Re: LITH-printing (and 2 questions) long.

["Tim Rudman" <tim.rudman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob, you can get the result you are after but loss of some highlight detail
is always a risk with bleach/sepia - especially when it is very delicate as
in lith printing. Flashing the paper may help and maybe you need to reduce
the amount you are giving. It must be used very sparingly because of the
great over exposure already given, so it is easy to over flash. Because
development is incomplete you cannot do a normal flash test strip of course
so it is trial and error.
I prefer to use a thiocarbamide 'sepia' toner. It doesn't smell and it
doesn't fog unused paper either. The gold will give a good blue with
Kentona. It may be that you need to tone longer, it will come but goes
through other reddish and purple tones first. The shadows turn last. You
might find that Sterling Lith paper or TP5 give you the effect you want more
easily.

Tim Rudman


-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Parsons <bobp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: infrared@xxxxx <infrared@xxxxx>
Date: 28 November 1998 23:39
Subject: LITH-printing (and 2 questions) long.


>Jaap Los <imagefotografie@xxxxxx> asked:
>
>"Is there anybody who has experience in the technics of LITH black/white
>printing. You need ordinary b/w negatives, special LITH developer and
>LITH blue sensitised printing paper .
> <..... cut ......>
>In all you can get very beautiful images and very  interesting effects.
> I want to try out this proces on IR negatives! Anybody ever tried this? "
>
>
>Japp,
>
>When I started lith printing Konica IR negs I wasn't prepared for
>the results, what a wonderful surprise! The ability to obtain tone
>separation in the shadows and beautiful soft  highlights with backlit
>forest scenes amazes me. The tonal distribution of IR landscapes
>seems to match the characterisics of lith printing very well. There is
>an overall feeling of openess and light, just what I want to achieve.
>In addition lith prints are very responsive to toning such as Gold or
>Selenium.  I can see lith printing IR is going to provide many
>enjoyable hours in the darkroom not to mention the results.
>
>Someone who is very experienced in lith printing is Tim Rudman
>who has just published a (the only?) book on this subject. It's called
>'The Master Photographer's Lith Printing Course' and is due out this
>month. There is also a chapter in his current book  "The Photographer's
>Master Printing Course" which gives more than enough information to
>get started.
>
>
>Now I've two questions for the group regarding IR lith prints:
>
>I've been trying to split tone prints with sulphide/gold.
>The scenes were backlit and taken in Epping Forest on 120
>Konica 750 IR film with an RG715 filter. It was evening with
>golden sunlight and a deep blue sky. The prints are on Kentmere
>Kentona paper developed in Photospeed LD20 diluted between
>1:20 and 1:30.
>
>I wish to tone the prints so that the highlights are golden yellow
>and the deep shadows dark blue-black. There are two problems
>I have with toning:
>
>After partial bleaching with alkaline Ferricyanide/Bromide and
>'redevelopment' with Sodium Sulphide I find that the extreme
>highlights have partially bleached. Subsequent toning in Tetenal
>Gold Toner does give the required golden tone to the highlights
>but with very warm black shadows and not blue/black as I wanted.
>The prints were 2 bath fixed, hypo cleared and washed for 40 mins
>before toning so I don't think residual hypo is the cause of the
>highlight loss.
>
>I've tried flashing which seems to lower the highlight contrast
>too much, and increasing the print exposure which upsets the
>tonal balance by darkening the mid tones. I'm new to lith printing
>so perhaps it's a question of getting the exposure, dilution and
>development time right?
>I've also tried direct toning with polysulphide and hypo-alum.
>These don't bleach the highlights but give a brownish tone which
>turns to pink, not golden, when subsequently gold toned.
>
>So the first question is, how to get golden highlights without the
>loss of highlight detail?
>
>And the second is how to get blue/black shadows rather than the
>warm black ones? The only way I can think of is to use a removable
>varnish to protect the shadow areas during sepia toning and
>remove it before gold toning.
>
>FYI I use 120 Konica 750, developed for 8 mins Perceptol diluted
> 1:3 @ 68F, 2 inversions each minute, EI 20, measure (no filter)
>shadow zone 2 to 3, exposure usually around 2-4secs @ f16, filter
>RG715. Scenes are in forest with backlit trees in full sunlight &
>blue sky. With an RG715 you can get tone in the blue sky near the
>sun, otherwise results are similar with a red or orange filter.
>Another developer which I've found gives good results with the
>same type of scene is Rodinal 1:80, 6.5min @ 68F, 2 inversions
>each minute,  EI of 20.
>
>PS. You don't have to use a paper with a lith emulsion for printing,
>many standard warm tone papers work well, Kentmere Kentona
>which is very colourful, Forte Polywarmtone, Ilford Warmtone etc.
>and Process/Sterling lith, designed for lith development.
>
>Kind regards, the best of Invisible Light.
>
>Bob Parsons <bobp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
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