DESCRIBING A PHOTOGRAPH
EDITIONING
Most photographs prior to 1980 are not editioned. Research indicates that for
the vast majority of non-editioned images, it is rare to find more than five
copies of any one image. Most photographs after 1980 are made in a predetermined limited number (e.g.1/25). This is not to say that all are printed in advance, as the painstaking process involved in making one fine-art print forces the photographer to make only a few from an edition at any one time. Sales demand dictates whether or not the entire set of prints is ultimately produced.
Therefore, the existing number of prints is often less than the stated edition
number indicates. Generally speaking, editions of prints from artists using
photography are lower (e.g.1/3) than those from traditional photographers (e.g.1/25).
LIMITED EDITION
As applied to fine art photographs, the term "limited edition" is usually
understood to mean a stated number of prints of an image in a particular size
and in a particular format. When no additional photographic prints in any size
or format will be made from a particular negative, that concept is usually
communicated by a phrase such as "the negative has been retired" because negatives are rarely destroyed.
MODERN PRINT/PRINTED LATER
This term refers to a contemporary print made from an earlier negative. For example, if a living photographer produces a print in the year 2000 from a negative made in 1958 it would be classified as a modern print.
POSTHUMOUS PRINT
Posthumous or estate prints refers to prints commissioned by the guardians of a
deceased photographer's negatives. They should be authenticated by the estate and are usually editioned.
VINTAGE
A vintage photograph refers to an artist's first printing of a negative. This window
of time expands with the age of a print. For example, a print made in 1890 from a
negative made in 1880 or a print made in 1960 from a negative made in 1958 are both generally referred to as vintage. A buyer should receive information on the date of the negative and the date of the print.
GLOSSARY
ARCHIVAL PROCESSING
Archival processing involves a series of procedures in photographic printing. The objective is to chemically fix the image and remove superfluous metals and chemicals to insure the permanence and longevity of the photograph. The processes may include multiple fixing baths, toning with gold chloride or selenium, and extensive washing.
BLIND STAMP
A blind stamp is an identification mark embossed onto the mount of a photograph, and less frequently onto the photograph itself. The stamp usually indicates the name or address of the photographer or publisher of his work.
CHROMOGENIC PRINT
A chromogenic print is a color print which is made from a color transparency or
negative in which the print material has at least three emulsion layers of silver
salts. Each layer is sensitized to one of the three primary colors and records
information about that color makeup in the photograph. In the initial development
a silver image is formed in each layer. With further development, dye couplers are
added that, when united with the silver, form dyes of the appropriate colors in
the emulsion layers. When seen against the white print stock, the layers appear
as a full-color image.
CIBACHROME PRINT
There are two kinds of paper manufactured by Ilfochrome:high gloss and matte
surface. The extremely high-gloss paper, introduced in 1963, is, according to
experts, the most stable commercially available color process. Furthermore they
maintain that a Cibachrome print is the sharpest and highest resolution color
print made possible by any process. This is a silver dye-'bleach process and it
forms an image by selectively bleaching dyes already existing within the paper.
The matte surface Cibachrome is much less stable because it is made on an RC
base. (See Ektacolor RC print)
DIGITAL IMAGE
A digital image is taken with a digital camera, or through scanning an original
photograph. This image may be stored on a computer and then regenerated onto a computer screen, photographic prints or film, or onto paper through a printer.
Embedded on a computer chip is a grid of pixels, light-sensitive picture elements.
The pixels emit electrical signals which are proportional to the intensity of the
light received. The signals are converted to numbers in proportion to their strength and then stored in electromagnetic form.
DYE TRANSFER
In this method of color printing, an original transparency or negative is projected
or contact-printed onto three separate sheets of film through red, green and blue
filters. These separation negatives are then projected or contact-printed to make
three relief matrices dyed in cyan, magenta and yellow dyes. Each of the matrices
is then brought into registered contact with a sheet of special transfer paper which absorbs the dye. The finished print is therefore made up of a combination of dye images. Dye transfer is one of the most permanent color processes. However, the film was discontinued in 1996.
EKTACOLOR RC PRINT
Ektacolor RC prints are photographs from color negatives printed on paper coated
with a resined plastic. Although the permanence of RC prints has been questioned, the beauty of the final print makes it still preferred by many contemporary photographers. It is worth noting that manufacturers claim in recent years to have improved and enhanced the longevity of these papers.
EMULSION
Emulsion is a light-sensitive coating, applied to photographic paper, plates and
film, in which the final image material is suspended and protected. The emulsion
consists of silver-halide crystals suspended in a gelatin. In albumen and collodion
prints, the halides rested on the surface of these substances and were not suspended in them. With salt prints, and platinum and/or palladium prints, the emulsion is absorbed into the paper fiber.
GELATIN SILVER PRINT
This is a black and white photograph printed on paper coated with an emulsion
consisting of gelatin and silver salts. The type of silver salt contained in the
gelatin emulsion determines what method of printing is used. Papers containing
silver chloride are used for contact printing, whereas papers containing silver
bromide are used for enlargements. Chloro-bromide papers, which contain a combination of the two silver salts, may be used for either method of printing. The two silver salts also produce different tones in a print. The tone of a gelatin silver-bromide print is generally neutral black while a gelatin silver-chloride print is bluish black or cool in tone. Prints on a chloro-bromide paper have a warm, brownish black tone.
INKJET PRINT
An image may be printed with an InkJet Printer once it exists in a digital format.
InkJet prints are made by very fine droplets of water based ink. Ink is spayed onto
a surface consisting of four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). Ink
jet printers can print on a variety of paper surfaces, although higher end printers,
such as Iris Printers, have more possibilities.
IRIS PRINT
Iris prints are produced using a high quality ink jet printer. The IRIS print, (GicleeŽ) is produced from vegetable based dyes that are delivered through four million droplets of ink, sprayed onto a surface. These droplets produce a significant range of colors, hues and shades. Iris prints can be produced on many surfaces such as fine art papers and canvas. As with other ink jet printers, the image must first exist digitally in order to be printed.An IRIS Print is completed by being covered with an ultraviolet protective coating to prevent fading. An IRIS print takes much longer to print then the basic ink jet print, because of the higher quality and detail that is produced. It is said the water based prints are able to maintain there quality for a minimum period of 60 years.
LIGHT JET/LAMBDA PRINT
A Light Jet Print is a conventional photographic printing process in one important sense: the image is revealed by light exposed to sensitive paper, through a chemical process. Light Jet Printers spray light onto paper using red, green and blue (RGB) lasers. This process takes place in total darkness.Once the paper is processed in a chemical developer, an image will appear. As with other printers, the image is first reproduced or made to exist digitally. Once digital, one may
make fine adjustments to the exposure, contrast, and color values.With a Light Jet Printer, the image is read from a compact disk (CD). The light jet printer is one of several high end printers today. The image is produced on Fuji Crystal Archive
Paper, or other brands of paper. It is believed that the pigment based prints are able to maintain their quality for a minimum of 120 years.
PHOTOGRAVURE
The hand-pulled gravure is one of the most beautiful ink processes for reproducing photographs. Alfred Stieglitz and other Photo-Secessionist photographers used it for the illustrations in the early photographic journal Camera Work. Photogravure is particularly suited to reproduce platinum prints and could be mistaken for platinum by the untrained eye. With some practice,
however, gravures are easily identified. They are made with a copper plate which often leaves an indented or debossed plate mark around the image. Under magnification the image appears grainy and soft, and dark areas and shadows are seen to be pitted. The early hand-pulled gravures reproduce the continuous tone of an original photograph. Commercial mechanical gravure became a popular method of reproducing photographs, and the process deteriorated, becoming heavy looking and without distinction. Eventually, gravure was replaced in commercial use by the halftone plate. Some contemporary artists are reviving this difficult and beautiful process.
PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM PRINTS
This contact printing process was used primarily from 1873 to 1914-1916, when platinum paper was replaced for the most part by palladium. Both processes are extremely permanent and have delicate rich tones and ranges of gray's that are unobtainable in silver prints. Palladium was introduced in 1916 when platinum became expensive and difficult to acquire as a result of World War I. As no gelatin emulsion is used, the final print has a matte surface with a deposit of platinum and/or palladium absorbed slightly into the paper support. This process is enjoying a revival today, with a number of contemporary photographers coating their paper supports with specially prepared platinum and/or palladium emulsions.
POLAROID/SX-70/POLACOLOR 2
Edwin H. Land invented the Polaroid process or instant photograph in 1947, and in 1963 his discovery was extended to encompass color. This new process allowed for the development of the print within the camera just seconds after exposure, using rollers to squeeze together the negative, positive, and developing chemicals. In color Polaroid, the emulsion on the film is composed of layers of yellow, cyan, and magenta dyes that are sensitive to blue, red, and green light. In the development of the film, these dyes are diffused onto the positive sheet, which becomes the print. Since the chemicals needed for development remain within the print, the stability of the Polaroid prints has been questioned. Depending upon the care given to storage and display of these photographs, there may or may not be fading, yellowing, or cracking of the emulsion. Polacolor 2 and 3 have an ultraviolet protective shield on the surface of the print to inhibit fading.
SILVER PRINT
Silver print is a generic term referring to all prints made on paper coated with silver
salts. Most contemporary black and white photographs are silver prints.
TYPE C PRINT
The Type C was a color printing process that was replaced in 1958 primarily by Ektacolor, and has not been available since that time. Type C is an archaic term which is commonly used generically to identify an Ektacolor RC print.
VINTAGE/OLD/MODERN PRINTS
(SEE DESCRIBING A PHOTOGRAPH)
A photograph printed within a very few years of the date when the negative was made is considered a vintage print. Prints that were made in the past, but after the period of time in which they would be considered vintage, should be identified as "old" prints. Prints made recently from the original negatives are called "modem prints," or "later prints." Most often modem prints are made by the photographer, or made directly under his or her supervision. Modern prints may also be made
posthumously and are specifically noted as posthumous prints, often identifying the person who printed the photograph. The date of a print can usually be determined by the paper used, the quality of printing, the presence or absence of a signature and/or stamp, and the condition of the paper surface, which develops a kind of patina with age. With today's technology, the use of a black light and other scientific tools may also assist in dating a print.
