From: bjs@uts.amdahl.com (Barry Sherman)
Newsgroups: rec.photo
Subject: Re: Lightworks and PMK Pyro (was Re: t-Max Films)
Date: 11 Sep 92 17:39:07 GMT
Followup-To: rec.photo
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

Steve Gombosi wrote (responding to a posting of mine talking about
Gordon Hutching's _The Book of Pyro_):

>I've been really intrigued with what I've heard about pyro's properties,
>but doesn't the staining effect cause problems with VC papers?

That's what I've thought but Mr. Hutchings says that it works very well. 
I'll quote some sections of the book below, hoping to not get sued for
my efforts.  To date I've developed a bunch of negatives with it and they
look great but I haven't had a chance to print with them.  Tomorrow I'll try 
printing and will post my initial impressions.  I'll try printing one with 
lots of tonal range and dense shadows and bright sky and clouds, as that's 
where he says the Pyro shines.

BTW - although for me the juries still out on the value of the PMK
Pyro formula, the book - _The Book of Pyro_ - is very well written
and contains a marvelous wealth of information.  I cannot recommend it
enough if one is interested in trying this developer.  It's not cheap -
$25 for a spiral bound paperback - but well worth it.  It contains the 
results of Mr. Hutchings 10 years experimentation with this developer 
including suggestions on how to do inversion tank processing, tray processing 
and JOBO processing as well as time/temperature charts for most of the more 
common b/w films, printing suggestions, recommended light sources for 
printing, and on and on and on.  The book is small but the informational
content is very dense.

_The Book of Pyro_ can be obtained from Lightworks in Sacramento California
1-800-776-9678 or 1-916-451-9678.

Barry

Disclaimer:  I'm in no way connected with either Lightworks or with Gordon
Hutchings.  I've never met the latter and never set foot in the former.
Just someone who is very impressed with a very interesting book.

...................... quotes from _The Book of Pyro_ ..................

Photographers presently using pyro, and in particular the PMK staining
formula presented in the book, state that they are able to make a "fine
print" much more quickly with a pyro negative.  Dodging and burning
manipulations are generally used to express artistic values rather
than to save a difficult negative, and, in general, fewer such manipulations
are necessary.  Highlight separation is much more definite and easier to
print and midtone details print with more separation and clarity.  The overall
tonal scale is excellent and the negatives produce a sharper image.  In the
case of the PMK staining formula, negatives print with less visible grain than
when processed with other high definition developers.
 
 ...

After years of printing conventional negatives we grow accustomed, perhaps
unconsciously, to what can and cannot be successfully photographed and
printed.  Pyro will free the photographer to think and see in new ways.  
It's great sensitivity to minute differences in light values will capture
subtle values and details not possible with conventional developers.

...

(On printing Pyro negatives with VC paper)

During development, the negative gains silver density from shadow to 
highlight.  It is also gaining a proportional amount of image stain.  This
yellowish-green stain is not only printing density, but also a contrast
reducing color with variable contrast paper.  As the negative image
increases silver and stain density, it is gaining a color mask that reduces
the printing contrast.  This stain reduces contrast proportionately but
it is most noticible in the print highlights.

This is a wonderful effect!  It means that negatives can be printed 
without compressing or burning out the highlights.  Shadow and mid-value 
contrasts can be adjusted with the variable contrast filters for added
vitality, yet the highlights will print clearly and with separation.  In
addition, the grainless "watercolor" effect of the stain and the moderate
silver negative densities will print with a fine smoothness and clarity
throughout the middle tones and highlights.  The platinum-like sheen of
backlit water or polished granite have never looked better and the white-
on-white of sow or white painted surfaces in blazing sun will look
crisp, detailed and have a luminous depth.

...

Low and high contrast filters can be used for selective burning.  The #0
filter can achieve a minor miracle.  The shadows, or other dark objects
in the selected area, remain as they are and do not pick up extra density.
Only the high value areas, such as an over-bright sky, darken through
the burning process.  The reverse of this is also possible.  The #5 contrast
filter will print down areas such as a gray background without darkening
highlights that are in the area to be burned.  Using the "0" and "5" filters
for burning eliminates the need for cutout paper masks and allows printing
control that is nearly impossible with graded paper.  I have made prints
with combinations of 0 and 5 filter burns with no exposure at all
through normal contrast filters.

I hope that the reader is intrigued with the possibilities of using the 
stained pyro negative with variable contrast paper and will give it a try.
I am confident that the results will be as exciting to you as they have been
to me and many others.  The only difficulty to overcome is the resistance
to the possibility, based upon years of printing conventional negatives,
that it can work so well.

.......................End of quotes from _The Book of Pyro_ ..................


-- 


|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Barry Sherman, Amdahl Corp.       | "Any fool can face a crisis - it's     | 
| bjs@ruts.ccc.amdahl.com           |  this day-to-day living that wears you |
|                                   |  out." - Anton Chekhov                 |
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| Amdahl, being a corporation, is a legal fiction.  Therefore it is incapable|
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| said of me as well.                                                        |
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Newsgroups: rec.photo