I have in the past been interested in trying out old photographic paper. Mostly out of curiosity to see what different materials were used and try and experience what others may have at different times or places. The paper being very old however probably is never quite the same as it was at the time.
With things kicking off as they are in the Ukraine again I am reminded that some of my
first papers from behind the Iron Curtain came from Mariupol in Ukraine which is now under threat. I told the seller at the time that I hoped for the best for them but hope now does not seem like enough.
I recently bought some paper from Bulgaria from the brand Fohar (фохдр in Bulgarian). It was 2 boxes of 100 sheets 13x18cm. One box was white glossy and the other was something I hadn't encountered before called 'raster'. At first I thought this was a translation problem and it had something to do with contrast. After much searching I came across
a link to some pinhole photos printed on Fohar raster paper.
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| Fohar Raster |
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| Fohar Glossy |
My searches for information on Fohar lead me to the charming website of a Bulgarian photographer
Petar Petrov. (Translation required) Flickr searches yield quite a few photos printed on the paper. All of this meant there was a good chance the paper would be printable. I never was able to learn much about Fohar paper or the manufacturer though there is a good bit of it still in use.
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| Instructions (in Bulgarian) |
I would develop the paper in my new standard developer Moersch EC4812. The regime is as follows.
1) Develop ECO4812 1+14 3 minutes
2) Stop 20 seconds
3) Fix Ilford Rapid fix 1+9 2 minutes
4) Wash 10 minutes.
I started with the glossy paper and a test strip.
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| Fohar Glossy Test Strip f8 8 to 64 seconds 1/2 stop intervals |
Good news for the paper. Exposure was not terribly long only a stop less sensitive than modern paper. Little to no fogging as the border on the left is clear. Decent contrast given it is graded paper. The paper is double weight and has a warm creamy color. It did develop slower than modern papers and took a good portion of the 3 minutes for the shorter exposures to show up under the safelight. I then made the first print at 32 seconds.
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| Fohar Glossy f8 32 seconds |
A pretty good print considering the age. My wife was going to be home soon from work so I didn't make a seconds darker print though that probably would have been better, I moved straight to the raster paper. First the test strip.
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| Fohar Raster f8 8-64 seconds 1/2 stop intervals |
The raster paper performs very much the same as the glossy version. Again a print at 32 seconds looked best.
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| Fohar Raster test f8 32 sec |
Another pretty satisfying result below is a crop to show the texture of the paper. It is also very evident by feel.
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| Crop to show raster texure |
For reference here is the same print below using Ilford MGIV RC Deluxe which is cooler and more contrast.
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| Cambridge Houses on Ilford MGIV RC Deluxe |
Overall I was pretty satisfied with the results. Further tests will include selenium toning and lith developer. Stay tuned!
Addendum:Selenium Toning
I next tried some selenium toning to see the effect on the Fohar paper. I used the same Raster print from above and got a definitively warmer color. There was not much darkening of the blacks.
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| Fohar Raster tone with Selenium 1+3 |
Lith on Fohar
I tried Lith developer (Fotospeed Lith) on the Fohar Raster paper. I used a different image, one that I created from a color slide that I had scanned, photo-shopped to B and W then had made into a film negative as described in a
previous entry. I liked the photo I got of this pediment in Syracuse in Sicily especially in B and W. I thought Lith might suit its old look. First I printed and developed it straight using Eco4812 developer. It has the neutral to cool tone as we have seen before. The print is a little too short on exposure as some highlights look slightly blown out.
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| Pediment Fohar Raster f11 32 seconds Eco4812 |
Next two different Lith prints at f4.5 (3 stops over exposed) but at different snatch points.
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| Pediment Fohar Raster f4.5 32 seconds Fotospeed Lith 1 |
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| Pediment Fohar Raster f4.5 32 seconds Fotospeed Lith 2 |
I wasn't persuaded that I was seeing infectious development or perhaps it was slower than my limited experience has seen. The tone was warm and almost sepia like.
Next I tone these in Selenium 3+1. I made a short video as the tone change is pretty fast and dramatic.
Fohar Lith toning with Selenium from
Doug Morse on
Vimeo.
In the end they look pretty nice.
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| Pediment Fohar Raster f4.5 32 seconds Fotospeed Lith 1 Selenium Toned |
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| Pediment Fohar Raster f4.5 32 seconds Fotospeed Lith 2 Selenium Toned |
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