bleaching or what

[sbattert]

I'm wondering if there's anyway to recover an b&w image that has been printed too dark on RC paper. Let's say it's fixed already. Is there a way to bleach it? Maybe this should be in B&W forum, but I think bleaching and toning is considered an alternate process?

 

[dpurdy]

Farmer's Reducer will bleach it. Warning... you have to be very careful and hopefully have some experience to not ruin your print. I would suggest that you work with some throw away prints to get the hang of it. Might be easier to just reprint.

 

[sbattert]

Yes, I reprint anyway but want to experiment with the failures. Thanks

 

[StoneNYC]

Question boot reducer / intensifier (or whatever the opposite is called) does it last long? If I bought some and used a little, how long will it keep?

Thanks

PS sorry to steal the thread but it's sort of on topic...


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tkamiya]

To OP:

Bleaching and Toning of B&W is not an alternate process.... it is part of a traditional B&W process.

What I do sometimes when my print is ...just...a...bit...too...dark... is to take beaching part of my sepia toner, dilute it A LOT, then bleach the whole print for 15 seconds, wash, fix, wash, dry, and repeat the process until I get it just right. You can do it with farmer's reducer, too, but once mixed it will only last few minutes.

My sepia toner is from Photographer's formulary, so if you are interested, you can either buy their product or look at the tech sheet and find out exactly what's in it. I take something like 50cc of that stuff and dilute it with 500cc of water. By the way, this stuff lasts very long time. Mine has been going strong for two years.

Key is to dilute the bleach so much that the process is really really slow. It's so easy to over do this.

Also, if you have a highlight, they tend to go first, so you could end up losing some detail there.

 

[sbattert]

sepia toner sounds less poisonous than ferocyaninde or whatever farmers reducer.

 

[tkamiya]

Sorry, the first part of sepia toner does contain ferricyanide. It's a major part of it.

Don't worry, it won't harm you. Cyanide is so strongly bound, unless you heat it or subject it to strong acid, it's safe.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

sepia toner sounds less poisonous than ferocyaninde or whatever farmers reducer.

Farmer's reducer contains potassium ferrIcyanide not ferrOcyanide. The two chemicals are different. Again it is not considered dangerous.