Black & White: Photographic Printing Workshop

Rating:
Summary: great reference book for improving your skills
Review: This book is a great way to see another way of looking at printing black and white photographs. The author is usually printing other people's negatives, but the knowledge gained can be even more useful when the printer is also the photographer. The end result should be in mind when the photograph is taken, thus the printing will be much easier. This isn't a good how-to book in the sense that it is fairly advanced. It is good at presenting another theory about printing, and teaching techniques that are very effective.

Rating:
Summary: This is a marvellous book on B&W printing
Review: This book is not only a collection of great photographs. It is also a book that explains in detail how the printer evaluates the straight print and then proceeds to make the fine print. At the beginning many general aspects of printing with multigrade paper are discussed. Some advice for HW is also given. After this short introduction comes the main part: The printing process of many photojournalistic/glamour/still life photographs (really good ones!) is explained. First comes the straight print. Then comes a sketch of the burn-in/dodging procedure. The subjective opinion/reason of the printer for each step is also stated. Finally comes the fine print. One main idea that pervades the whole book is the idea of local contrast. This alone can improve the craft of many newcomers to B&W printing. Reading this book has opened my mind as to what good printing is capable of and I believe that my printing has improved since then.

Rating:
Summary: This is a marvellous book on B&W printing
Review: This book is not only a collection of great photographs. It is also a book that explains in detail how the printer evaluates the straight print and then proceeds to make the fine print. At the beginning many general aspects of printing with multigrade paper are discussed. Some advice for HW is also given. After this short introduction comes the main part: The printing process of many photojournalistic/glamour/still life photographs (really good ones!) is explained. First comes the straight print. Then comes a sketch of the burn-in/dodging procedure. The subjective opinion/reason of the printer for each step is also stated. Finally comes the fine print. One main idea that pervades the whole book is the idea of local contrast. This alone can improve the craft of many newcomers to B&W printing. Reading this book has opened my mind as to what good printing is capable of and I believe that my printing has improved since then.