Lith Printing — trials and tribulations
In my continuous search for ever more expressive printing techniques I have found Lith printing a real boon for some types of subject. But it’s not without its frustrations…
My trip to North Dakota last year to photograph abandoned farms is a case in point. Before my trip I had seen some wonderful abandoned farm photographs in colour, in photo-gravure, in straight prints, in the subtle tones of platinum/palladium printing. But to my mind the ambiance of the dilapidated farms with their pigeon filth, water-stained walls and peeling paint called out for a more expressive medium — one more capable of communicating a feel of grunge.
Hence my interest in Lith. What better way to express the pictures I had in my mind’s eye?
But the exercise is taking a long time. I have 10 prints to make and in 4 months (i.e. many hours), I have only managed three Lith prints that do the job that I want.
The reasons are many.
Firstly, many of the Lithable papers produce colours which, although often beautiful, are not what I am looking for in this set of pictures. Reducing the colours has meant experimenting with the ratio between negative exposure and print development time, temperature, and Lith developer concentrations and Lith A/B mix. Many hours have been spent on this.
For example the following print has beautiful colours, but it isn’t what I visualised:
Prints like this one had to be bleached and toned to tame the colour:
Secondly, it is difficult to produce a set of photographs that look like they belong to the same set. The variations in contrast, colour and extent of “lithing’, depends to some extent on the original negative. So, outside shots and inside shots not only look different in terms of tonal ranges etc but also look like different reproductions. To reduce this variability I have had to use different papers to represent the series.
Thirdly, there is a large variation between prints within a developing session as the Lith developer starts to exhaust. In a normal printing session I found that I could process seven 8 inch by 8 inch prints before topping up the Lith developer concentration. Often only prints numbers 4 and 5 were acceptable, presumably because of the level of oxidation of the developer and its by-products.
Finally, there is a good deal of experimentation required on toning techniques. The toners I have been using have been sepia thiocarbamide, selenium, gold and carbon.
The following photograph is still a work in progress. The negative needs a longer exposure under enlarger, a later (relatively) Lith snatch point to bring out the wooden slats of the wall, and a bleach plus short selenium bath to increase density of the shadows.
The permutations are very large. Each photograph needs a specific negative exposure/paper/Lith process/toner combination. It will take me the rest of 2019 to finish the print project.
Fun though!
