Re: POP process

Would you please elaborate on the Selenium toning that you do? I¹ve run out
of gold toner far in advance of my POP and I¹d like to use the rest. My
experimentation with POP and selenium toning turned the paper completely
black.

JD

From: David & Jan Harris <david.j.harris2@ntlworld.com>
Reply-To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 06:02:11 +0000
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Subject: Re: POP process

Donna
 
I have very recently started using POP paper, here are a few observations:
 
1. Toning is (near) vital with this paper. Without toning the result is a
strong orange/brown which does not suit too many images, and exposure times
may be excessive due to bleaching in the fixer.
 
2. Very different results, particularly in image colour, but also in
contrast range, exposure requirements and possibly tonality can be obtained
using different toning strategies. This is a benefit (wide range of possible
results) but also may be the paper's achilles heel (difficult to achieve
consistency due to toner exhaustion).
 
3. The "classic" toning involves gold toning before fixing. This reduces the
bleaching effect, so keeps exposure times short. I have found it to give
cool tones in the highlights and brown midtones and shadows at short toning
times, up to overall cool tone with longer exposure times. Dmax with this
toning is around log 2.1.
 
4. I have tried palladium toning but wasn't happy with the results (some
prints failed to clear in the highlights, and it was hard to achieve a high
Dmax).
 
5. Selenium toning (using dilute toner) after fixing works quite well,
giving a more neutral colour (slightly warm highlights, slightly cool
shadows). The bleaching effect in the fix is more significant, so exposure
seems to be three times that required for gold toning before fixing, this
does still give a good Dmax however.
 
6. Care needs to be taken not to handle the paper, I use cotton gloves and
process in one tray to avoid handling during processing.
 
7. The only strategy for contrast control is to change the toning. This may
be a problem for you if your nagatives are fixed, the negative contrast and
characteristics might not suit the paper. The only thing to do is to try it!
 
Dave
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: DHTalman@aol.com
>
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>
> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 3:16 AM
>
> Subject: Re: POP process
>
>
> Hello Shannon,
>
> Thanks so much for responding to my question. You are the only one who
> responded Perhaps that means few people use POP paper.
>
> You mentioined Azo paper. From the web, I see that it's a paper Kodak makes
> and that it comes in #2 and #3 contrasts. It is glossy?
>
> What can you recall about the problems of exposing the POP paper? I recall
> you said that it had been a couple of years since you have used it. And
> also, you mentioned that you had problems toning it, What were the
> problems?
>
> Why did you begin to use the POP paper and what made you stop using it?
>
> I'll be very grateful for your help.
>
> Donna
> www.donnahamiltalman.com <http://www.donnahamiltalman.com>
Received on Mon Nov 8 07:44:47 2004