[pure-silver] Re: Warmtone prints revisited

  • From: "Ben R. McRee" <ben.mcree@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 09:45:12 -0400

Charlie,

I do like Forte's Polywarmtone fb a great deal.  The prints have a 
very rich look, and the degree of warmth can easily be influenced by 
the choice of developers and by toning.

I've processed it in Agfa's Neutol WA, which gives a decidedly 
brownish warm tone, and Ilford's PQ Universal, which gives a subtler 
warmth.  I like the untoned color better than the Ilford, which I 
always found a little too green for my tastes. Toned in a standard 
selenium mixture (1:20, 5-6 minutes), I've found that the image 
actually cools off.  (I'm told that stronger selenium solutions lead 
to increased rather than decreased warmth, but I have not tried 
this.)  It bleaches very quickly and, as Tim Rudman points out in his 
Toning book, loses considerable shadow density in the process.  I 
have tried bleaching and sepia toning and did not like the result.

This paper is extra heavyweight, which gives it a wonderful feel and 
seems to help it dry flatter than other fiber papers I've used.  I 
believe that it only comes in a glossy surface, if that makes a 
difference.

I find this to be a rather contrasty paper on the Saunders VCCE 
enlarger I'm using, and I usually have to reduce the contrast setting 
when switching from other papers.  I haven't done a direct 
comparison, but, if I had to guess, I'd say that it might need one 
grade lower than Ilford's warmtone to achieve a comparable print. 
The Forte paper is remarkably slow.  I generally find that a print on 
Ilford's warmtone takes twice the exposure of a print made on their 
neutral paper; the Forte takes 3 to 3.5 the exposure.  But, except 
for some rather long burning times, I don't find that to be a 
problem.  I too have seen variation between batches, mostly in speed.

Hope this helps!

--Ben
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