Annie Leibovitz is crap. Why the f.ck would you want to copy her sh.t?
Get a life.

Digital?  Or Ilfochromes from slides?  You also cannot judge a print in a
magazine as there is a great deal of pre-press work done and the inks used
in printing are vastly different.

At the printing stage, saturation can be increased as follows (I am quoting from
I post I made four years ago):

The technique is described in the booklet "Perfect Color Printing" from
Photo Techniques Magazine. It was stated there for the EP-2 method, but
I have successfully applied it to RA-4 chemistry.

Here are the steps:

1.    Expose as normal
2.    Develop in color developer as normal
3.    Fix in B&W fixer for 2 minutes
4.    Wash thoroughly
5.    Bleach in 2.5% solution of potassium ferricyanide (w/ 7g potassium
bromide) for 2 minutes +
6.    Wash thoroughly
7.    Redevelop in color developer
8.    Either repeat from step 4 to further increase saturation or use
bleach-fix as normal
9.    Wash and dry.

The reason it works is explained by Dr. Chapman in his article "The
Photochemistry of the Anderson Method" contained in the same booklet.
There are always unused color couplers in conventional color emulsions.
Recycling the silver halides allows the activation of further color
couplers from the appropriate dye layer.

Francis A. Miniter

While I am not a fan of Ms. Leibovitz, and I think Vanity Fair could use
someone else to gain more appeal, the style of her photography is fairly
consistent in recent times. Most of her cover work is done using the Mamiya
RZ67, meaning a large 6x7 piece of film as a starter. On several occasions, she
has used several shots to combine into one final image. The film is drum
scanned, and then composited as needed.

I suspect there is not much done to alter the original transparency film, to
get to the cover. Offset printing used inks and techniques that are tough to
achieve in one off prints, especially chemical prints. While the exact print
might be a challenge, the look should not be tough to copy. If you want more on
Vanity Fair printing specs, contact them for a media kit, which will include
the printing specifications.

The somewhat dark and rich look can be achieved with a variety of newer films
now on the market, without worry of unnatural skin tones. Ms. Leibovitz also
uses a truck load of carefully placed and adjusted lights. The usually dark
backgrounds, some black bounces, or just dark interiors around the subjects
contributes to the rich look. The saturation and contrast are mostly a property
of the film, with many transparency films offering this high contrast and
saturation.

Getting the look onto one chemical photo print can be done using a LightJet,
Chromira or similar printing system. If you want more information about high
quality printing of transparencies, and a good place that many professionals
use for printing, check out <http://www.duggal.com>.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
<http://www.allgstudio.com