Split toning

[luxikon]

Today I've tried selenium toning and sulfide toning thereafter on the same print. Are both toning processes complementary? It seemed to me the longer I left the print in the selenium toner the less was the effect of the sulfide toner. Or is it possible to increase the effect by extending reaction time in the second bath?

Klaus

 

[Tim Gray]

I've read(no direct experience) that this is correct. The selenium converts the silver to a selenium compound (selenium sulfide? I don't remember), making those grains of silver unavailable for conversion for the sulfide toner. The longer you keep it in the selenium, the more you tone, and the less the sulfide toner will turn.

So instead of just increasing the second toning time, reduce the first, and then tone until completion in the first. I would imagine there is some level of experimentation to find the right balance.

 

[Mark Fisher]

Selenium starts from the shadows and works to highlights. Sulfide bleaching starts in highlights and works to the shadows. To split tone, you would normally just do a brief bleach to affect only the highlights and then tone with selenium until the shadows are where you want them. It can also be done in the reverse order (and that is what I would normally do!), but the look is different

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I've read(no direct experience) that this is correct. The selenium converts the silver to a selenium compound (selenium sulfide? I don't remember), making those grains of silver unavailable for conversion for the sulfide toner. The longer you keep it in the selenium, the more you tone, and the less the sulfide toner will turn.

So instead of just increasing the second toning time, reduce the first, and then tone until completion in the first. I would imagine there is some level of experimentation to find the right balance.

Tim explained pretty much what happens.

Selenium toner converts metallic silver into silver selenide, sulfide toner converts it into silver sulfide. These compounds are very stable and inert to subsequent toning. That's why changing the sequence will make a difference. However, the effect depends on the degree of toning, and typical toning is rarely complete, allowing for a mixture of both compounds.

Selenium and sulfide are proportional toners, toning and protecting highlights and shadows at about the same percentage rate, but selenium leaves a more noticeable effect on the silver-rich areas of the print, whereas sulfide is responsible for some highlight 'staining'. This is more obvious if selenium is followed by sulfide toning, which I prefer, because I like the cool shadows and warm highlights this gives me. Also, I need less washing this way, but personal preference should dictate the sequence.

You can also mix selenium and sulfide toners, but the mixture is not very stable and does not last very long.

 

[Reinhold]

Ralph,

Some have suggested adding a splash of polysulfide toner to selenium toner in order to replace that undocumented absence of the sulfide ion that was supposed to give the original selenium toner it's exceptional archival properties. (Ref: an Image Permanence Institute, Rochester paper which I don't have in front of me at the moment)

Your statement: a mix of selenium/sulfide toner is not very stable and does not last very long raises a question...

Is the instability due to the sulfide itself, or due to non-sulfide components found in typical sulfide toners?

I've experimented a bit with adding 10 or 20 ml per liter of plain polysulfide toner to a 1+20 selenium toner.
The selenium toned color is slightly warmer (rather nice), but I have not noticed a reduction in toner activity.

Your thoughts?...

Reinhold

www.classicBWphoto.com

 

[Ian Grant]

Ralph,

Some have suggested adding a splash of polysulfide toner to selenium toner in order to replace that undocumented absence of the sulfide ion that was supposed to give the original selenium toner it's exceptional archival properties. (Ref: an Image Permanence Institute, Rochester paper which I don't have in front of me at the moment)

Your statement: a mix of selenium/sulfide toner is not very stable and does not last very long raises a question...

Is the instability due to the sulfide itself, or due to non-sulfide components found in typical sulfide toners?

I've experimented a bit with adding 10 or 20 ml per liter of plain polysulfide toner to a 1+20 selenium toner.
The selenium toned color is slightly warmer (rather nice), but I have not noticed a reduction in toner activity.

Your thoughts?...

Reinhold

www.classicBWphoto.com

That's then Flemish toner and quite different.

This talk of "Split toning" seems to have been hijacked to mean two different toners. In fact a single toners is all that's needed.

The Classic split tone images are those by Thomas Joshua Cooper & Olivia Parker (and others) where a warn tone paper is used and heavily selenium toned until there's a visible split between a deep reddish shadow portion and a more conventional B&W image.

And then there's the other option of partially bleaching the highlights and toning in what ever toner you like, although Sulphide or Thiourea are the best archivally.

Ian

 

[RalphLambrecht]

...I've experimented a bit with adding 10 or 20 ml per liter of plain polysulfide toner to a 1+20 selenium toner.
The selenium toned color is slightly warmer (rather nice), but I have not noticed a reduction in toner activity.

Your thoughts?...

Reinhold

www.classicBWphoto.com

Reinhold

When I mix KRST and KBT it works great but turns clear yellow (from a milky yellow at first), loses its odor and its toning value within a day or so. I have to admit not to understand why or what happens there. My assumption is that it has something to do with an increased creation of the hydrogen sulfide gas, but I have never investigated it any further.

 

[CBG]

There is more information on combining KBT and KRST in this page: www.nonmonotonic.net/Photochemistry/Richard Knoppow/Combination_Toners.pdf
Evidently immediately after toning in the combined toners, a sodium sulfite bath or a a 10% bath of Kodalk / Sodium Metaborate octahydrate prevents staining in the highlights.