After a break of several years, I’m returning to the darkroom to learn toning techniques.
The photo was taken with a Minolta Autocord, printed on Ilford Art, first skin and table sepia toned, dress and pot coloured using Fotospeed palette toner blue without intensifier and then covered in resist while the print was submerged in selenium at 1/10 for four minutes. The bracelet and lips were painted with Fotospeed fotodyes.
This was part of a little project of ours to replicate the feeling of paintings we like. The inspiration for this one was the Dali below.
We tried with several cameras, the one above was my pick, because Louis did such a great job of ignoring my presence, making the picture believable. In addition to the Autocord, I also used an RB67, a Fuji 690ii, a Leica with 40mm Summicron-c and a Hexar RF. I haven’t seen the small format negs yet, but the Autocord really does draw wonderfully, and offers up regular surprises.
The Fuji print above is a quick scan of an unfinished trial print. It offered a surprise lesson of its own: blue toner with intensifier needs to be protected before a selenium bath if you want to keep the blues. I was distraught when it changed this weird green. After a while, I came to like it, and now consider it a string to the bow.
Below is a cropped scan of the version taken with a Leica with 40mm Summicron-c.
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