Enjoyed yesterday's special on Ansel Adams on PBS, but have a question: maybe it's just my TV, but a few of his prints definitely looked duo-toned. For example, there was one shot of the valley where the Half-dome was bluish, surrounded by snowy pines which where brownish. I only know Adams' work from inadequate reproductions from which one can't judge such things, but did he play around with such stuff? If so, how would such localized toning differences be achieved? I'm not talking about split toning which (I believe) affects the entire print.

Thanks,

-Michael

-- Michael Veit (pocoveit@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002

Answers

1) Film-to-video can't really reproduce b/w tones accurately. 2) Adams' working methods undoubtedly changed over the years. So did papers . He most often advocated light selenium toning "just a hint of cool-purple sepia" IIRC. That said, his early prints tend to be warmer and less brilliant than later ones. 3) I missed the show and I'm p****d. 4) find a way to see the original prints of the photographers whose work you admire. There's really no substitute.

-- Mark Sampson (MSampson45@aol.com), April 22, 2002.

If you want to see Ansel Adams' prints go to The Art Institute of Chicago "Ansel Adams at 100" February 21–June 2, 2002. Chicago is easy and inexpensive to reach from most major cities in the US. It should be worth the trip.

http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/adams.html

.

-- Henry Ambrose (henry@henryambrose.com), April 22, 2002.

Missed it also. Does anyone know if there is a re-broadcast scheduled?

-- jennifer (photomatic99@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.

Someone on another forum said it would be re-broadcast tonight (Monday).

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), April 22, 2002.

The rebroadcast schedule depends on your local PBS station. Go to www.pbs.org, and find your local. Once you get to your local station's website, it should be an easy rummage to find out what's on in the next couple of days.

\Cheers, \dw

-- Don Wilkes (don.wilkes@gems9.gov.bc.ca), April 22, 2002.

Was it much different than his bio video? I heard that had been remade but not very well. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), April 22, 2002.

I didn't see the whole thing, but I caught quite a bit of it. I haven't seen his bio video, but I thought this was pretty well done. The biggest problem is that they seemed to feel compelled to zoom in and pan around on his photos, so that you seldom got a feeling for the photo as a whole composition. But there was good discussion of his working as an artist, of his efforts to define himself and his art, of the phases of his creative life, of his personal struggles as well as his considerable strengths.

-- Randy Bradbury (rbradbury@kscable.com), April 22, 2002.

I saw the special, not bad, a typical Ken Burns production. My only critisim is the tendency to make still pictures move by moving the video camera lens around the image. I agree the only way to see Ansel Adams' work is to view original prints. I saw an exhibit in the early 80's at the Metropolitan in NYC. I believe the current exhibit will be traveling around the country, check your local listings.

-- Robert Orofino (minotaur1949@iopener.net), April 22, 2002.

As stated above, Adams rarely did more than tone in selenium for the "cool purple brown" look. However, he did one limited edition portfolio on a special warm tone paper, and I wonder if you are remembering the 3 or 4 photos they showed from that portfolio.

One technique for obtaining local tonal differences is described by Bruce Barnbaum. You can use a paintbrush to apply selenium toner locally, so only a small area gets toned. Then you can reduce the entire print (or only that section of the print, if you prefer) in Farmer's reducer, and the area that was toned will come out much warmer after reduction.

I have an article on Double Toning Prints that might be of interest to you.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 23, 2002.

Hello:

I caught most of the AA special and it was great! The music, interviews and the text made it all. A video cassette of the whole thing is available from PBS (shamelss commerce division I suspect) at www. pbs.org and follow the prompts.

Cheers

-- richard ilomaki (richardjx@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.

Does anyone know if the "Ansel at 100" show is scheduled at all for the East Coast?

-- jennifer (photomatic99@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

Found the answer to my own question. Schedule can be found at the following website:

http://www.anseladams.com/taag/webpage.cfm?WebPage_ID=234&DID=8

Exhibit goes to London, then Berlin, then back to LA and New York in 2003.

-- jennifer (photomatic99@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

To Robert Orofino: It may have looked like "a typical Ken Burns production" to you, but this one was made by Ric Burns :-) .

-- James Meckley (jmeckley@pegasus.cc.uccf.edu), April 23, 2002.

I'm not good with names. I enjoyed the program anyway.

-- Robert Orofino (minotaur1949@iopener.net), April 23, 2002.