This was shot under harsh, mid-afternoon light (ala Jeff S.), but I felt that the harshness of the lighting really subtracted from the mood of the photo. So I cheated. Extensive bleaching of the print brought the contrast down to where I wanted it (while adding adding color to a b&w shot).

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), August 05, 2000

Answers

That's a technique I hadn't seen done with this type of light. It really gives a unique look.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), August 05, 2000.

An unusual result. It's a nice photograph that inspires different responses in me. The color is reminiscent of mannequin skin tone and the sheen on her skin increases my impression that this is a plastic girl. But her expression is so compellingly human, and everything is that same color so that "Barbie" impression soon recedes. All the shapes of the background elements have body part-like contours to them. It actually took me a couple of minutes to realize that the dark fat line at middle left/edge is a tree covered shoreline far across the water. I was trying to make it, and the shapes beneath her chin, part of another human. Interesting shot... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), August 06, 2000.

Question concerning the bleaching technique: I have seen the possibilities of that technique when going through the bleaching step for sepia toning, but wondered about the permanence of the image. How do you keep the image permanent so it will not continue bleaching, or is that not an issue?

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), August 06, 2000.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I always enjoy seeing how others interpret my photos (often a differently than I do).

Todd, I use potassium ferricyanide dissolved in water as a bleaching agent. After rinsing the bleached print, I'll usually tone it in selenium (the toning usually causes a very slight change in the image color).

I'm not certain of exactly what type of silver compounds are left remaining after bleaching, nor do I know their archival properties. It's something I need to investigate.

As a practical matter, I've had several prints made this way lying around the darkroom for over a year with no change in their appearance. I've been meaning to run a quick-and-dirty test to check the effects of light (I'll leave half a print in the backseat of my car).

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), August 07, 2000.

I haven't read about it in a while, but I think the print, unfixed and washed after bleaching, is still unstable. I know that had you not toned it, you could actually re-develop the print and get yet another effect. Re-development potential is removed by fixing. I'm not sure what coating the unfixed silver with selenium actually does for image stability or redevelopement potential... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), August 09, 2000.