Re: Potentially stupid pt/pd question
Clay, Thanks for clearing that up (no pun intended); that makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure about the pH of the water here, although I've never had problems clearing before. I think saturated developer is a more likely scenario. It's not that old, but I admit I have let it go longer than normal without replenishing it. I've got a shipment of potassium oxalate on the way, so I'll add to what I've been using and see if that helps. Camden Hardy camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net http://www.hardyphotography.net > Potassium oxalate developer by itself won't stain paper. What is > probably going on is that your developer is absolutely saturated with > ferric oxalate from that it is removing from the print. So when you > put the print into the tray of developer, it is bathing in a > concentrated sea of ferric oxalate in solution. I would be willing to > bet that 1) your developer is old and saturated with ferric oxalate > and has a pH at or above 7.0, and 2) your rinse water is slightly > basic as well. This would explain the staining on both sides of your > paper. So it most likely IS a clearing issue, IMO, that you are > seeing, only you are doubling down by soaking your paper in a > developer loaded up in ferric oxalate removed from all your previous > prints. > >> Clay, I definitely tell you it's not the ferric that's staining, >> although >> it is the same color (which is why I initially thought it was a >> clearing >> issue). >> >> The entire sheet of paper is stained (front and back), not just >> where it >> was coated. The "paper white" >> >> It looks almost as if it spent some time soaking in a tray of coffee. >> >> >> Camden Hardy >> >> camden[at]hardyphotography[dot]net >> http://www.hardyphotography.net >> > >
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