Customer Reviews

Post Exposure, Second Edition: Advanced Techniques for the Photographic Printer

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ctein indicates up front that this book is not designed as an introduction to printmaking, but is dedicated to teaching the refinements of printmaking. At this the book remarkably successful. Topics include film characteristics and calibration, enlarging lenses and the subject of image sharpness, black and white and color printing, and many tidbits of useful information gleaned form many years of experience and experimentation. Those familiar with and comfortable with graphical information will particularly like the book. From my perspective the section on image sharpness was extremely well done, including a technical discussion about what matters and what does not as well as a tabulation of recommended enlarging lenses and their characteristics. Another good discussion is the thorough presentation of contrast and the effect of various filters on different papers. Although color printing is also covered, even for those who limit themselves to black and white the content in the color sections is interesting. Ctein presents facts for the most part, but on occasion also states his opinions. When he does, he makes it quite clear he is doing so. This is quite simply a superb book, one of the best I have read, and filled with useful information.

Do you know how to make an unsharp mask for your color negatives? How to evaluate your enlarging lens? Why your variable-contrast prints might be unsharp? These are just three of the unique tips I could found on Ctein's book and that made it worth its price but the whole book, from cover to cover, is superb reading material.

Although the book is assembled from seemingly disconnect articles, it is an out of the ordinary collection of techniques focused on improving your darkroom work.

A must for dedicated darkroom workers.

I do not consider myself to be technically lacking, however this book (informative as it was) is written for those in the higher levels of photographic sciences. If you don't have a good science background, or a knowledge of optics or physics, this book will be extremely difficult for you. Many of the technical terms required explanation, however they weren't. The majority of the charts and graphs were meaningless to me. I don't want to put the book down totally, there are some things that you could learn from it, however the fact that it is written in such highly scientific terms makes the book difficult for the average layperson like myself.

A landmark book for serious black and white printers who have the basics under control. If you are ready to print truely excellent prints and want to know how to control sharpness and contrast, how to select the right paper for the difficult print, how to make your prints stand above all others, then this book is for you. Ctein's book coupled with Edie Ephraumus' "Gradient Light" will give you the confidence to know your prints are better than most anyone else on the block!

Ctein's book on advanced photographic printing techniques is really excellent. It's particularly good for people who have been printing for a while and are starting to realize the limitations of their techniques and the materials. Ctein's presentation brings together lots of things most printers have noticed without recognizing their significance, and provides a firm analytical basis for understanding how your eye, the film, and the printing paper all see light. His own personal preferences are often clear, but they're stated as what they are, they do not masquerade as the only truth.

The B&W illustrations are adequately reproduced, and the color plates in the back are very nicely reproduced; you can actually see the effects he's trying to demonstrate!

I think this a very great book for all photographes, especially for colur users.

Stefano

The author has collected a number of articles he has written, many already published in various magazines over the years, and has reworked them with some new material. Since Ctein is an excellent technician, for readers who enjoy deep discussions for some of the more technical side of traditional drakroom work, the collected subject will be interesting, but this is not comprehesive in the way of a "how to do it" manual. Some parts, like the "this is my darkroom" chapter could have been omitted, but it's worthwhile on the whole. Note that this is about purely traditional photo printing techquiqes and related subjects - no digital. The author appears to have personally abandoned the subjects of this book to "go digital", based on his current output of publsihed artilces.

if all the information after page 20 is as valuable as what i have read i will say that this is one of the top books on the subject..not for the begining photographer...some darkroom work really adds impact to this book

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Post Exposure: Advanced Techniques For The Photographic Printer continues to be an indispensable photographic printmaker introduction and reference to the underlying principles and practices needed to produce professional quality photography prints. The clear text fully and cogently explains all of the principles and theories, with a "user friendly" focus on practical techniques illustrated with a number of examples of fine printmaking. All aspects of printmaking are covered included safelight fogging, adequate wash steps in reversal print processing, using litho film masks for dodging and burning-in, new coverage on split-filter printings, the use of Sistan, and more. Post Exposure is a "must" for any photographer aspiring to produce professional quality photographic prints.