Toned developer?

[natelfo]

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to tone the developer by adding something like sepia, brown, or some other coloring agent? I know you normally tone after print completion, but I was just curious to see if anyone does this and if it creates interesting results, or would it kill the developer?

 

[Ian Grant]

There are Developer formulae that contain Thiourea (Thiocarbamide) these give warmer tones with Chlor-bromide/Bromo-chloride emulsions. One was published in the British Journal Photographic Almanacs for many tears.

However sulphide or polysulphide toners would fog an un-processed print, which is why they are always used with prints that have already been fixed first.

Ian

 

[jim appleyard]

Grab a copy of Anchell's "Darkroom Cookbook" (3rd edition out soon) and you'll find several formulas that give give colors from red to copper to brown.

 

[Ian Grant]

Grab a copy of Anchell's "Darkroom Cookbook" (3rd edition out soon) and you'll find several formulas that give give colors from red to copper to brown.

Having read all the Formulae in the 3rd edition that's only partially true unfortunately as these developers only give that range of Colours with certain Chloro-bromide papers and there are very few now that will respond well. The older papers with cadmium were particularly good for large colour shifts.

Ian

 

[jim appleyard]

Yes, good point. Sadly, there are fewer papers than there used to be.

 

[Ian Grant]

Of course the new 3rd Edition of the Darkroom Cookbook does include a very good variety of Toners, So it's possible to achieve a wide variety of colours by indirect toning.

One omission is Dye couplers, developing a B&W print in a Colour Developer with the relevant Dye coupler(s) added. Tetenal produced a commercial kit, but it's a very easy process. Bob Carlos Clarke used dye couplers to produce many of the superb "Colour" images in "Dark Summer" which all started life as B&W prints.

Ian

 

[natelfo]

Thanks, I'll have to check that book out.

 

[Ian Grant]

The 3rd Edition of the DCB is due out fairly shortly. Steve Anchell has posted a link for ordering it on the LFPI forum.

Ian

 

[nworth]

You can use color couplers and a color developing agent like CD-2 or CD-4 to produce colors during development. This is the basis for Kodachrome. You can mix couplers to get various colors, but it sounds pretty experimental to me. I've listed an old formula intended for prints, below.

Focal chromogenic developer:

Diethyl-p-phenylene-diamine hydrochloride 2 g (I think this is CD-2, but it may be CD-1. Just about any color developing agent will do.)
Sodium carbonate 30 g
Sodium Sulfite 1 g
Potassium bromide 1 g
Hydroxylamine hydrochloride 1 g
WTM 1 l

Couplers:

Magenta

p-nitrophenyl acetanilide 500 mg
Acetone 12 ml
Ethanol (denatured) 100 ml

Brown

2,5,dichloroacetoacetanilide 500 mg
p-nitrophenyl acetonitrile 500 mg
Acetone 12 ml
Ethanol (denatured) 100 ml

Blue

alpha-napthol 700 mg
Alcohol 100 ml

Cyan

Dichloro alpha-napthol 1 g
Alcohol 100 ml

Green

2,4-dichloro-alpha-napthol 500 mg
2,5-dichloroacetacetanilide 500 mg
Alcohol 100 ml

Yellow

o-chloroacetanilide 1 g
Alcohol 100 ml

Yellow

2,5,dichloroacetanilide 1 g
Alcohol 100 ml

For use, mix 100 ml of developer with 10 ml of coupler and use as a one shot.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Pyro developers will stain your negatives to variations of brown and green hues, depending on film and developer used.
I think Pyrocat gives mostly a brown stain, while PMK is more green.
Question is - why? Seriously. I'm really curious. Enlarged or second generation negative displayed as a positive?
- Thomas

 

[Ian Grant]

Pyrocatechin dev as used in Ilford IT-8 (toner) gives wonderful Olive blacks. There are Pyro based print developers designed specifically to give warm black tones.

I've used the Focal Chromogenic developer or more specifically those couplers (posted above) extensively in the past, and spent quite a while researching the practicals/commercial possibilities of the process. This included discussion with Bob Carlos Clarke back around the early 80's. The possibilities are mind blowing, and you have to see some of Bob Carlos Clarke's original prints to see true mastery of the process.

Ian

 

[natelfo]

Thanks for the info. There are so many possibilities when it comes to B/W photography that I could spend the rest of my life exploring them. When I get a chance, I am definitely going to order a copy of the darkroom cookbook.

 

[gainer]

Using hydroquinone in place of pyrocatechin in the Pyrocat formulas gives yet another choice of color mor toward the red-brown IIRC.

 

[Ian Grant]

Patrick, can you explain then why this stain doesn't appear in Reversal processing with a PQ orb MQ developer. Image tone isn't the same as stain.

Ian

 

[gainer]

People are not accustomed to seeing stain from hydroquinone, or even catechol developers unless they are designed with minumum sulfite. I read somewhere that there was a time when HC110 used catechol instead of hydroquinone. Nevertheless, catechol and hydroquinone differ physically only in the placement of the OH groups on the ring, and with enough sulfite, one can be used in place of the other. In fact, if you compound Pyrocat HD or M or P with very much more than the specified amount of sulfite, you will not get stain. Pyrogallol is not as easily thwarted, but it can be.

I haven't recently tried reversal processing, so if you tell me that an MQ or PQ second developer with very little sulfite will NOT produce a brown image, I will be very surprised.

 

[AgX]

Diethyl-p-phenylene-diamine hydrochloride 2 g (I think this is CD-2, but it may be CD-1. Just about any color developing agent will do.)

It is definitely not CD-2.
The phenolic part is the same as in Genochrome and Activol.