Bruce Barnbaum - Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals

Bruce Barnbaum has been working in the photographic field for more that forty years, and is regarded and one of America's top master photographers and printers, in both black & white and color. His photography expands upon the dynamics he finds in both nature and the works of man, relating forces to the sweeping forms that dominate his vivid imagery. Long an advocate of both photography and environmentalism, Barnbaum has produced images which convey an intense love for the landscapes which have inspired him for decades, much in the same vein as the great Ansel Adams.

An accomplished author, Barnbaum's internationally-acclaimed works include Visual Symphony, The Art Of Photography, Tone Poems - Books I & II, and more. He has also taught photographic workshops around the world, and founded the famous Owens Valley Photography Workshops, which enjoyed international acclaim from 1979 through 1990.

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QUESTION:

Hi, I have a question related to my classroom enlargers. When my students are contact printing (8x10 size) they are getting soft spots/out of focus sections in their prints. It seems to be mostly in the corners or edges, but sometimes it is in the middle. We are contact printing collages they made and the blurry sections are driving us crazy. They are in different places for different prints, no consistency-not even within the same print. Ive tried raising/lowering the enlarger, focusing the light, changing the aperture-Im lost. We started on a Beseler Printmaker 35/67 then switched to a Beseler 23CIII, it seemed to improve a little on the 23CIII, but not completely gone. The lens is not out of balance. Please Help :)

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Lynn, This is totally baffling. A contact print should be sharp as long as the contents (perhaps a negative, maybe a 3-D object of some sort) are truly in contact with the negative or print to be exposed. That should be sharp under any light, incl...full answer

QUESTION:

Hi Bruce, I am doing my photography project on you and i was wondering if you could give me a little more information. Your art work is inspiring and breath taking. But how do you get it that way? Do you use a filter or just a lot of dodging and burning? Another question I have is your main focus are landscapes, am I wrong? Because I know you do abstract works of art too. Thanks for your time, Nicole

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Nicole, Thank you for your good words about my work. You ask how I get my work to be so good, and of course there is no single answer to that question. Let me simply say it begins with knowing the subject matter that is important to you, knowing w...full answer

QUESTION:

Im doing a famous photographer project for my photo class, and Ive chosen to do you for your amazing and mesmerizing photographs. I have been looking for days now to find some general biographical information, but Ive come up with very little so far. If it is at all possible, could I get some information about your early life and how you got into photography? If you could give me some information, thatd be great :) Thanks for your time,

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Katie, Thank you for choosing me for your class project. Im honored! You can get a good deal of information about me from my website at www.barnbaum.com. Concerning my background in photography: it came rather late. My interest in photograph st...full answer

QUESTION:

Hello Bruce, Ive been printing BW and teaching both analog and digital photography for almost three decades. After moving to France with my family, Im now building a teaching darkroom in a space of 14x20 feet. Ive learned a lot from your darkroom tour at lenswork. Could you tell me what the measures are of your darkroom sink, and how many people can comfortably work at it? Best regards, Wilbert

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Wilbert, After moving to France with my family, Im now building a teaching darkroom in a space of 14x20 feet. Ive learned a lot from your darkroom tour at lenswork. Could you tell me what the measures are of your darkroom sink, and how many people...full answer

QUESTION:

Hello Bruce, I understand how test your film to determine the ASA, but to figure out your N development time you recommend exposing a grey card in Zone V using the manufacturers recommended ASA, not the ASA you just determined (Appendix A of The Art of Photography). Why is that ? Is it to guarantee that with the lowered ASA you use in the field youll get a little more exposure, which you can always print down under the enlarger? Also, I dont understand why you print this Zone V to match the same value as 18 gray. After all, many exposures can be made to look like 18 gray with the full texture you expect from a Zone V placement. Wouldnt you want to evaluate your Zones V, VIII and IX under the standard/maximum black exposure ? This would allow you to evaluate the print values for your Zone V (and higher zones) when youve printed your Zone 0 as a pure black. Thank you very much for your help ... -Pierre

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Pierre, To be perfectly honest, Ive never done any of the tests in my book appendix, myself (except for the safelight test). I created those tests as thought experiments for those who feel a need to test. I hate testing. But I have friends who are...full answer

QUESTION:

After developing my first roll of BW Adox CHS 50 film, I noticed that part of the film was touching near the center of the stainless steel reel. Being my first time using this kind of reel, I expected to goof up somewhere. The negatives came out great with the exception of the part that was touching. I got a big blotch (1 frames worth) of red, white and blue that ran toward the center of the reel. Was this because of the film touching and not allowing the chemicals to flow around the film freely during developing?

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Precisely! Just be sure to hold the film taught when loading the reel to avoid that problem. But really, if this was your first time doing this, and you lost only 1 frame, you did very well. When you load film more often, youll probably get it pe...full answer

QUESTION:

Bruce, My question is this am I missing something by not doing my processing at 68 degrees. Do the chemicals behave any better at that temp?? Would I get better prints or negatives with a cooler lets active developer?

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Dan, Not a bit. If youve altered everything to accommodate the higher temperature, youre fine. Go forth and be fruitful and produce good prints! ...full answer

QUESTION:

Hello Bruce, What confuses me in your manual is normal negative development and how you think of this when you are place an object on a zone prior to exposure. You say that normal development is the amount of time needed for each zone to reach its proper density level. Thus if you meter something as a Zone VI in the field, it should print as Zone VI, yes? But your actual field procedure is to meter something as say Zone VI, but it will print (using normal development) as Zone VII since you halved the film speed. So my question: When you meter something are you saying to yourself Im metering it as zone x but I know its really a zone y. Seems an awkward way to do zone placement so I must be misunderstanding something. Thanks! Joe

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Hi Joe, Not really a problem. If I expose it in Zone 7, then I expect to develop it to Zone 7 density. Period! Now, I may want to print it as Zone 6, and I can always do that by giving it more time under the enlarger. But the real crux of ...full answer

QUESTION:

Hi Bruce, I have a question about using a Toyo 4x5 camera with Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White Film. I am photographing two subjects in different Lighting situations for a Large Format Class and not sure of correct exposures for both. One is a Chef at a restaurant and the other is a Radio D.J. I have tried to ask my professor for the advice, but he makes me feel dumb for asking such a question. I hope you will be able to help me with my dilemma. Thank you, Marie A.

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Let me try my best to deal with your question: Hopefully you have a light meter-a reflective light meter, not an incident meter-to read the relative brightnesses of objects within the frame of your composition. Since I have no idea what those may ...full answer

QUESTION:

Hi Bruce, Id like to use Rodinal 1:100 on TMax 100 8x10 film with a Jobo 3005 tank. Ive used Tmax RS developer before but have repeatedly seen streaking across the darker areas (especially the sky). I figure a more diluted developer may resolve this issue as once the developer is poured in, the diluted amount may not affect results as much. Can you recommend starting times for Rodinal at the dilution above at constant agitation? Regards, Shailendra

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Shailendra, Rodinal s not really made for the T-grain films (i.e., Kodak T-Max or Ilford Delta films), and doesnt really do the best job of developing them to their potential. It sounds to me like the Jobo may be the roblem, but without knowing mo...full answer

QUESTION:

Bruce, I really love your work! My question is this. I am getting back to printing. I have a Omega d5xl emlarger with a v54 cold light tube. I am wondering if I should invest in the VC papers vs the graded papers. Which in your opinion yield better result with gallery presentation in mind. Thank You, Dan

Mr. Barnbaum's Answer:

Dan, If you use a cold light head, variable contrast paper is difficult to work with because the cold light head is missing segments of the viual spectrum. Thus, moving from one contrast level to the next tends to be erratic. I believe youd do ...full answer