A guide to modern Platinum Palladium: A Step-by-Step Guide

Imagine a single, definitive manual for platinum and palladium printing — one that moves beyond recipes and anecdotes to give you repeatable control, professional troubleshooting, and the chemistry and workflow needed for gallery-grade prints. This is that book.Platinum & Palladium Mastery is a practical, studio-tested guide for photographers, printmakers, and labs who demand the deepest understanding of the process. Inside you’ll find step-by-step coating formulas and safe handling of chemistry, an exposure system guide for both traditional UV and modern LED sources, a detailed paper-comparison table, diagnostic test images, and a full troubleshooting chapter that solves the real problems that ruin prints: coating streaks, uneven D-max, color shifts, bronzing, fog, and environmental variables. The book explains the differences between platinum and palladium metals, the ways each metal behaves in mixed or single-metal protocols, and how to tune your chemistry and exposure for consistent, repeatable results.What you’ll get:• Complete coating recipes and calibration methods so you can mix safely and coat with confidence.• An exposure system guide — building UV boxes, choosing bulbs or LED strips, and practical densitometry tips.• Paper comparison analysis and recommended handling for contemporary and historic papers.• A professional “Troubleshooting Pt/Pd Prints” chapter: clear diagnostics, step-by-step fixes, and workflow changes that eliminate guesswork.• Sections on environmental control, workflow optimization, and how to make test strips and diagnostic images that tell the truth about your process.• Visuals and diagrams for coating technique, contact printing, and processing sequences that deliver archival, museum-quality results.Why this is the best book on the subject:This book synthesizes decades of fine-art practice into one accessible reference — written for the working printmaker who needs reliable outcomes, not theory. It combines lab-level detail (chemistry, pH, buffering, and precise exposures) with hands-on studio methods (coating technique, drying racks, safelight practice) and step-by-step fixes for the most common and frustrating failures. Whether you are an experienced platinum/palladium printer refining your process or a photographer moving into alternative processes for the first time, this manual speeds the learning curve and saves hours of wasted materials.If you want prints with exceptional tonal range, subtle midtones, and archival permanence — and you want to get there predictably — this book belongs on your studio bench.Start making consistent platinum/palladium prints you can sign with confidence. Read more