Calibrating digital negatives for alternative printing part 1

This video shows my process for calibrating my printing process in Palladium, though the principles will apply to traditional darkroom and to other alternative processes. This part shows how to calibrate the exposure for maximum black in our print using the Stouffer step wedge.
See my prints at
www.dave-smith...
my portraiture at
www.davesmith.co
my Patreon at
/ davejsmith
Connect with me
Twitter @mrdavejsmith
Linked in / mrdavejsmith

[@DayleThackeray]

Hi Dave, I'm intrigued by this process. This is something that I never had the means to explore in the past, in college or a demand for in my past profession. I've done a little time in the darkroom and tried various dyes and so forth that replace the silver halide but this completely different. We skirted this process in college due to cost, I think we were only covering platinum printing at the time, but its essentially the same.. I think. This is something in photography where I am pretty much out of my depth. Think I might give it a go. Thanks for the insight, please keep up the good work.

[@bcelasun]

Dave, Thank you for your truly informative videos. I will soon be able to devote more time to shooting with my GX680 and I will also be re-starting my cyanotypes (using pinholes, X-Ray film...). I wonder if I should consider saltprints / kalotypes and perhaps, palladium. Cost is important :( Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you could rename the three videos on digital negative calibration (this one being the first) using the same wording of your choice. It took some time to get them. Or, perhaps you can make a playlist for the calibration videos. Many thanks again for your time end effort to share your experience.

[@stefanopassiglia]

Very nice video. Just a clarification question: you are basically printing through b+f of the substrate, right? So if I'm using an enlarged negative made of e.g. lith film I'd develop it unexposed and use it as my substrate in this test? Thanks

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Stefano, Welcome to my channel and many thanks for taking the time, it is much appreciated. You are exactly right about the test, b+f so yes test your unexposed but deved and fixed negs Dave

[@stefanopassiglia]

@@DaveJSmith thank you