Portfolio II (Arizona Portfolioi) ~ Gold toned Kallitype

The basic Oregon Portfolio has been printed, with the final image shown with its diptych mate in the last post; "Sailboat on  Canal". The print today is a gold toned Kallitype, continuing on with the Kallitype portfolio of 8x10 prints, mostly of Arizona. I find it pretty interesting to be printing in silver again. in a mirror process to the platinum/palladium process. The only difference being the dilution of the ferric oxalate solution; 27% for Pt/Pd and 20% for silver. As a side to this, I will mention, again, that the ferric ammonium oxalate works fine with Pt/Pd, making it a printing out process, whereas using ferric ammonium oxalate with silver in the Kallitype process does not work so well, if, gold toning is desired. I have yet to try other toners, but am not all that enamored with the process enough to wade deep into chemical testing to find out. I am fine with the standard Kallitype processing.

The print I'm posting here is a Kallitype made from a digital negative I printed some time ago to try out making a Pt/Pd print of it, printed in the UV printer. First test came out about half printed in, looking to me to be far more advanced, with the "stage whisper" image before developing. I'll know better next time. I am still looking closely at the differences between a silver image, Kallitype or salted silver, next to palladium and platinum/palladium to try and differentiate between the middle tone differences, as in how the middle tones are represented in gray tones. I would not be the best person to do this with my color deficiencies, but I can see the basic differences. The silver tends to be more neutral in gray tones, whereas the influence of platinum adds a lighter more 'steely' gray. Palladium is just a warmer toned image.

What the printer can take away from this is that silver can emulate palladium~platinum/palladium, by the process used and the toner used thereafter. Developing a Kallitype image in sodium citrate warms the print, emulating a palladium image. Developing with sodium acetate leaves a very 'black & white' image emulating a platinum in color, especially when gold toned. Developing a Kallitype in sodium acetate then toning in palladium toner leaves a warm toned image with deep dMax blacks, much like what you might see in a platinum/palladium. Knowing these differences allows the printer a range of options for final print color, and generally how the print looks overall.

This print was made from a digital negative, developed in sodium acetate (black developer) then toned in a gold/citric acid toner for the deepening of the blacks and crispness in the whites. Personally, I think the image would look even better when it has been printed in Pt/Pd. But that's just me.

Gold toned Kallitype
"Desert Blooms" ~ 8x10 ~ 1/5
Cochise Strong Hold, Arizona