Via our friends at DC Editions, we found a great video about Platinum Prints and how they're made.
The video was produced by the George Eastman House:
Check out our recommended papers for this process.
And here is DC Editions on platinum printing:
Some of the finest photographers in the world including Irving Penn, Kenro Izu, Paul Strand, Edward Weston and Alfred Stieglitz turned to platinum printing for its ability to show a great range of subtle tonal variations. Of all that has been written about the platinum print, gallery owner John Stevenson’s writings in the inaugural volume of 21st: The Journal of Contemporary Photography, best sums up the experience of viewing a finely crafted platinum print :
'When I observe a fine platinum print I am affected by its luminosity and gentle warmth, the detail even in the deepest shadows, the delicate whites…and the three-dimensional, holographic depth of the image. Those qualities of the platinum image are unique in human experience. Landscapes and still-lifes glow as from an inner light. Portraits look back at us, alive.
Platinum prints are not only exceptionally beautiful. They are among the most permanent graphic images, in any medium, made by human beings. The platinum metals are chemically as stable as gold. A color photograph may last only a few years before it starts to fade. A black-and-white silver print can visibly change, within a lifetime. But a platinum image, well-made and well-handled, should last thousands of years; the only limitation is the quality of the paper it is printed on'