First Lith

Bill Banks · Oct 26, 2014

I Tried Lith for the first time (Fotospeed kit) using Ilford MG FB WT. The print I made had this strange mottled effect. I thought at first it was due to lack of agitation but the second print (below) was agitated continuously. Can anyone suggest what is not working?

Bill

scheimfluger_77 · Oct 26, 2014

I wonder if that's some form of pepper fogging, it also looks like reticulation but on a grand scale.

I've recently starting lith printing myself and having great fun. It might be the paper. The MGWT I've tried has produced ho-hum results for me so far. I've had better luck with the Foma papers and the MCC glossy isn't bad.

mr rusty · Oct 26, 2014

I've had exactly the same with this paper using moersch easylith developer. Don't think ilford papers lith very well, although I have heard others have had success. Try slavich unibrom. I find this makes quite contrasty liths. I expose as measured on my analyser and then add plus two stops. Also try foma 131 132 331 532 which all lith. I also expose these about plus 1-2 1\2 stops. I use moersch at about 1:30

Bob Carnie · Oct 26, 2014

Whatever it is keep doing it . looks great

pstake · Oct 26, 2014

Interesting result - different than what I usually get with Ilford WT but mine is a much older batch. I have used it with Fotospeed's lith but usually, now with Arista.

Straight bromide papers will lith the best. As was mentioned, Slavich is very good and takes more exposure to tame the contrast.

This is all part of learning Lith, discovering what combinations of paper, exposure, developer, temperature, agitation, etc. - yield the results you like.

Bob Carnie likes these results and that's a pretty good endorsement

winger · Oct 26, 2014

In my gallery, there's an image titled "Beginner's Luck". It was one of the first batch of lith prints that I did and it's on Ilford Art300 - the mottling is little more faint, but similar to yours. I have not had the same thing with Fomabrom and I don't think I've tried Ilford MGFB. I do seem to remember reading that Ilford papers are not at the top of the list for use with lith.

gone · Oct 26, 2014

Love it. That reticulation sort of look ties the whole composition together.

paul_c5x4 · Oct 26, 2014

mr rusty said:
Don't think ilford papers lith very well, although I have heard others have had success.

If you are struggling with modern Ilford papers, try a two pass lith. i.e. Develop in a regular strength bath (Dektol or MG dev), bleach back in a pot.ferri bath, and then redevelop in the lith bath. Experiment with the bleach (copper bleach can produce some "interesting" colours) and the extent of bleaching.

Kirks518 · Oct 26, 2014

It may not have been what you were going for, but I think it looks great like that. Looks like something Monet would have tried to achieve.

sly · Oct 26, 2014

I echo the suggestion to try a different paper. You can lith on Ilford MGWT, but it's iffy. I've had results I like at times, other times a muddy mess, and many times the same mottled look you got. Oriental Warmtone has been working well for me, and the Foma papers are famous for their lithability.

Last winter I got some good results on MGWT by using twice as much lithA as lithB. Recently I tried the same dilutions and got mottling. I blame my well water whenever things don't go my way. It's an easy scapegoat.

Mottling does look very cool with your image, so keep that print.

SMBooth · Oct 26, 2014

Same problem with the neutral version of Oriental VC FBii. The warmtome paper working fine.

Mark Fisher · Oct 26, 2014

I've had this problem intermittently with Ilford MGWT. This is definitely not pepper fogging. I think it is from dirty trays and the Ilford paper is particularly susceptible to it, but I'm really not sure. My favorite lith prints as of late are in Ilford WT so I wouldn't give up. Make sure everything is absolutely clean and use no old brown. Develop at room temp and see what happens. Second pass lith is an option, but the look is completely different and I personally don't care for it.....it is also not a good option for someone who hasn't done regular lith before. I've found that Foma warmtone papers are the easiest to get good results and would recommend those to try first for lith.

baachitraka · Oct 27, 2014

I am lucky with MCC 110 and Moersch Easy Lith. My negatives were little dense so it was 4x64seconds and development time was around 15-20mins depend on agitation.

I have some expired Polywarmtone and Adox MCC 112 and yet to try lith on them.

Bob Carnie · Oct 27, 2014

Plus one ... I do find Ilford warmtone to be great for lith... bit of a secret with this paper is to pull the print just as the blacks start forming, not when they are fully out.. watch the print explode in the fix.

I agree about Foma being very easy to use as well.

Mark Fisher said:
I've had this problem intermittently with Ilford MGWT. This is definitely not pepper fogging. I think it is from dirty trays and the Ilford paper is particularly susceptible to it, but I'm really not sure. My favorite lith prints as of late are in Ilford WT so I wouldn't give up. Make sure everything is absolutely clean and use no old brown. Develop at room temp and see what happens. Second pass lith is an option, but the look is completely different and I personally don't care for it.....it is also not a good option for someone who hasn't done regular lith before. I've found that Foma warmtone papers are the easiest to get good results and would recommend those to try first for lith.

First Lith

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