A New Print from Ortho
Hello again, how’s it hangin’?
Making prints in the darkroom this time of year is an absolute treat — water at a constant 20° and the portable radiator no where to be seen! It’s the simple things that make working under the red glow so much more enjoyable.
I’ve been working on a portrait of Phil I made in 2021 with Ilford’s Ortho 80, my favourite film stock. Nailing focus with Ortho is tricky — Wide open, adjust the eye, find the grain, concentrate on the bar with the grain behind, adjust the dial, nail that focus.
Once the grain snapped in focus this negative was lovely to print with a split-grade exposure. I let the 8 sec of filter #0 test strip dry and rest for a while, mulled it over and settled on 6 sec to keep the brighter highlights before painting in 3 sec of filter #5 to define some punch.
I was tempted by a box of Ilford Multigrade IV for this print. I’ve been pleased with the results I’m getting from the Multigrade’s previous incarnation — Read more about that on a previous post — but Ortho can look flatter than HP5 so settled with Multigrade V to retain a smidge of contrast.
Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment if you’d like to geek out about any of the photography processes or techniques above.
Websites still rock, don’t they?
www.markmoran.co.uk
Is Instagram still a thing?
Tell me more about your printmaking. I don't know how old you are--thirty-something?--though I'm guessing you're a digital native. How did you get to be such a fine analogue printer? It seems as though your introduction to the darkroom was kind of a requirement of your illustration curriculum. Something or someone must have thrown the "on" switch for you. Do you recall realizing that photography was going to be such a critical part of your life?
Do you find the light in North Wales to be generally well-suited for Ortho?
Are you native to this light? Or have you had to learn it over time?