Ansel Adams

224 Pages·2009·13 MB·English

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,