STUDIO
Darkroom Printing
printing silver gelatin prints
Photograph from the POV of the laser alignment of the enlarger used to create a perfect focus plane.
In sharp focus
Lena Herzog’s darkroom.
Herzog uses an 1860 technique called pyrogallic acid (pyrogallol) or Pyro, to create a physical profile of the negative emulsion. Pyro produces a “staining” (“tanning”) negative.One can see the relief with a naked eye when tilting pyro developed negative at a slight angle—it looks like an engraving plate not an average dip-and-dunk negative. Pyro mimics an intaglio (groove incision) process by creating halos on the edges of objects (a high-acutance edge effect). The range the technique allows is unparalleled:
Pyro negative development can create an effect of a cutout by printing at the highest contrast.
On the other hand, pyro staining allows to make an image that is like a cloud or a low contrast daguerreotype.
