With that said, this does not mean one cannot end up with a print of gold, or platinum/palladium, it just must be accomplished in the right order. I am of course speaking of toning the print using a more noble metal than silver. As I mentioned in another post, print longevity is based upon the primary metal salt of the print image. If that metal salt is silver, the print will have more longevity by toning it in gold toner, which coats the silver salts, now in metallic silver form at the time of toning. The longevity of a print would be increased even further, much further, if toned with platinum or palladium. It would look something like this;
Silver Print ~ 100-125 years
toned in Gold Chloride 200 years
toned in Platinum/Palladium 500 years
In fairness I should mention that there is also Selenium toner, which is the cheapest toner of all. Selenium toner is said to have a longevity equal to Gold toner; over 200 years. Selenium toner sort of 'cools' the print's blacks, but has a sort of plum/purple color it brings to the print. My use of Selenium lasted about a year, and after toning numerous prints I found it not to my liking because of the color shift, which in my eye wasn't pleasant. But that's just me. Toning does add much life to a silver print, you just need to accommodate your toner choice with your printing budget.
What was referred to as a "poor man's" platinum a hundred years ago, was a silver print toned in platinum toner. In toning, the more nobler metallic salts replace the metallic salts of the less nobler metal. Hence, toning a silver print in a platinum/palladium in a 20% toning solution, the silver print ends up as a platinum/palladium print. Hence poor man's platinum. Platinum then, and now is not within the budgets of most art photographers. When I had my gallery, I represented five platinum printers. At that time the price was out of my reach, as it is today.
Platinum is used in munitions, coating detonators and other parts you don't want failing. War is profitable and parts and materials used in warfare are hence also expensive. Comparing prices between April of this year and a few nights ago, platinum, potassium chloroplatinite was up 30%, as was palladium, sodium chloropalladite. I have scrutinized the numbers like the feds did with Al Capone's books, trying to arrive at the costs for printing and toning using the more nobler metals. The reality being platinum, as well as palladium remain just out of reach for me as a printer. For now.
As a rough cost estimate for hand coated printing, it is easy to see why silver remains the first choice for most photographers today. The breakdown might look something like this;
Per Print cost; Printing with metals; metal price only
Silver ~ .25 cents per print
Palladium ~ (20%) $4 per print
Platinum ~ (15%) $12.95 per print
Toning prints cost; metal toner price only
Gold Chloride toner; cheapest: .90 cents per print
Palladium toner (20% sol): $1.00 per print
Platinum toner (20% sol): $2.50 per print
These prices are based on prices at Bostick & Sullivan's as they are the go to place for hand coated printers. They have been around since before I began coating paper and still going strong. They are now located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Another photo chemical company I frequent for some of my bulk chemicals is Photographers Formulary. These price estimates are close to 'exact' cost, that is the prices are 'give or take', but so close as to show the relationships between the metals accurately.
It can be better understood how the 'poor man's platinum' got its name, and the why. Speaking for myself, I can afford to print in platinum, if, I was selling the prints at some point. As a hobby though, printing in platinum isn't going to happen at my house. Printing a silver print, then toning in platinum is, however, doable, and, again, predicated upon the advent of selling the prints at some point. Palladium is even cheaper, with the same longevity characteristics as platinum. The primary difference between the two is print color, with a platinum having the richer blacks and more neutral middle tones, whereas palladium appear 'warmer' in tone and is basically a warm black print. Probably a vast majority of printers mix platinum and palladium for a warmed toned print with rich blacks. Dan Burkholder says he uses a 1:4 mixture; platinum/palladium, to get the rich blacks and the warm tone of the palladium, as well as save a lot of money along the way.
I will be discussing in detail the platinum/palladium process, in printing and toning. Just not quite yet, as to do so with any authority I will wait until I am actually practicing the methods I will be describing. For now, it is theory, studied and known, yet untried. I don't write about theoretical practices, only applicable ones. I continue to print using silver. When the testing is completed and I know Dmax and matching density range needed, I will begin toning the prints, beginning with gold chloride. Just know, there are more than one toning formula for gold chloride. Some of them tone from 'top down' beginning with highlights and working down to the shadows and blacks, others tone all over at once. One of those formulas touts actually replacing the silver salts with metallic gold as is the case with Pt/Pd salts. This engender better longevity for the print than just coating the silver salts.
The prints I posting are un-toned silver prints. Remember, these are already thirty years old. When my printing room is completed, the testing if finished and I begin toning prints, these prints will be removed from their respective matting, re-wetted then toned in palladium. I believe the toning will enhance the image, and certainly keep it in pristine shape far beyond my time here on earth.
Salted Silver Print ~ "Sandbar on Willamette River"
1985 ~ 5x7 ~ Unique
Willamette River ~ Eugene, Oregon
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