Digital Negative to Platinum Palladium Prints
Workshop with Don MessecDigital Negatives to Handmade Prints
June 1-5, 2026
Limited to 6
Platinum-Palladium printing has always been one of photography’s most loved looks. Historically, it has been limited in size and has been extremely demanding to print. Even recent attempts to simplify the process using digital negatives have left many frustrated by how often they require an image-specific curve to produce a great print. Not anymore.
This workshop is dedicated to learning by doing, taking every step, and then doing it several times with new images. Plan on making negatives and prints. Demystifying how your coated paper sees your negative is paramount to making good negatives. We will go over that, along with exposure, coating, mixing chemicals, developing, and clearing. There are just a few key elements to achieving a good platinum/palladium print. Overcomplicating the process only leads to killing the joy of printing.
When you get home, you won’t even need an expensive exposure unit if you have sine good sunny days. Those who don’t have access to good sunlight or prefer to work at night will need some form of UV light, but we will start with the simple joy of solar exposure, weather permitting.
The workshop will include:
Determining platinum-palladium formulas and refining
Paper preparation and coating
Digital negative making and calibrating
Setting exposure for both solar and artificial light
Proper development timing and temperature
Proper clearing and washing for archival print
And a bit on spotting and print curation
Don Messec is an artist/printmaker/photographer who highly values the print. His skills have been honed over decades through printing his own work, managing other master printers on projects and direct collaborations with luminaries such as Clyde Butcher, Robert Stivers, Gregory Kondos, Ricardo Mazal, and many others.
Making Art Safely is Don Messec’s latest endeavor, spanning over 30 years of introducing innovative thinking, technology, and materials to artists who do not want to “die for their art.” Don’s MFA is from UIUC, and he began his printmaking experience at Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in NYC in the 1980s. Sounds so long ago. Don Messec was the founding director of the Printmaking Center for Safe and Non-toxic Printmaking, a world-leading academic-studio unit in research and development, cultivation, and education toward safer printmaking for artists and art instructors. Now, transitioned into MakingArtSafely, where the importance of works on paper continues to be promoted and developed.
What’s Included
Each student will receive enough paper, platinum-palladium mix, sensitizer and contrasting agent for several prints. Brushes, developer, distilled water, transparency material, specialized negative printing ink sets, digital printers and software along with other communal needs are included.
The studio is equipped with Epson printers, work surfaces, a few communal computers and a variety of exposure units: very high end Olec exposure unit, ‘pizza oven’ florescent exposure unit, contact frames plus lots of free sunshine exposure opportunities.
What to Bring
- Source materials such as digitized drawings and digital photographs in the following formats – PSD, jpg, TIFF, RAW. Bring unaltered original capture files at original resolution in addition to any incremental versions of processed or manipulated files. It can be useful to go back to an unmodified file to re-interpret the image once you have a print in hand.
- Optional – digital camera,;phones are great, too. Of course you will take pictures and video!
- Jump drive (thumb drive or other portable read/write media)
- Laptop if you have one. Especially if it has Photoshop and/or Lightroom. If you do not have any of this software consider downloading a trial version for the workshop. This is more important in Canada and EU as the host studios rarely have digital equipment for you to use. I bring some, but not much.
- Large enough luggage and/or box to pack prints, with stiff protector (cardboard or matt board). Paper will be torn down to approximately 11×15” for 8×12″ or smaller image size
That’s it! Any questions about supplies, please feel free to contact us.
Workshop Itinerary
- Monday morning begins with students arriving at the studio between 9:30-10 AM.
- Daily instruction is 10 AM to 4 PM with the studio open to students between 9:30 AM and 7 PM. Exception is Friday when the workshop ends at 4 PM.
- Bring a lunch everyday except Wednesday when we go out Dutch for a late lunch
- If opportunity and conditions collide we may get to add a photo excursion.