Printing Holme Fen: Rising Mist Lith Prints

I finished a conventional version of this print and now it is time to have some more fun and explore what lith can do for the image. I like printing foggy images in lith as you can get a nice contrast increase and the rich tonality can give unexpected results. This time I have further motivation as I picked up 10 sheets each of Forte Polywarmtone and Oriental Seagull Exhibition paper in 16x20 size. 

Oriental Seagull is a well-known lithable paper and I have enjoyed using it. I thought I could get more in this exhibition variety (spoiler alert: It liths very nicely). Forte Polywarmtone (PWT) is another old paper known to lith well, so I was keen to try these papers out as well. I plan to cut these all down to 8x10 sheets so I can get more mileage out of these no longer available papers. 

I am back on Moersch Easy Lith as my lith developer. I used the recommended 1+25 dilution that has me add 20ml part A and 20ml part B to 1L of water. 

First, I started out with my original 8x10 Oriental Seagull #2 to make sure I dialed in the exposure. I opened the aperture until I got my guide Ev of 2.9 (ISO 100) in a foggy section. This took me from f32 to f16. I then ran 32 seconds and 45 seconds exposure versions burning from the stop down 1 extra stop. In each case the bottom of the scene blocked up rapidly. The 32 seconds looked best and got the most even development aside from the foreground. (All of these have Photoshopped borders.) 

Oriental Seagull 45 sec + burns

Oriental Seagull 32 sec + burns

I find the Moersch EasyLith developer is slightly warmer on this paper compared to the Fotospeed developer. It has a more pinkish color whereas the Fotospeed was a warm taupe color.

Next, I tried the PWT and new Seagull Exhibition (grade 2) paper. This time I opted for the 32 second regime but reduced the foreground exposure about 1/2 a stop. The PWT reacted very differently. The shadows did not have the rapid infectious development that the Seagull has. It happens but the pace is slower and more even so you get the build of contrast, but it does not block up the shadows as quickly or as much. This leaves a much wider tonal range which is very attractive. The color has a green tinge to it which is to be expected with a warmtone paper. (It reminded me somewhat in this regard of my sea salt additive for lith developer.) I captured this image with a camera to show the green color of the straight lith print.

PWT f16 32 sec plus burns (green tint)

One recommendation if you don't like the green color is to briefly tone it in a strong selenium toner. I used a 1+3 dilution and pulled it just past the neutral point and got this slightly warmer tone which suits me better. 

PWT selenium version

I think this has the best tonal range and beats the conventional print in terms of nice local contrast. 

I took the two original Oriental Seagull lith prints and toned them in the following post...