Intuition is born from wisdom, which usually results from years of experience. For this month’s Story Behind Every Photograph I came across a very appropriate quote “it is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover” by Henri Poincare. The above photograph was initially a failure, however, the image held a silver lining and unlocked a significant technique in my silver printing toolbox, please read on.
A few years ago I wrote an extensive Blog on the Mystery of Creativity and what I gleaned from the book, “The Net and the Butterfly”. The book is a terrific read explaining the human mind and the creative process detailing 2 distinct networks in our brain and the 4 different types of “breakthrough discoveries”. The discovery I made is a direct result of this month’s featured photograph. My discovery lies somewhere between an Intuitive and a Eureka breakthrough as described in the Net and the Butterfly. Before I share this discovery there needs to be an explanation of Multi-Contrast silver enlarging papers (MC) and a commonly used Silver printing technique known as Flashing.
Flashing is a technique used by generations of Silver printers as a means to reduce highlight contrast in the print. Flashing is defined as allowing a “measured amount of non-imaging forming white light” to fall on Silver Gelatin paper after the negative exposure but before the paper is developed. This technique brought the silver paper right up to its threshold, or just below a grey-tone. When you combine that threshold and the amount of light the negative allowed to pass through the densest area the result would be much improved highlight detail. In the 80s & 90s with single graded silver papers I used this technique often because I preferred the Mid-Tone contrast of higher contrast single graded papers. In those days prior to switching to Pyro based developers the highlight region of my negatives were often simply too dense to print. I likely became a better silver printer because my negatives were less than optimal.
With the advent of Multi-Contrast silver gelatin papers I used to think that the Flashing technique simply was no longer necessary. For many years I simply used the Green exposure to set my highlight detail using the new MC papers. Multi-Contrast papers are designed to respond to Green and Blue light, respectively producing Soft and Hard contrast tonalities in the final print. Surprisingly there are three separate and different emulsions that make up MC papers, each emulsion made from a different mixture of light sensitive Chloride, Bromide, and Iodide, each responding to Blue and Green light in varying degrees. See the accompanying illustrative photo as a visual aid to understand the reaction of MC papers to differing colored light as well as the power of this concept when incorporated into a single sheet of paper. 
One emulsion layer is heavily biased towards Green light, a 2nd layer heavily biased towards Blue light and a final emulsion equally bias towards a normal contrast rendering. So, in theory when only Green light is used the resulting print is very low in overall contrast, conversely when exposed to only Blue light the final rendering is very high in overall contrast. An equally biased 3rd emulsion layer I believe is designed to allow a smoother transition of tonalities in the Mid Tone region.
Pyro based developers and MC papers showed up in my process within a few years of one another. My understanding of MC papers began to grow significantly and with Pyro film processing I began to see less density in the highlight region of the negative but an increase in mid-tone separation in the final prints. This is in direct contradiction to the Zone System’s method of building contrast through film processing (see another Story on my Blog explaining the traditional Zone System).
As I mentioned at the outset, this month’s featured image did not fulfill my original vision. The majority of imagery I make is during the wintertime here in the Northeast. I have always hoped to make a photograph during a snowfall where the flakes would give the impression of streaking in-front of the scene I chose. I came upon this field in the Rocky Hill Meadows during a fairly heavy falling snow. With all the triangles in this composition I thought this is too good to pass up. I used my Phillips 7×17″ camera with a 355mm lens, even with faster film I couldn’t use a fast enough shutter speed to blur the snowflakes. In that sense the photograph was a failure, the silver lining came because I loved the triangles in the composition and decided not to give up on making a print. The negative did not show any streaking snow, because of the longer exposure time of several seconds the contrast was significantly reduced. I began making proof prints from the negative and found the first attempt noticeably lacking in contrast, this in spite of the EMA film processing technique I use which most times heightens mid-tone contrast. The Green exposure is what sets the very lightest grey tone in the print, however, Green light tends to reduce overall contrast. I slowly kept reducing the amount of Green exposure down until it was only 1 sec and 13-14 seconds of Blue (hard contrast) exposure. Still the mid-tones had no life. Specifically what I was looking at in the mid-tones is the contrast in the tree bark, it’s been greatly diminished because of the falling snow which the negative saw at the time of exposure but cannot be seen in the print. Suddenly I thought to myself, what if I simply flash the entire print to establish the grey tone instead of using the 1 second of green exposure through the negative and keep the Blue exposure the same. Viola !! What the hell just happened I wondered !! Suddenly there was significantly more mid-tone separation and contrast in the tree bark. Was this an Intuitive choice on my part or simply a Eureka moment ?? Probably some deep rooted intuition, nevertheless a big surprise. Why such a difference between 1 sec of Green exposure and no Green exposure, instead setting the highlight tone by flashing with a Green colored gel ?? It would take me sometime to figure out why this happened.
I would soon solve the mystery. Think back to the above photograph seen here in a smaller version. 
The densest area of the negative will produce the lightest grey tone on the print. Therefore, Green exposure targets the minimum amount of time to produce the subtlest grey tones in the print. So, Green exposure “projected through” the negative will impact to a greater degree mid-tone areas which are not as dense as the highlights. This will effectively diminish mid-tone vibrancy depending on how much green light passes through the varying mid-tone densities of the negative, easily seen in the pure Green exposure side of the Hippies Use Side Door photo. So, the flashing technique used in this application allows for much less “projected” Green light necessary to affect the lightest grey tones in a print. The reduction in projected Green light will in varying degrees greatly impact the mid-tone contrast in the silver print. Green exposure “contaminates” the Mid-Tones, while Green Flashing enhances Mid-Tones. Texture, is enhanced and in many cases actually exaggerated !!
Mid-Tone contrast is the most difficult and elusive trait to control in silver gelatin printing. Many fine silver printers resort to intricate contrast masks to bias contrast and tone in a desired direction. This flashing technique accomplishes the same end result. I use this flashing technique in virtually every print I make !! If you are a silver printer using Multi-Contrast papers I wrote an in-depth, article Flashing…for greater Mid-Tone Contrast The article contains a 12 minute comparative video with the necessary steps to arrive at your own set of standard operating procedures. It’s a must read on the Unblinkingeye.com online photography resource.
Stay well, keep family safe, we will be stronger for it on the other side of the COVID-19 Pandemic