Corn and Blue Toning
My next prints are somewhat esoteric. Last summer I traveled with my father to Atlanta Illinois to visit the family farm. We met the farm manager and the farmer who farms the land. Both knowledgeable and friendly men. We visited with my great uncle Dick and my cousin David. Atlanta is a clean, and I suppose, typical small Midwestern town. It sits on Route 66 and clearly has a great deal of pride as the town is neat and well kept. With the industrialization of farming it has turned into a bit a bedroom community for nearby Bloomington. We happened to be there for a local celebration and had some great food in the community hall.
It was an enjoyable visit for 3 days and it was certainly good to spend some time alone with my dad. I brought along my Fuji GSW 690 camera and took some photos of the town and environs. Atlanta is corn and soybean country. This was about a week before harvest so the corn was tall and browning. The whole town of Atlanta seemed hemmed in by walls for cornstalks planted so close together in their tightly packed rows as to almost seem a fence. This combine with the wide-open horizons and blue skies dotted with cloud was an enduring image for me.
One image I wanted to take was one merely of the corn and sky to give a sense of this. My next print was to attempt to capture this. I shot this on Ilford FP4+ and I believe I used a graduated ND filter to help cut the sky. If I did then I set the transition too low (Difficult to judge this on a rangefinder camera as one does not see the through the lens image.) This was apparent when I printed the photo as the sky still required 2 stops of burn and I had to burn the lowest part of the image where the transition on the ND filter completed.
The crop selection was difficult. Firstly, again I was printing on my Meopta 6x6 enlarger so I had to crop the 6x9 to 6x6 and was printing on 12x16” paper. I opted first for landscape taking in the entirety of the corn stalks at first. This left a small amount of sky at the top of the print. Nothing in this one moves me. The sky that is left happens to be mostly cloud and so there is not much of interest here. So next I cropped in landscape again but this time biased towards as much sky as possible. This solved the exposure problem across the bottom caused by the ND filter (it is no longer present in the image). Once properly printed (below) I found this print to be much better with a balance of interest in the sky against the complex jumble of leaves and stalks of the corn.
In the midst of making this last print it dawned on me that perhaps I should emphasize the verticality of the corn stalks and crop it radically differently. I decided to go for 6"x16” by cutting a sheet of 12x16” paper in half length-wise and print it in portrait. This allowed me to get a slice of the ground to full sky from the negative but of course only about 1/3 of the scene. That’s OK as it is merely repetitious in some sense. This worked but I sense would be even better if larger. I may try printing this 8x20” high from 16x20” paper. I am tempted to print this very large perhaps 6ft tall. I am not sure the image is sharp enough however.
I followed my modified Les McClean method when I printed it. I still use a test strip to dial in the aperture and to get a good guess at the base exposure values and aperture. This is a large print and the paper is not cheap. I am afraid I cannot bring myself to sacrifice a whole sheet for these first test prints. I then print at my base soft filter time then run test times in the hard filter across a large, but not full-size piece of paper. From here I judge the hard filter that completes the base exposure. It is already apparent the sky is not printing any detail from this test. That is OK as I am trying to get the right exposure for the corn stalks.In this method you get the contrast and exposure correct for the larger darkest areas first. The other area you burn to build up the exposure.
Next, I print a piece of a paper with the soft and hard base exposure values and make sure I include the highlight, in this case the sky. This will be my post-flash test strip. I then run the flash values at 1 second intervals. I also leave the edge of the paper under the easel so I can judge when the tone becomes apparent. In this case at 2 seconds so that sets my post-flash value. Now I print a full sheet at the base exposure plus post-flash. From here I may adjust the hard and soft filters. In this case I decrease the soft filter time to lighten the corn stalks a little.
Now I have to address the sky and try a burn at a full stop to some small effect. Eventually I burn the sky at 2 stops on the soft filter. (In the second crop with more sky add the same amount of hard filter burn as this brings up the sky and clouds nicely.) I then burn the lower band of light colored corn to even those tones out. This gives me a decent enough print but as I said I don’t like this crop. It is a departure point for subsequent prints at different crops.
Eventually after burning the sky in the subsequent crops with both hard and soft burns I wanted to whiten the center of the cloud a little and so I treated some of these areas with Potassium Ferricyanide to bleach out the lighter parts of the clouds. I use a small sponge soaked in the solution and dab and rub-in these areas while the print is still damp. I have a damp sponge ready to wipe up to stop or slow the beach. I then rinse the print and fix it if I am happy.
Normally you see this brightening of highlights done with Farmer’s Reducer which is nothing more that Potassium Ferricyanide and Fixer in one solution. I prefer to separate these solutions for flexibility. Firstly, I already have fixer ready-made for normal developing and secondly Potassium Ferricyanide is useful by itself. Finally, if I over-bleach a section of the print I can re-develop it by putting it back in the developer and get the tone back again. So, I think it is more flexible to keep bleach and fixer separate.
I now make tests at the 3 immersions intervals for the toner. I then rinse for 1 minute as I want to minimize the leaching of the toner into the water. I then place it in my base bath and watch the effect over time and snatch it out at a likely looking tone.
The second wash can be used to further reduce and alter the tone. In the case of a 1-minute toning bath followed by base I could wash almost all color away from the highlights and leave a cold tone for the shadows.
I finally decide I want to start with the full tone of 3-minute toning bath and then use the base bath and washing to bring it back to something more acceptable.
I also recommend if in doubt of the time in the base bath to use less time at first knowing you can go back to the base bath again if need. You cannot reverse the base bath.
Another thing to remember is that if you use Potassium Ferricyanide to bleach away all the silver and then fix the image then you will get no toning in those areas as there is no silver to tone. This can be useful or a detriment depending on what is desired.
Here is a progression of toning tests to see the effect. I place a white card at the top of the photo to make sure I can judge white balance for each photo. The first is after the toning bath and shows a yellow tinge in the borders from the Potassium Ferricyanide inherent in the toning bath. A couple of minutes in the clearing bath results in the next photo where the borders are more neutral and the print loses it green tinge and becomes blue. A one-minute soak then 3 minutes in the base bath results in the next picture where the blue has shifted and highlights have brightened somewhat. On the next row is 3 minutes wash that reduced the color slightly followed by another 1-minute base bath and a 1-minute wash to further reduce the color.
Next I would try and exploit the effect of Alkali on the toning. Again I submerged part of the print in toning solution for 3 minutes though I would submerged right down to the corn leaves.
In this case though I would use developer and a paint brush. It worked quite well though it is close careful work that is required. I didn't complete the work but you can see what I did. First the whole test piece and then an inset showing the areas I 'painted' with developer. The process is quite remarkable as the blue goes away immediately and the original tone returns.
In the inset you can see where I painted the corn leaves and which ones I have not. This could be quite effective.
I remains for me to commit an entire print to this process now.
It was an enjoyable visit for 3 days and it was certainly good to spend some time alone with my dad. I brought along my Fuji GSW 690 camera and took some photos of the town and environs. Atlanta is corn and soybean country. This was about a week before harvest so the corn was tall and browning. The whole town of Atlanta seemed hemmed in by walls for cornstalks planted so close together in their tightly packed rows as to almost seem a fence. This combine with the wide-open horizons and blue skies dotted with cloud was an enduring image for me.
One image I wanted to take was one merely of the corn and sky to give a sense of this. My next print was to attempt to capture this. I shot this on Ilford FP4+ and I believe I used a graduated ND filter to help cut the sky. If I did then I set the transition too low (Difficult to judge this on a rangefinder camera as one does not see the through the lens image.) This was apparent when I printed the photo as the sky still required 2 stops of burn and I had to burn the lowest part of the image where the transition on the ND filter completed.
The crop selection was difficult. Firstly, again I was printing on my Meopta 6x6 enlarger so I had to crop the 6x9 to 6x6 and was printing on 12x16” paper. I opted first for landscape taking in the entirety of the corn stalks at first. This left a small amount of sky at the top of the print. Nothing in this one moves me. The sky that is left happens to be mostly cloud and so there is not much of interest here. So next I cropped in landscape again but this time biased towards as much sky as possible. This solved the exposure problem across the bottom caused by the ND filter (it is no longer present in the image). Once properly printed (below) I found this print to be much better with a balance of interest in the sky against the complex jumble of leaves and stalks of the corn.
In the midst of making this last print it dawned on me that perhaps I should emphasize the verticality of the corn stalks and crop it radically differently. I decided to go for 6"x16” by cutting a sheet of 12x16” paper in half length-wise and print it in portrait. This allowed me to get a slice of the ground to full sky from the negative but of course only about 1/3 of the scene. That’s OK as it is merely repetitious in some sense. This worked but I sense would be even better if larger. I may try printing this 8x20” high from 16x20” paper. I am tempted to print this very large perhaps 6ft tall. I am not sure the image is sharp enough however.
I followed my modified Les McClean method when I printed it. I still use a test strip to dial in the aperture and to get a good guess at the base exposure values and aperture. This is a large print and the paper is not cheap. I am afraid I cannot bring myself to sacrifice a whole sheet for these first test prints. I then print at my base soft filter time then run test times in the hard filter across a large, but not full-size piece of paper. From here I judge the hard filter that completes the base exposure. It is already apparent the sky is not printing any detail from this test. That is OK as I am trying to get the right exposure for the corn stalks.In this method you get the contrast and exposure correct for the larger darkest areas first. The other area you burn to build up the exposure.
Next, I print a piece of a paper with the soft and hard base exposure values and make sure I include the highlight, in this case the sky. This will be my post-flash test strip. I then run the flash values at 1 second intervals. I also leave the edge of the paper under the easel so I can judge when the tone becomes apparent. In this case at 2 seconds so that sets my post-flash value. Now I print a full sheet at the base exposure plus post-flash. From here I may adjust the hard and soft filters. In this case I decrease the soft filter time to lighten the corn stalks a little.
Now I have to address the sky and try a burn at a full stop to some small effect. Eventually I burn the sky at 2 stops on the soft filter. (In the second crop with more sky add the same amount of hard filter burn as this brings up the sky and clouds nicely.) I then burn the lower band of light colored corn to even those tones out. This gives me a decent enough print but as I said I don’t like this crop. It is a departure point for subsequent prints at different crops.
Eventually after burning the sky in the subsequent crops with both hard and soft burns I wanted to whiten the center of the cloud a little and so I treated some of these areas with Potassium Ferricyanide to bleach out the lighter parts of the clouds. I use a small sponge soaked in the solution and dab and rub-in these areas while the print is still damp. I have a damp sponge ready to wipe up to stop or slow the beach. I then rinse the print and fix it if I am happy.
Normally you see this brightening of highlights done with Farmer’s Reducer which is nothing more that Potassium Ferricyanide and Fixer in one solution. I prefer to separate these solutions for flexibility. Firstly, I already have fixer ready-made for normal developing and secondly Potassium Ferricyanide is useful by itself. Finally, if I over-bleach a section of the print I can re-develop it by putting it back in the developer and get the tone back again. So, I think it is more flexible to keep bleach and fixer separate.
Results
Blue Toning Experiments
I have become more confident of my work with Iron toning to get a blue effect. It is not like painting in that the color is unpredictable. I thought I would see if I could get a decent blue toning effect on the sky. I am beginning to learn to control the tone and intensity of the Iron toner. There seem to be 3 basic controls. For this post I use the Moersch MT7 Iron Blue toning kit and mixed some fresh chemistry. The recipe I used was 2+2+5+2 with 500ml of water. In this system the numbers are milliliters of Part 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively from the Moersch kit.- Time in toner. From one to three minutes means you go from a slate grayish blue to a lurid cyan. I run tests at 1, 2, and 3-minute intervals to judge the starting tone I will get and to see what I am looking for.
- Rinsing slowly leaches away the toner. This can be a means of reducing the toning on the print. It can be used before or after the next step of using a base solution to dial back the color.
- I use 2 ml of a 10% ammonia solution as my base solution. Any alkali will kill the toning effect and if done enough remove it entirely. Hence the highly diluted solution. You want something to work slowly. The base works on the highlights first which for clouds is what I want. The tendency is to desaturate the blue color with more treatment. (This alkali effect on toning will also lead to another technique I will use later on.)
I now make tests at the 3 immersions intervals for the toner. I then rinse for 1 minute as I want to minimize the leaching of the toner into the water. I then place it in my base bath and watch the effect over time and snatch it out at a likely looking tone.
The second wash can be used to further reduce and alter the tone. In the case of a 1-minute toning bath followed by base I could wash almost all color away from the highlights and leave a cold tone for the shadows.
I finally decide I want to start with the full tone of 3-minute toning bath and then use the base bath and washing to bring it back to something more acceptable.
I also recommend if in doubt of the time in the base bath to use less time at first knowing you can go back to the base bath again if need. You cannot reverse the base bath.
Another thing to remember is that if you use Potassium Ferricyanide to bleach away all the silver and then fix the image then you will get no toning in those areas as there is no silver to tone. This can be useful or a detriment depending on what is desired.
Here is a progression of toning tests to see the effect. I place a white card at the top of the photo to make sure I can judge white balance for each photo. The first is after the toning bath and shows a yellow tinge in the borders from the Potassium Ferricyanide inherent in the toning bath. A couple of minutes in the clearing bath results in the next photo where the borders are more neutral and the print loses it green tinge and becomes blue. A one-minute soak then 3 minutes in the base bath results in the next picture where the blue has shifted and highlights have brightened somewhat. On the next row is 3 minutes wash that reduced the color slightly followed by another 1-minute base bath and a 1-minute wash to further reduce the color.
- Toning (3 minutes)
- Clearing Bath (about 2 minutes)
- Base (3 minutes) Wash (1 minute)
- Wash (1 minute)
- Wash (1 minute)
- Wash (1 minute)
- Base (1 minute) Wash (1 minute)
- Wash (1 minute)
- Wash (1 minute)
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| First Toning Experiment |
In this case though I would use developer and a paint brush. It worked quite well though it is close careful work that is required. I didn't complete the work but you can see what I did. First the whole test piece and then an inset showing the areas I 'painted' with developer. The process is quite remarkable as the blue goes away immediately and the original tone returns.
 |
| Painted with Developer |
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| Inset of Painted with Developer |
I remains for me to commit an entire print to this process now.
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