When is a black and white photograph in colour? This may sound like a Zen riddle, but it is in fact a legitimate photographic question. The answer lies in lith printing.
In vogue during the 1970s, the technique has starting enjoying something of a revival since the publication of Tim Rudman's excellent guide on the process. Essentially lith printing produces atmospheric, grainy prints on conventional black and white papers that can range in colour from olive to sepia brown, dusky pink to sunset red, and even cool mauve to vivid indigo with the help of a little gold toner. Metallic gold and silvers are possible when combined with bleach and redevelopment. No two prints are exactly the same.
Definitely only for darkroom enthusiasts, the process can be a lengthy one producing prints that are unique and with a character all their own.
The starting point is a standard black and white or colour negative. Sadly not all black and white paper is compatible with the process, but the locally available Kentmere range contains several good lith papers, notably Kentona and Art Classic. Ilford's Multigrade Warmtone produces lovely subtle results while the Hungarian Forte range is worth the hunt if you can locate the Polywarmtone and Fortezo Museum varieties.
The chemistry is where the process comes into its own. The lith developer (manufactured by Kodak, Novolith and Fotospeed amongst others) is highly diluted and can be warmed to produce heightened effects. The negative is dramatically overexposed (usually over ten times the usual exposure) and then slowly developed in the dilute chemicals.
Forget the clockwatching of normal black and white development and watch the print slowly appear. Something called 'infectious development' occurs, meaning that as soon as the shadows start to appear things move along very quickly and you need to be ready to grab the print out of the developer and dunk it in the stop bath as soon as the effect you require is achieved. Sounds easy? Not quite. Catching the development process at just the right moment takes experience, especially as the fixer usually lifts some of the colour.
After the strict rules of conventional printing, lith can be liberating. All elements can be tweaked to give slightly, or sometimes dramatically, different effects. Change the paper, chemical dilution, exposure or development times to get very different prints. Lith prints also respond well to toners, particularly selenium and gold.
WHAT YOU NEED
I have difficulty getting many of the 'ingredients' necessary for lith printing and usually use Kentmere's Kentona paper and Novalith developer. Even with the same ingredients the results differ greatly depending on the temperature of the developer and how old it is or how diluted.
The images on this page show how toning affects a lith print. The top print is untoned, the second is gold toned and the third is split toned with selinium and gold toner. Toning in itself depends on the initial development. The more dramatic the original lith print, the more dramatic the toning effects.
READING
Tim Rudman: The Master Photographer's Lith Printing Course
LINKS
LithPrint.com
A detailed guide to lith printing.