Pierre Muth Turns a Translucent LCD Panel Into a Tool to Develop True Black and White Photo Prints

Maker Pierre Muth has published a write-up of a digital photography project with a difference: He's taken a high-resolution translucent monochrome LCD display and used it to create a "digital darkroom," literally transferring digital imagery onto photo paper using a traditional development process.

"Since 2008, I am using almost exclusively a digital camera. But I am always missing the black and white darkroom prints," Muth explains. "From time to time, I order paper prints of my pictures using online services. They are very good now, especially for color prints. However, and probably due to my picky nature, I’m not impressed by the prints in black and white. Each time I put side to side a professional print with an old print I did in the dark room, I see a difference in tone. Perhaps it is because of the use of color paper event for black and white prints.

"But I'm using my film camera very rarely now, almost all my pictures from the last decade are digital. I know it can sounds heretic for true black and white film lovers, but I always had this in mind – how could we transfer a digital image onto a true analog sensitive black and white paper."

The secret: High-resolution translucent monochrome LCD panels, originally developed for use with resin-based 3D printers. Taking a 13" 4k-resolution panel, Muth built a frame for ease of handling and then integrated it into a traditional photography darkroom in place of a traditional film. "After the first test," Muth writes, "I was happy to see that the LCD is perfectly able to block the light with black pixels and let enough light to pass through with white pixels. Making on the paper respectively white and black pixels. The LCD is put in contact with the paper, the same way we make contact sheets with films."

The technique required some fiddling - in particular the development of a technique for translating greyscale tones into time-on-display, as a means of improving the quality of the developed print without having to manually tweak the original photo – but has shown considerable promise.

"I think it is a good solution to get digital pictures printed on a true black and white paper," Muth concludes. "It will not be better than a print from a film or high quality prints from a professional. However it gives good result in roughly 6 min: One minute for exposure, 2 minutes revelation bath, 1 minute stop bath, and 2 for the fixing bath. Rinse with water, et voilà."

Muth's full write-up is available on his personal website, along with a series of sample images.