MorseBlog

First of all, pardon the poor reference to Gaugin and Somerset Maugham. In my last post I mentioned the idea of creating an artificial moon (or sun) in the image and so today I thought I would try it. These things violate my sense of artistic integrity about which I have confessed some violations and written up some of my thoughts . Without going too deeply, the lith process brings out an image of a type that wasn't present at the time of its taking. In general, these lith images were much brighter, whiter, and more upbeat in mood in their conventional interpretation. Lith brings another mood and often adds artifacts that imply tonal variation that wasn't present. By this logic further manipulation doesn't seem that far off if it fits the subject and presentation of the subject even though it doesn't follow the 'law of serendipity' that lith printing follows.  I decided to use a ten pence piece to make my 'moon'. It is the smallest currency I have. I tri...

I must admit I started this session with more enthusiasm than the results would suggest in the end. Still there are some good things to be gleaned from it.  I set out with a number of objectives. Of late, I have been enjoying lith printing and more recently exploring toning of the lith prints. I have by no means become an expert or even well practiced. Still there have been some pleasing results. I think that what is important to learn is that while toning can add a small range of colors it is not like painting or coloring. The process is chemical, and the process is dictated by those rules which are blind to form, subject, or intent. This makes it frustrating but also can lead serendipitously into wonderful images resplendent with subtle tones and invented detail. This session was no different.  As I said, I started out with a few modest objectives. First to try sepia and gold toning in combination. Second, some compositional exploration of a single subject. The subject is a ...

I decided to expand my toning regime and dip my toe into gold toning. It seems to work well with lith development where the warmer tones get more of a blue cast to them. Iron blue toning can be garish, and I am looking for something more muted. Another option was to try cobalt with iron as it can get some lovely blue tones that takes away some of the harshness iron toning alone can have. Without a lot of research, I bought some Nelson Gold (MT6) toner for Wolfgang Moersch. I bought it and a refresh of his EasyLith directly from him as none as in stock in the UK. Even with shipping from Germany it was cheaper than if I had ordered it locally, something to keep in mind. He also sells a conventional gold toner called MT10 and used to sell one called MT9 that is no longer listed on his site. I confused the descriptions of the MT9 and MT6 toners which led me to buy the MT6 toner.  Gold toner can be disappointing if you have a neutral or cold tone paper and developer. It does not shift t...