[Alt-photo] Re: lith printing anomaly

[Christina Anderson]

Dear Ryuji,
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think the idea of going to a regular developer would certainly cast more light on the problem. Sorry I am replying to this a whole month later!! It has been one heck of a semester.

I have not yet figured out the issue, but have found that another person on Facebook started reporting the same issue with the same developer (Fotospeed LD20) so the plot thickens. Whatever the case the students got some VERY intriguing prints out of this spotty effect so made lemonade out of lemons, but I will probably chalk it up to the developer and switch it to a different one next year. I have also wondered about temperature of developer and strength.  I use 1+12 when doing lith but others go up to 1+20.

Chris

On Oct 14, 2013, at 7:59 PM, Ryuji Suzuki wrote:

>> The second day the student said the first two prints were fine, the third spotted.
> 
> Might it be related to exhaustion of sulfite and/or hydroquinone in the developer? What if a fresh bath of developer is used for each print? What if the developer is replenished with a fractional amount of fresh stock added each time?
> 
> I don't recall every bit of strange results, but I did find frustration with unpredictably variable outcome from two successive prints. That's why I formulated a lith print developer that is fully active and well seasoned when freshly mixed, so that it can be used one-shot.
> 
> I don't really have a explanation for this phenomenon. But one thing I am curious about is whether these flakes are a result of inhibited development or bleached latent image. It'd be curious to take a sample of partially lith developed print with the artifacts and bring it to a fresh bath of regular print developer to continue development. If the latent image is busted you'd expect the flakes to remain undeveloped.
> 
> Ryuji Suzuki
> 
> Christina Anderson wrote:
>> Hi Ryuji!
>> The negative prints normally.
>> The agitation technique was to pick up a corner of the tray and set it down and do it frequently and in an irregular way to avoid the wave effect that sometimes happens with lith. Lith development times were 10-20 minutes.
>> The top print was 16x20 the bottom print was 8x10.
>> Spots are in lights and darks.
>> Second image is a woman standing with blonde hair.
>> 
>> This phenomenon happened with a number of students during the lab but not all. On a number of papers. And the second day it also occurred. The second day the student said the first two prints were fine, the third spotted.
>> 
>> It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. The only consistency is the Fotospeed Lith developer and perhaps the papers are all Arista and Ilford....there was one print from expired paper like Bergger that worked fine but so did all the papers at some point!
>> Chris
>> 
>> On Oct 14, 2013, at 12:45 AM, Ryuji Suzuki wrote:
>> 
>>> I might be asking the obvious, but
>>> 
>>> 1. does the neg print normally on the same paper stock when developed in a regular print developer?
>>> 
>>> 2. what was the agitation technique?
>>> 
>>> 3. what's the dimension of the print (or better yet the approximate diameter range of the white spots?)
>>> 
>>> 4. do you see any sign of the spots in the dark area?
>>> 
>>> Although irrelevant to your problem, I'm curious. What is the second image (below)?
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Ryuji Suzuki
>>> "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." (Miles Davis)
>>> 
>>> Christina Anderson wrote:
>>>> Dear All,
>>>> I posted a couple images on my website of a lith phenomenon I have never seen before. Anyone else experience this and figure it out?
>>>> 
>>>> Fotospeed Lith Developer
>>>> Papers are Arista, Ilford MGIV, Ilford Warmtone, the middle one not suitable at all for lith but the students used it.
>>>> 
>>>> Tim Rudman thinks it could be erratic local development in the first stage with cause unknown.  He has not seen it much and suggests a controlled test of it.
>>>> 
>>>> This is the benefit of teaching. I never get bored seeing student work because after thousands and thousands of images to grade no two are alike. And I never get bored of teaching because there is always something to learn and something to stump you. But the poor students were pretty disappointed..
>>>> 
>>>> I hope lith is not another process to go by the wayside like Polaroid, Infrared, etc :( The former great papers are just not there anymore.
>>>> Chris
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> http://christinaanderson.visualserver.com/Text_page.cfm?pID=1953
>>>>