Copper toning experiences

[LarsAC]

Hi all,

wanted to share some experiences which may be helpful. Finally found some time to mix copper toner and experiment with a few prints. I used Rudman's recipe and a few prints on Ilford MGWT and one on Ilford MGCT (the upper right one). Mixing was easy with no problems to dissolve the chemicals.

After putting the prints into the toner, nothing happened for about a minute. Then, the MGWT prints started to take on copper color quite rapidly. When I took the first one out, it went far too copper tone for my taste and was lightened quite a bit by the bleach which is part of the toner. For the other MGWT prints, I took them out earlier, but still found them to be too reddish. The MGCT print toned very slowly and I took it out after 3-4 mins without noticeable color change.

The MGWT prints were all gone too reddish and I quickly mixed some developer in normal concentration. The copper tone went into a more moderate direction when I bathed the prints in the dev. Finally dried them in the press. Upper right (MGCT) got a hunch of copper which I like. Upper left got somewhat fuzzy in the highlights (looks like it has lost sharpness there), but the color would be nice. Lower left went far too light, will try to tone in blue later on. Lower right is actually quite nice.

Lars

 

[M Carter]

I've been playing with it on and off this year - gets some interesting effects. I was getting pink highlights and borders, upping the potassium citrate by about 50% cleared that up. It can be nice for overexposed prints, something that can happen often in lith printing, so it's been a good print-rescuer for me.

Be prepared for the "but it's not archivaaaaaal" posts. It doesn't add the protection of gold or selenium, but (to my knowledge) it's no more "non-archival" than an untoned print. And you can follow it with selenium.

 

[NedL]

Thank you this is very interesting.

 

[DREW WILEY]

It can be fun, but calling it non-archival is an understatement. Think of how fast a new penny tarnishes.

 

[M Carter]

It can be fun, but calling it non-archival is an understatement. Think of how fast a new penny tarnishes.

Yes, that's a vitally important observation - if we're discussing the archival properties of brand-new pennies. As far as discussing the toning of photographic prints... I mean, you're joking, right? Copper toning doesn't convert the silver in the image to brand-new copper, but to copper ferrocyanide. As Tim Rudman points out in his Toning Book, copper toning does nothing to make the print any less archival than a properly processed and washed print. Unless you've discovered something that nobody else has noticed in years (from the "Copper Toning and Permanence" article from the 2/11/1908 issue of "Photography" on Google books, to Dr. Rudman's work).

 

[DREW WILEY]

I certainly have noticed it ! - it's the only kind of toning I've ever done that has deteriorated, even in conjunction with ample selenium toning. And I can truly describe it as tarnish. In fact, these are the only b&w prints I've ever made that have somehow shifted. Maybe Rudman or someone else has discovered some tweak to mitigate this; but until it's proven otherwise, I'm not ever going back to copper.

 

[Ian Grant]

It can be fun, but calling it non-archival is an understatement. Think of how fast a new penny tarnishes.

Well the test print I made in the mid to late 1970s using Copper toner is still fine just like when I made it, I can't remember off-hand what formulae I used but it'll be in my notebook of formulae I tested in my darkroom. However the print has been stored in a box with other prints I'd tend to agree with you about permanence.

Ian

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

fuzzy in the highlights

I tried Fotospeed´s copper toner yesterday, and I made exactly the same experience. The highlights somehow lost sharpness, besides the first few prints (Lith prints on Cachet Lith) lost about one-tow stops. Next time I will try with Tim Rudman´s formulae - I did not like the pre-mixed toner in this case.