Platinum print

Tim, I like this image, but I'd be more convinced it's platinum if the blacks weren't so deep and the highlights weren't so bright.

Platinum is a great medium for putting a long tonal scale negative onto, basically, a very soft grade of paper. But it doesn't achieve the same black blacks as silver gelatin, at least not in any of the platinum prints I've seen; and the lack of optical brighteners in the paper prevents it from having the brightest whites. Platinum's great beauty lies, in my opinion, in how it handles the midtones.

I think it would look more like platinum if you printed it with less contrast overall.

I'm now looking at the image on a computer in a brighter room...and the effect much more closely approximates platinum!

I guess the appearance depends on the apparent contrast of the screen, which in turn can depend on the room lighting. Maybe it's a pretty good platinum effect after all.

Tim . I really like this Still Life rendition. It has a soft luminosity that is very moving and inspiring .

I read your cryptic comments that appears to imply  it is a Platinum Print from a digitally generated negative , as well as the comments from a viewer , that it cannot be Platinum due to the deep blacks and brilliant highlights.

I have been studying the process of Hybrid digital/ Platinum and see no conflict, knowing that digitally generated negatives can be precisely tailored to produce a full scale of tones in a particular process and further optimized for a particular image.

All I can say is that your image has reinforced my resolve to get into Platinum printing with my 5x7 Linhof,  seeing that your image that , on screen,  is just a bit larger than 5x7,  is sufficiently expressive to pursue contact printing from  camera film negatives , as a start,  and move on to digitally enlarged negatives when my grip on the process will allow.

What draw me to your image initially was the statement that it was processed in Photoshop , almost implying a negative was  digitally generated ,  which would mean that it is the result of half-toning the image with a digital screen , either bitmap screen or stochastic screen . I peeked into the image,  looking for signs of screening and found none. So I am puzzled like the other poster and would like to ask you to elaborate on your cryptic statement of "Platinum Print done in Photoshop".

Is it a real Platinum Print from digital negative or is it the result of Tonal Manipulation in Photoshop to achieve the "look" of a Platinum print?.

Either way I am motivated to continue towards Platinum Printing and if I can get my prints to look like yours I would be very happy . Luis