Application Spotlight: California Kiss Goes Platinum as Historic Photographic Processes are Revived

Well-loved printing processes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries have received the kiss of life again thanks to a new, tone-accurate technique that marries the craftsmanship of analogue with the efficiency of digital. Platinum printing and other alternative photographic processes that were high art forms during the Belle Époque are now making their comeback in larger format than ever and producing beautiful collectors' pieces of great value. Legendary Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt, who is part of the HP Experts & Mentors network, has produced 76 x 102-cm (30 x 40-inch) platinum prints on 100 percent cotton paper, of four of his iconic images, including "USA, California," that furtive glimpse from 1955 of a couple's kiss in the side-view mirror of a car.

Over the past decade, specialist printmakers have been struggling with the process to produce large format negatives for platinum prints. The crucial element that has persistently eluded them is easy and reliable control over tone and contrast. But that control has now finally been achieved with the new Large Format Photo Negative application from HP. Erwitt was privy to this new solution before official release and has produced platinum prints of fine-art quality that have a superior range of grey levels, smooth tonal transitions, excellent contrast, and well-defined detail in shadows, highlights, and midtones. His prints are on show in July 2010 at both the ArtHamptons International Fine Art Fair in New York and Les Rencontres d'Arles photography festival in France.

It was photographer and specialist printmaker Arkady Lvov, and digital printing expert Gabe Greenberg, who demonstrated the new process to Erwitt, and it was in their studios in New York, just a short walk from Magnum's offices, that he printed his four images in platinum in May 2010.

Lvov and Greenberg had worked in tandem for eight years, experimenting with various inkjet printers, searching for a streamlined method to create large-format photo negatives suitable for platinum printing. Their quest ended when they installed and tested the Large Format Photo Negative application on their HP Designjet Z3200ps Photo Printer. "The negatives we're getting from our HP printer are unparalleled by anything we've done before," said Greenberg. "The platinum prints they produce have smooth gradations and even grey areas. These are the crème-de-la-crème of prints. We're ecstatic about the new process."

Upon examining the developed prints, Erwitt was very pleased: "When you put the platinum prints side by side with silver prints," he said, "you see the difference. The platinum is more lush. The tonality is creamier. Platinum printing is the Rolls Royce of photographic reproduction and has traditionally been limited to modest dimensions. These new, large-format platinum prints, with their unusual size, are a Rolls Royce and Ferrari combined. They are a new, unique way of seeing and experiencing familiar iconic images. The resulting four pilot photographs have a luminosity that is not achievable by any other process, old or new."

Lvov listed five reasons for his attraction to printing in platinum. "First of all, this noble metal is one of the most stable elements in the universe," he said. "Prints are good for as long as the paper lasts, and I know of papers that are thousands of years old. Indeed, if the ancient Egyptians had been able to make platinum prints, we would still have excellent examples of those prints today, on papyrus perhaps. Secondly, platinum has the most even tonal response in nature. Other elements display distortions in the shadows and highlights. Thirdly, platinum, when printed, has an absolute matte beauty to it. It has an almost luminous effect. All that is left on the paper are the particles of metal. The image is not suspended in a layer of gelatin, so it acquires a strong 3D effect. Fourthly, since platinum is expensive, it's a great way to add further value to the print. And finally, printing in platinum is safer than the traditional silver-halide process, both for my own health and for the environment."