After the run I went into the darkroom to tone the 6 prints from yesterday's session. For the Railyard Winter Study I used a straightforward bleach/sepia combination, with no brushing-on of toner. However, instead of using my usual final toner of gold, I recalled how nice the Foma paper took selenium, so I dipped the prints in a modestly strong solution of selenium after the sepia. After 90 seconds the print shadows took on a pleasant ocher/red tone, which contrasted nicely with the yellow/gold hue the sepia left in the highlights.
I toned 3 of the 4 prints with the above method, but on the 4th I added gold toner after the selenium. This caused the yellow tone to turn a heavy gold/peach. It confirmed my sense that gold toner mixed with warm tone paper can be a heavy handed combination.
Print Info Sheet for Railyard, Winter StudyThe remaining 2 prints were the Summer Tree and Road neg. One of the prints got stained, so I trashed it, the other I had the idea to apply the sepia toner with a brush to the sky only, leaving the foreground a cold black and white. The trouble with this method is the sepia reacts more quickly than developer when applying with a brush, which makes it hard to create steady tone transitions.
The print did not meet my standards because the sky shape does not harmonize with the foreground. It is an interesting attempt, but has to be considered a work in progress.
Music listened to today at mile 18 :
2 comments:
James, have you seen the movie this piano music is from - Requiem for a Dream - ? It is an intensely unsettling film.
Do you know anything about this guy? It seems like he's just a kid who's very talented at figuring out themes from movies!
Melinda - I have not seen the movie yet. I remember you telling me about it, though, and one day I will watch it.
I have a few songs from the soundtrack on my iPod, Clint Mansell is great, he also did some of the music for the films Pi, and The Fountain. "Death is the Road to Awe" not only is a great title, but the piece is deeply felt. I will post that song from utube soon :)
I don't know anything about the young man who is playing the song, but I like how he performs it. Finding great performances on uTube is always a rush...
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