MorseBlog

When I first began to learn printing in the darkroom, I went through a phase of picking up different expired papers. Partly because they were cheap and also to experience what the properties and history of these old papers were like. Eventually I came to the conclusion that most papers are too fogged to be worth the effort and whatever characteristics they had once have long since diminished with time.  Of course, I use a number of these for lith printing and toning with some great results. Papers like Fohar Raster with an embossed pattern of dots I suppose was to suggest the idea of a CRT? ORWO, Oriental Seagull, Agfa-Gevaert Rapidoprint are some other examples. One paper that stood out for me was Negra Portrene made in Barcelona. At the time I bought some I researched the paper as best I could here ... and determined it went out of business in the 1970's when Spain was still ruled by a fascist dictator.  I bought the paper because it was unopened and 16x20" and I wanted to t...

I have returned to this old paper recently and have decided to try lith printing it again. It is a single grade warmtone paper from the 1970's. When I first bought it I found it lithed well and this has been born out again. I used Fotospeed Lith developer in that first trial and now I use Moersch EasyLith and have learned a bit more about lith printing since then.  Everything I learned in that original post bore out in my work today. The paper develops really fast in hot lith developer within seconds for the first print at a +3 stop overexposure. The developer settled down as the developer cooled and I reduced the exposure. I actually managed to get good prints (indeed the best) with very little exposure. As a gauge of this a reasonable conventional print was made at f8 for 32 seconds. The second print was made with less exposure at f8 for 22 seconds.   I used a negative from my Fuji GFX 50s ii digital camera made at Gammatech . This was an image I took at night during a...

The problem with using old photographic paper is it fogs with age. Fogging means that an unexposed paper when developed will not be white, instead it will be some shade of gray. This reduces contrast and makes for muddy indistinct prints. The degree of fogging depends on age and the paper. In this blog I have reported on a range of old papers I have tried. As a word of warning old papers are in general a false economy except perhaps as a first time learning tool. The results are almost always disappointing. The exception for me was some obscure Spanish a paper I found last year. I was interested in making large prints 16x20" but new paper is expensive. I took a chance on one box and got pretty good results. There is some light gray fogging in the white borders however. (This paper is graded not variable contrast.) In another post I experimented using Potassium Ferrocyanide (pot ferri) bleach to rescue some old and very fogged Agfa paper . This was met with some success but it w...

Recently Vicki and I spent a few days in Cornwall taking in the sights. We walked the five miles from Cape Cornwall to Sennen Cove on a lovely day. I took along my Mamiya 645 Pro and some black and white and color film. The interchangeable backs may frustrate my wife at times but saves me from having to choose between color and black and white.. I started out with Ilford HP4+ and ended up with Fomapan 100. My recent project to make my enlarger capable of printing up to 16x20" prints led me to think of a fitting print for the fantastic scenery we encountered. I thought of two panoramas one from the end and another the start of the journey to remember it by. I took the landscape view in mind and did some simple math using 1/2" borders. The width of the printed area would be 20" minus 1" or a 19" image. The height would accommodate both prints and so I divided the 16" by 2 and subtracted the 1/2" borders to give me 7". A 7x19" print was a st...

I picked up some more old paper. Based on my recent project to allow bigger enlargements I was on the look-out for 16x20 paper. Good fortune came my way in the form of Negra Portrene. An unopened box of 16x20 paper. The seller said he tried some from another box and it was good. The price was right and so I took a gamble. There is not much information on this paper on the web. Most references are from Spanish language sites as the paper was made in Barcelona. The Negra company went out of business perhaps as far back as the 70s. Some research revealed a stock certificate. And other research indicates it started in 1956. Negra Industrial Stock Certificate I found and translated with the help of Google the following footnote in a book on Spanish archaeology photographs. The Spanish industries tried to compete that had little entity and disappeared soon, and unable to sustain the harsh foreign competition.  In 1893 a manufacturer of photographic products in  ...