Toning

After running 13 miles on my usual route I went into the darkroom to tone 2 prints for David B. The 2 negatives were exposed in 1993, both on the same day in the small Mississippi River town of Wyalusing. One neg is of an old car, the other of an empty dirt road.

I was trying some new things with the toning techniques. For 1 of the 4 car prints I bleached back some of the highlights, then used a watercolor brush to paint developer onto the car. This caused the tones to reappear in the car with a more bluish/black tone. I then dipped the print into sepia and the sky, which had remained bleached, took on a brown/orange tone, while the car remained blue. Next I dipped the print in gold and the sky turned a warmer orange, and the car a bit more blue. It is a study of complementary colors, like the watercolor painting by Van Gogh of two boats on a seashore.

Van Gogh's Boats of Saintes-Maries

The road print turned out especially nice. I have made versions in the past, but always had trouble capturing the right effect. The dodging/burning schemes always gave me trouble, but working on it a few days ago it did not seem too difficult. I made 4 prints, and toned them all the same for the most part. After an initial bleach, I painted gold toner onto the road. I did this because the bleach improved the road by adding contrast, so I wanted to negate the effect of the sepia, which would have brought back the tones and caused a loss of contrast. I was hoping the gold toner would add a touch of blue in the road, but surprisingly it added nothing other than protection from the sepia. I guess I could have used brushed on fixer instead. I then dipped the prints in sepia, which turned the sky a pleasant color, while the road remained black and white. Next I toned the prints in gold and the sky became a warmer tone of orange. For one of the prints I then painted selenium onto the road, which caused it to turn reddish brown. It actually looks pretty good.

Print Info Sheet for Road Study, Wyalusing, WI

I cut the dried negatives which I developed yesterday. I will soon print the highlighted neg below. It looks kind of plain, but maybe I can make something of it.

Negatives Exposed/Developed on 11/12/08

Ouse River Blues -