Toning prints

Caution. Toning involves some of the most toxic chemicals used in conventional darkrooms. Please follow standard laboratory safety procedures and use adequate safety precautions (Appendix 1 Safety in Handling Photographic Chemicals). 

There are two reasons to tone prints One is to change the color of the image, the other is for longevity. While the two are not mutually exclusive—some formulas both change the color and protect the image—they are not always complementary. For example, prints treated with iron toners, while attaining a rich blue color, often will not last more than a few years. 

Many substances will color prints. In fact, a beautiful and permanent warm tint can be achieved on many papers by using your morning coffee. 1 After fixing and a brief rinse in running water, immerse the print in cold or warm coffee until the desired brown tone is reached. Finish by washing the print in the usual manner. 

Not all papers tone equally well, and color effects can be harder to achieve with some paper/toner combinations than with others. Others may respond well to one toner and not another. Also, the color of a toned print depends on the formula of the toner and its dilution the paper type, surface, and paper base tint and not least of all the processing method. This last includes not only the print developer used but often the choice of fixer. 

1 Coffee is not a toner but a tint as it only stains the paper base without affecting the silver. 

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Do not use an exhausted or over-concentrated stop bath. Stop bath left in the tray overnight will evaporate and become concentrated. This can cause mottling in the base of a toned print. Replace the stop bath frequently or use an indicator stop bath. 

Improper fixing is probably the major cause of stains in toned prints. An exhausted fixing bath contains insoluble silver compounds that will be retained by prints and cannot be completely removed by washing. When these residual silver compounds come into contact with a toner, they form a yellow stain that is especially noticeable in the highlights and borders. 

While it is perfectly acceptable to tone prints that have just been fixed and washed the most consistent results are obtained from toning dry prints that have been re-wet for 5 minutes. This is because the emulsion of freshly processed prints is still in a state of flux. This instability may cause minor variations between prints, even within the same batch. If the prints are to be stored for extended periods prior to toning, use proper storage techniques, as you would for any fine print. Prints that have been stored in or around materials that off-gas may exhibit staining. 

Toned prints should be dried face up on clean drying racks, as many toners will transfer to the screen when placed face down. One exception is properly washed selenium toned prints, which may be safely dried face down. Drying racks should be cleaned with a solution of household bleach diluted 1 4 with water (wear gloves and use proper ventilation when using bleach). 

If you must dry toned prints with heat use the lowest and coolest setting. Heat drying may cause a cool color shift in toned prints. You can often compensate by using a more dilute solution of toner and/or toning the prints to a warmer color. 

There are two basic methods for toning prints. The first is by direct toning without the use of bleach and the second is by conversion, known as bleach-and-redeveloping. 

While the toned print is still in water, wipe it with cotton to remove any surface scum—wear gloves. 

Prints that have been selenium-toned should only be reduced by the overall method, as the color of the print will change in the area that is bleached. Gold-chloride blue-toned prints should not be bleached at all, as the color will usually change to green-blue. For these reasons, it is better to reduce prints before toning. 

Sepia Intensification Bleach and redevelop sepia toners, such as Ansco 221 Sepia Toner or Kodak T-7a Sulfide Sepia Toner, are more effective than chromium intensifier and will provide maximum archival protection for your negatives. The reason for the latter is explained more fully in Chapter 10,Toning Prints Protective Toners, though simply put, converting an image from silver metal to silver sulfide makes the image as permanent as it possibly can be. 

Dilution ratios can vary from 1 9 to 1 39, depending on the toner and paper combination. To determine the correct dilution make five identical prints. One should be left untoned. The others should be toned for 5 minutes in different dilutions of selenium toner, 1 9,1 19,1 29, and 1 39. After washing check the four toned prints against the untoned print to determine the lowest dilution that can be used without a color shift. 

Notes A derivative of hydroquinone, chlorhydroquinone was once a mainstay for warm-tone prints. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly hard to find, not because it is not useful as a warm-tone developing agent, but because it is both expensive and dangerous to manufacture. 

Add BB solution 10.0 to 15.0ml at a time to neutral or cold tone print developers until the... 

Fixer without hardener is preferred for prints that are to be toned. Prints without hardener are also easier to wash and retouch with spotting fluid. 

The depth of the blue toning will vary with the quality of the prints toned. Some intensification of the print usually occurs in toning consequently, prints should be slightly lighter than the density desired in the final toned print. 

Use the bath at 75F/24C. Prints should be toned two at a time, back-to-back and well covered with the toning solution. Agitate occasionally. Toning will take from 5 to 20 minutes. The bath may be used until exhausted. The stock solutions will keep indefinitely, but the mixed toner will not keep for more than a few days. The toned print is permanent and will not fade or change color. 

Prints to be blue-toned should be developed in Dassonville D-3 Autotoning Developer. (Other warm-toned developers can be used, but they will probably not give as deep a blue tone. A warm-toned print will give a deeper blue than a cool-toned print D-3 will give very warm-toned results and correspondingly deep blues.)... 

NOTE T-26 increases the contrast and density of the print. Compensate by reducing the normal exposure time (start with 10% less).Toning starts in the highlights and slowly moves into the shadows. Careful observation is necessary to avoid a partially toned print with blue highlights and untoned shadows. 

Add Solution B to Solution A then add Solution C. Finally add 105.0 grams of potassium alum and heat the bath to the boiling point or until sulfurization takes place (indicated by a milky appearance of the solution). Tone prints 20 to 60 minutes at 110F/43C to 125F/52C. Agitate prints occasionally until toning is complete. 

The blue-toned prints are next immersed in Solution C for about 30 seconds, or until the green tone is sufficiently strong. Toned prints should then receive a final washing of 20 to 30 minutes in neutral or slightly acidified wash water and should be dried. Avoid belt and heatdrying machines for drying. 

Tone for about 1 minute with continuous agitation at 80F/27C.Wash the toned print for 10 minutes. 

For crimson tones on hypo-alum toned prints. 

For the best tones, prints must be fully developed. Overexposed and underdeveloped prints will give inferior tones. To vary the color the print can be soaked for 1 to 2 minutes in the selenium-sulfide stock solution prior to bleaching. A small amount of thiourea can also be added to vary the tone. 

This bath can be used directly on a print to produce a blue-black tone. It may also be used on prints that have been toned in any of the preceding methods. The toned print is first immersed in a 3% sodium chloride solution. 

If a slight yellowish stain appears on the gold-toned print, it may be cleared with a second treatment in any non-hardening fixing bath. Thorough washing should follow. 

This solution should be used prior to toning prints that have been hardened during fixing. The formula will soften the emulsion so that the print will tone and spot more easily and washing will be more effective. 

Flexography was a relief process on a rubber or composition type stereo mounted on a printing cylinder. Originally suffered from squash-out but better control on registration means that good half tone printing can now be achieved. 

Handle photographs with care Printers cannot correct flaws on photographs, nor can they selectively omit them. Most flaws on a continuous-tone print will be reproduced in the published photograph. You can damage continuous-tone prints by using paper clips on them, by writing on the back... 

Line art and halftone. Top, line art. Bottom, halftone made from a continuous-tone print. 

For line art, submit original camera-ready artwork, printouts, stats, or glossy photographs. For continuous-tone prints, submit the original photographs. Mount stereoviews so that they can be used without modification (see p 294). Be sure that the distances between similar points are between 5.5 and 6.4 cm. Submit all original art with the original manuscript and photocopies of all the art with each copy of the manuscript. If possible, submit artwork that does not have to be reduced to fit a column width. Check Table 1 for column widths. 

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