The Print The Ansel Adams Photography Series I Book 3 The Print Ansel Adams with the collaboration of Robert Baker UTILE, BROWN AND COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON In 1976, Ansel Adam elected Little, Brown and Company a the sole authorized publisher of his book, calendars, and posters. At the same time, he established The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust in order to ensure the continuity and quality of hi legacy - both arti tic and environmental. As Ansel Adams himself wrote, "Perhaps the most important characteri tic of my work is what may be called print quality. It is very important that the reproduc tions be as good as you can pos ibly get them." The authorized book, calendars, and posters published by Little, Brown have been rigorously supervised by the Trust to make certain that Adams' exacting standards of quality are maintained. Only uch work published by Little, Brown and Company can be considered authentic representations of the genius of Ansel Adams. Frontispiece: Northern Cascade·, Washington (hazy sunlight), 1960 Copyright © 1980, 2003 by the Trustees of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust All rights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publi her, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Little, Brown and Company 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Vi it our Web site at www.bulfinchpress.com This is the third volume of The Ansel Adams Photography SeTies. Twelfth paperback printing, 2006 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adams, Ansel Easton, 1902-1984 The print. (The Ansel Adams photography series ;book 3) 1. Ph tography-Printing processe. 2. PhotogTaphy-Enlarging. I. Baker, Robert. II. Title. III. erie: Adam, Ansel, 1902-1984. An el Adams photography series ;book 3. TRI45.A38bk.3 [TR330]770s [770'.28'4] 83-950 ISBN 0-8212-1526-4 HC ISBN 0-8212-2187-6 PB Designed by David Ford Technical illu trations by Omnigraphics Printed and bound by Quebecor/Kingsport PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Acknowledgments The completion of a book of this type requires the advice and as sistance of many colleagues and associates, all of which is most warmly appreciated. I am especially indebted to Robert Baker, my most competent collaborator and editor. In addition, John Sexton, as technical assistant, contributed greatly with the tests and in preparing the illustrations, as well as his careful reading and advice on the text. I also thank Jim Alinder for reading and commenting on the general content of the book, and Mary Alinder, Chris Rainier, and Phyllis Donohue, who were helpful in numerous ways. My publishers, represented by Floyd Yearout, Janet Swan, Nan Jernigan, and Dale Cotton, were, as usual, most cooperative and helpful. Dave Ford, book designer for the Series, and Tom Briggs of Omnigraphics, who provided the drawings, deserve high recognition. In addition I wish to express my appreciation to: Jim Marron and Bob Shanebrook of Eastman Kodak Co.; John Branca and many others at Polaroid Corp.; Klaus Hendricks, Chief of Picture Conservation of the Public Archives of Canada; Dr. Paul Horowitz, Harvard University (designer of the light-stabilizer de scribed in the text); Rod Dresser, for assistance in computer plotting of the paper curves; Henry Gilpin, photographer; Fred Picker, of Zone VI Studios; Ed Kostiner; Saul Chaiken; and our many friends, at Ilford, Inc., Oriental Paper Co., Beseler Photo Marketing, Calumet Photographic, Tri-Ess Sciences, Beckman Instruments, and Adolph Gasser, Inc. of San Francisco. Contents Foreword viii Introduction ix 1 Visualization and the Expressive Image 1 2 Darkroom Design and Equipment 10 3 Printing Materials 40 4 Proofs and Work Prints: Basic Printing and Enlarging 62 5 The Fine Print: Control of Values 88 6 Final Processing: Sensitometry 128 7 Finishing, Mounting, Storage, Display 144 8 Special Printing Applications 168 Appendixes 189 Index 205 Foreword For Ansel Adams the art of photography and the practice of its craft were integrally linked. The transformation of a visual encounter with the world into a memorable photograph is the essence of what every serious Rhotographer wants to achieve. A successful photo graph is the product of a sensitive and receptive mind and a well executed sequence of actions in the field and darkroom. The Print - and the other volumes in The Ansel Adams Photog raphy Series - is a detailed summation by Ansel Adams of a life time in photography. With the passage of time, many films and much of the equipment discussed in the text have been replaced by a new generation of materials and equipment with different charac teristics and capabilities. Yet the concepts and imaginative techniques and procedures de scribed by Ansel in The Print generally remain as valid and useful as they were when he first began to write about them decades ago. The most important lesson to be gleaned from Ansel's writing is an ap proach to photography - a philosophy, a methodology. For this rea son, Ansel's trustees and his publisher, Little, Brown and Company, have continued to publish The Print just as Ansel wrote it in its final edition (1983). To bring the materials and practices up-to-date, John P. Schaefer has written a modern interpretation based on The Ansel Adams Photography Series. The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Tech niques of Photography, Books 1 and 2, attempt to clarify and simplify Ansel's sometimes difficult technical writing, and to apply his ap proach and techniques to contemporary materials and equipment. We hope the combination of the two series will prove to be most helpful and stimulating as you pursue your work in photography. The Trustees of the Ansel Adams Trust & Introduction Photography is more than a medium for communication of reality, it is a creative art. Therefore, emphasis op technique is justified only so far as it will simplify and clarify the statement of the photogra pher's concept. This series of books presents essential information and suggests applications of photographic methods to practical prob lems of artistic expression. My objective is to present a working approach to creative photography. Certain controls that allow the photographer to achieve desired qualities in his negative are discussed in Books 1 and 2. In these volumes we considered visualization as fully as we could without actually making the final print. In this book I shall attempt to round out the basic procedures of the black-and-white photographic pro cess - from original visualization to the completed print. I will pres ent the technical aspects and controls that contribute to the final image in terms of both information and creative expression. The reader must bear in mind that what these books are intended to accomplish is to present a concept (visualization) and a modus operandi (craft) to achieve desired results. This is obviously directed to serious participants in photography, but it should not be iqter preted as dogma; each artist must follow his own beacons and chart his journey over the medium's seas and deserts. I wish to dispel here any thought that my approach is rigid and inflexible. I cannot repeat this too often! I have found that many students read descriptions of procedures in a rather strict way, and are then consumed with the effort to produce exact relationships between subject luminance values, negative densities, and print values. No matter what he does,