Re: What does a Sepia Toned print represent?
Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Mon, 29 Dec 1997 10:41:40 -0800
At 07:07 PM 12/29/97 +0100, Hamish Stewart wrote:
>>Subject: What does a Sepia Toned print represent?
>>Sent: 22/12/97 13:53
>>Received: 23/12/97 18:10
>>From: Bob Szabo, rjs@cwreenactors.com
>>To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
>>CC: PHOTOHST@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU
>>
>>What is it I am trying to duplicate when sepia
>>toning? Am I trying to make a new photo look like it is 130 years old? Am
>>I trying to duplicate gold toning? Am I trying to make it look like a salt
>>print? I want my images to be true to what they would have looked like in
>>the 1860s. Did they actually look sepia toned when they were new and if so
>>why? Any help will be appreciated.
>>
>I think a good reference could perhaps be William Crawford's book "The
>Keepers of Light". Its the first section you want to read that talks
>about how orginal prints actually look, and how to identify what process
>was used to make them.
>As far as I understand, in the 1860s albumen would be the most likely
>process for printmaking at this time (though salted paper is possible
>also). Having looked at original albumen prints - they don't really look
>that much like a sepia toned image from modern materials.
>My own personal feeling is that if you want to work with wetplates, then
>go the next step and work with printing processes that match wetplate
>negs. But I have to say that I am baised, I don't like sepia toning much
>at the best of times.
>>From another perspective you need to ask why is toning used in the first
>place. A common reason today and historically also was for permanence.
>The colour changes are just a byproduct of the need to ensure permanence.
>Of course there are also toners that have no role in creating greater
>permanence.
>
>Cheers
>Hamish
>
>***************************************************************************
>*
>"We have no theology, we have no dogma, we just dance"
>
>Hamish Stewart
>
>Astrologer Taroist
>Photographer Part time ritualist
> And bush lover
>Check out my home page at -
>http://www.vrx.net.au/ad163/artists/hamishstewart.html
>
>***************************************************************************
>*
>
>
Kodak also has a good publication _Care and Indentification of 19th
Century Photographic Prints_ James M. Reilly, G-2S, Cat No. 160 7787, ISBN
0-87985-365-4 Available from Silver Pixel Press, a division of Saunders Corp.
It has descriptions and illustrations of many old processes along with
detailed information on how to identify them.
----
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles,Ca.
dickburk@ix.netcom.com