Mastering the process is not complicated, it is a long curve more than a steep one. To succeed though, you need much practice, and consequently sales to pay for your labour and materials.
Frequent low price sales will allow you to practice more and thus be able to obtain a level of consistency that will allow you to make as little mistakes as possible in order to keep your costs low. The low cost will allow low price sales and so on. Do not get stuck in this circle though. Higher price sales will eventually follow as you master the technique and become known. All the following notes, of course, will also interest those who print in platinum as a hobby (who does not want to save some money).
The first most important aspect is, of course, quality. Platinum prints should always be made to gallery standards and flawless. When you present a platinotype keep in mind that viewers expect excellence. Following the simple techniques that I am going to expose, you will be able to do that.
Printing for high volumes means that you must find a consistent way to make your prints, and this is easy to get, as we will see in Part 5, the digital negative. We need to save time as well as money, therefore test prints and guesswork should be avoided.
Printing for low cost sales means selling an 8x10" print mounted to museum standards in the $50-$100 price region. Editioning your work, like I do, is one way to sell at a price higher than that. I normally use a three-price tier system with increasing prices as the edition sells. Of course, the low price scenario applies mostly to generic photography, such as landscapes. If you do something more specific, such as nudes, or portraiture, you should be able to sell at a higher price.
I mentioned the cost of the noble metals. For many printers, a generically called platinum print is often an almost pure palladium print. It is not only because of the lower cost. Compared with platinum, palladium offers many advantages. It is easier to use, gives better coating, smoother tones, a longer tonal scale, deeper blacks and a fantastic color. Especially if you are starting with the process, I would recommend printing in pure palladium.
It is also true that, since we are going to use NA2 (Sodium Chloroplatinate) for contrast (albeit in very low percentages), technically we can not say that our pd prints are pure palladium. In time, your portfolio will probably contain 100% pd prints, 50/50 pt-pd prints and different mixes within these quantities. So how would you describe your work? I have seen prints with the quantities noted in pencil on a border (sometimes including exposure time and contrast), but, since I dislike giving out too much technical information, I present all my prints with the generic term platinum prints. Many others I know do the same. Even if you plan to go for palladium only, I would recommend, however, getting a small bottle of platinum, for not always the greater warmth of pure palladium is desired.
The second expensive item in the process is obviously the paper. It is possible to use almost any paper - including the humble watercolor paper that one can find at the local art shop. In fact, many papers for water colorists will work if you soak them for five minutes in a weak solution of oxalic acid (and then wash it of course). I would, however, definitely NOT recommend saving money on paper. The paper that I use is Crane's natural, called Crane's Platinotype in USA (until 2006, now, I believe, is called Crane's Diploma Parchment) and Crane's Crest Natural White Wove in Europe (at least in England, from gfsmith.com). This fine paper is relatively easy to find, it is smooth and easy to coat, needs less solution than some other papers (saving us money), and it is not terribly expensive. It is available in natural, my favourite - and white.
Of course, the paper is indeed a personal choice. For example many suppliers recommend Crane's Kid Finish to beginners. To me this paper looks too thin, more difficult to use, does not flat well and I would not recommend it. I, however, heartily suggest being familiar with at least a second paper, should the paper of choice be (or suddenly become) unavailable. I recommend Arches Platine, which costs slightly more than Crane's, but it is heavier, easier to find, it is also beautiful and easy to work with (no acidification required etc.). The only difference with Crane's (except maybe 20% more exposure) is that it does not clear in citric acid, so you need to keep a little a stock of Kodak Clearing Agent as well. What about fancy papers, such as the expensive Japanese Gampi for example. Printing on hand made papers can be rewarding both aesthetically and financially (my sales skyrocketed for a while when I presented old work on Gampi) but I would recommend leaving any possible further difficulties when you will be experienced, so for now let's stick to Crane's (or similar).
Part 2/7 will discuss the equipment needed in detail.
