"Tombstone Marshals" ~ Gold toned Kallitype

 I don't normally bring my personal life into the blog forum, but things have been altered forever for me. My wife spent the last two months in a hospital, from complications. She passed on October 15. One of the few solaces I have at my disposal is my darkroom; my printing. I keep printing because I know that is what my sweet woman would have wanted me to do.

As I noted in an earlier post, I have begun toning my prints in Gold, instead of palladium, which now costs the same as platinum. I am happy with the toning results, as I continue to use the gold/thiourea 1% colution; with .5gm of tartaric acid, which makes a liter of toner. I use 50ml of toning solution for an 11x14 print, which adds up to 20 11x14 prints for the liter; almost 40 prints for 8x10 prints. That makes gold affordable, offering archival print longevity of up to 200-300 years. The thiourea formula is an 'all at once' toner, affecting the lower tones at the same time as the higher tones. It is also said to be the one gold toning formula that replaces much of the silver salts, instead of coating the silver, metallic silver on the finished print. The 5% gold chloride formula is a top-down toner, starting with the highlights, working down to the shadows and blacks.

The difference I have found between a palladium toner and this gold/thiourea formula is how they affect the print image. Palladium, is a top down toner, tending to 'open up' the middle tones, and deepen shadows and blacks. It is also considered a 'warm toned' developer, being it makes a warm toned print, compared to platinum. The thiourea toner appears to affect the whites, pushing them from a low zone-8, not much texture, to a nice zone 7, showing the texture in the whites. It also deepens the dark areas, zone-4 and zone-3, as well as deepens the blacks. I didn't notice a lot of change to the middle tones, zones 5 and 6.

There is also further control over the print image, using two different developers; a cool toned, real black & white developer, using a 10% sodium acetate solution + 3gms tartaric acid/liter. It sort of mimics the platinum look, with rich blacks, although platinum has a sort of bluish black in the middle tones, the Kallitype is more of a neutral black. A combination of an acetate print toned in gold leaves a very nice color to the print. The tonal range is left to the printer. Some images are full range prints, with 8 distinct tonalities. Some, perhaps three or four tonalities, demonstrating a different feel, such as the range on a white flour, snow or fog. The blacks will be nice when you need them. For the photographers that shoot on the toe, like W. Eugene  Smith, with lots of deep blacks from shadows, this formula is the one.

The second formula I use is a sodium citrate developer; sodium citrate at 20%/liter. This one is a warm toned developer, and for my eye, mimics a palladium print. Palladium printing also has two developers to choose from, a warm toned, potassium oxalate, and the cooler toned ammonium citrate. The palladium and Kallitype processes are almost identical, with a couple exceptions. One, being no need for fixer or hypo for palladium. Both use ferric oxalate for the iron binder, with the difference being palladium uses the oxalate at 27% [Bostick & Sullivan's 25%] and the Kallitype uses oxalate at 20%.

For those hand printers who work with the Kallitype, and gold toning, the prints can be made to have the tonality and gradation of the platinum, or, palladium, or platinum/palladium print, by choosing one of the two developers mentioned, and set the density range desired for the image to be printed. When I began printing, forty years ago, the grail of printing was arriving at the full tonal range of any print image. I'm not beholden to that at this point in my printing. I am now more interesting in the light within the image. Replicating the light of the scene, what I believe to be the emotional connection to any print; the light.

This print was developed in the citrate developer and toned for eight minutes in the 1% gold/thiourea toning formula. The warmth of the middle tones remain, even after toning. The portfolios I have of palladium toned Kallitype prints would be indistinguishable to most viewers, as the 'color' of the warm tones are evident in both processes.

Gold toned Kallitype

"Tombstone Marshals" 11x14

Tombstone, Arizona

Vase and Shadow ~ Reprint ~ 2/2

 The first print of this edition has gone to an appreciator of my work, actively collecting prints; this being one. The was 1/2 for the edition. The print just completed goes into the portfolio case; 2/2. There is one artist's proof that can be printed; all disclosed on the Certificate of Authenticity issued with each print I make. There is a slight shift in print color with this second print, from the first. The first print has a slight warm toned color. This second print, no warm color, as would be expected from a Kallitype print, developed in sodium acetate [not sodium citrate ~ warm toned developer], then toned in Gold toner, the 1% gold chloride with thiourea, the 'all at once gold toner'.

There is always slight changes, sometimes, with hand coated prints, but usually, said variations have to do with print time, developer and toner having influence on the print. These two prints were made with the same paper, same bottles of silver & ferric oxalate, same developer, same everything. The color shift isn't huge, really, but enough to  pick up the difference. I had though perhaps I had copied the print poorly, but holding the prints side by side shows the variation. Theoretically, the only possible difference could, possibly, be I mistakenly pulled out the palladium toner bottle, instead of the gold toner bottle. That would explain the difference. I just can't confirm that. Not sure it matters The person who has the first copy is thrilled with it, so there's that.

As the first print, this one was printed on Revere Platinum paper, developed in sodium acetate and toned in the gold/thiourea toner for ten minutes. This is the toner said to replace much of the silver salts with gold.

Gold toned Kallitype

"Vase and Shadow" ~ 8x10

Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

"Vase and Shadow" ~ Gold toned Kallitype

 I have been printing mostly warm toned images since I began printing again five years ago; give or take. I have long held a preference for warm toned prints, as I simply found them more aesthetically pleasing; to my eye anyway. The palladium printing feel into that catagory, as do the palladium toned Kallitype prints I've been making. I will say here that one of the impetuses for shifting to a cool toned print is becoming ever more desirable with the price of palladium now basically equal to platinum, which comes out to $10/ml, which equates to an expensive printing cost, being I have been mostly making 11"x14" and 11"x17" prints.

I have also made another slight shift with the printing of the digital negatives. I have historically altered the RGB color image to 'black & white film" through Paintshop Pro x9, a long naturalistic looking black & white tonal structure, from a color image. Doing this, still leaves the image an RGB image as far as the printer sees it. The digital negative is printed as an RGB image, using the color inks, but not the black. Bad habit to just let it go at that. This image was printed on Arista II 7 mil OHC clear film, on an Epson 1430 with the printing to be done using the 'Black & Gray' ink setting, using only the black ink cartridge. The tonality and density range of the finished negative printed the same as the multi-color version, making up the negative, as black & white.

I should also mention, that adding the color green to the image before printing it, leaves a green toned negative image, and that increases the output density range of the image; a lot.  I used Lightroom 6 to do the work, shifting the 'hue' slider left, into the green side to a -40 value, pretty green. That negative was then printed in full sunlight, for 10 minutes for a great finished print. Equal to my 5x7 film negatives with a density range of Log 1.8, which also print in direct sunlight for 10 minutes. For my UV printer that I built, with 160@ of white blacklight, at 6" from the table top, the density <curve> ["Color adjustment Curve~ Paintshop] I created for making platinum/palladium [Na2 prints] is labeled as the Na2 <curve> which makes a very nice print at 8 minutes, each time. With exceptions, for very contrasty images need to be flattened a bit before any <curve> is added, for best results.

This image was printed on Revere Platinum paper and toned in Gold toner; 1 % gold chloride and thiourea, the all at once toner. It is also touted as replacing most of the  silver salts in the print, leaving it mostly gold, after toning, fixing & clearing. I have found it to my liking over the 5% Ag toning solution. but that's just me.

Gold toned Kallitype

"Vase and Shadow" ~ 8"x10"

Merida, Mexico

"Old Jerome Ghost" ~ Pallaium toned Kallitype

 This third image of the Jerome series was one of the old, original buildings still standing. As can be seen, this one didn't last past the early 20th century. It is also not one to get a lot of visitor attention or be photographed much. This hotel was well used in its day, during the late 19th century when Jerome was a booming copper town, and Jenny Jerome walked Main Street. It also sits just a short step below "Husband's Alley" that led from said hotel, The House of Joy, and other evening activity establishments of the time.

Again, this print is a palladium toned Kallitype. The price of palladium is now very close to the same price of platinum. From $3/ml to $10/ml from a year ago. This is not the first time the cost of platinum & palladium has been beyond many printers, and that, begat the "poor man's platinum/palladium"; take your pick. Coating a large sheet of paper with pure platinum, then lose the print from a printing error, meant losing a lot of money. In today's price of platinum, now palladium as well, making even an 8"x10" print costs $10, for the coating, plus paper & chemicals. Make a mistake and it's junk, or something to give away, or keep in a drawer as a memorial to mistakes. A "poor man's platinum/palladium, is a silver print toned in platinum or palladium, or a combination of both. The potassium based platinum, not the sodium based Na2 version, which works beautifully in combination with palladium, but bleaches prints as a toner. If you make a mistake with silver, the cost is less than a dollar, even for 11"x17" prints. Palladium, being a more noble metal than silver, replaces all the silver salts [in metallic silver form] with palladium, thereby becoming a true palladium print, indistinguishable from a print, printed with palladium.

I have been using mostly Revere Platinum rag paper for my silver/palladium prints, as I have found it to be a very nice printing paper, pretty much identical to Arches Platine paper. I also use Hahnemuhle paper from time to time, as I also like that paper a lot. I've been developing these images in sodium citrate, giving the image a warm look. The palladium toner shifts the the 'brownish' warm tones much cooler overall. The toner also opens up middle tones nicely, with downward toning, from highlights to deep shadows, leaving a very nice, deep D-Max black. I also use a density curve that I manually set, for platinum/palladium [Na2-double sodium] printing. it is shorter than the palladium curve I created, for printing with palladium, which tends to need a bit longer curve for a full range print.

The most difficult task in posting images is arriving at the same light qualities of the original print. The digital copy usually never tends to be a visually appreciative and bright as the original. My apologies for that.

Palladium toned Kallitype

"Old Jerome Ghost" ~ 11"x17"

Jerome, Arizona 1985

"The House of Joy" ~ Palladium toned Kallitype

 The House of Joy was around when Jenny Jerome walked Main street. Near this establishment is the "Husband's Alley", where said husbands slipped behind Main Street to where the evening establishments once stoop. House of Joy being the last of that breed, kept up over time. The palladium printing actually shows off the place about as nicely as the original color image, shot with an old Canon QT - 35mm camera, using color film, to capture the colors of the buildings, and surroundings.

The color images are converted to "black & white film" filter, rendering the original color image into a very long scale b&w image, same as if I shot the image using FP4, developing in Beutler 105. This print also was printed to a digital negative using the Na2 <curve>, to keep all the middle tones and textural detail intact An 8 minute print in my custom UV printer. I have a 16"x20" print frame that just fits inside, with the flip up loading door closed. The print is 'brighter' than the digital copy shown here.

Palladium toned Kallitype

"House of Joy" ~ 11"x14"

Jerome, Arizona