# a few lith prints



## terri (Sep 17, 2007)

As some of you know, I spent last week out at Photographer's Formulary taking a lith printing workshop under Tim Rudman. To say it was "good" is an understatement! Tim was awesome, relaxed, funny, and sort of...brilliant.  I quite adore him.

Okay, so most of my stuff went straight to "the learning bin" where it deserved, but that's okay, I learned a ton. I can't wait to practice more of these in my own darkroom - community darkrooms can be maddening!  I met a lot of great people and it was so lovely to hang out with like-minded folks.  And.....Montana is drop-dead BEAUTIFUL! :hail: 

I took a rather skimpy assortment of negatives, so some of these I've posted here before as other alternative processes. 

Lith printing is fascinating, not difficult, and tons of fun! I quickly learned that paper choice can yield significantly different results, so it's important to try several papers and learn to marry your negative with the paper for the look you want (where my lack of negatives kind of frustrated me, but that's okay). 

So here is an assortment:

Kentmere Fineprint paper, overprinted by about 2 stops and developed in Fotospeed LD20 1:8. Great paper that gives nice warm tones:











Fotospeed Lith paper, again about 2 stops over and ultimately toned briefly in gold. The paper without toning gives very soft warm tones that I tried to maintain in the upper highlights. This is an old Lensbaby shot that I'm not sure I scanned very well!










Fomatone MG paper. This was a wild card paper as it gives some crazy colors. I picked one of my more adventurous HIE negatives and had to dodge quite a bit.









Slavich paper. This paper had a reputation as being quite difficult to control so naturally, I wanted to try it. I really like the coarse gritty grain. Burned the doors in heavily and held back the edges, as they wanted to come in quickly in the lith developer. This was a challenging print and is my fave from the workshop.








Thanks for looking!


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## Steph (Sep 17, 2007)

I have never tried lith printing as from reading about it in books it looked fairly complicated to me, but your results look good. They defenitely have the lith look and I like them (particularly 3&4). I guess the way to learn is to have a go. And I guess taking a workshop with Tim Rudman is probably one of the best ways to learn. If only I had a proper darkroom and much more time...


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## ann (Sep 17, 2007)

wonderful terri, glad you had so much fun and learned so much at the same time. A real win win


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## JamesD (Sep 17, 2007)

Awesome, Terri!  I'm green with envy.:mrgreen:  Glad you got to enjoy the likes of our western states, too.... They're my favorite!

This stuff is marvellous!  I really like the looks of the statue on the Fotospeed paper, you say gold toned?  #3 certainly takes on a different look and feel, it looks almost... I dunno, maybe "deeper," somehow.  The paper naturally came out with the orange tint?  I've _got_ to get my hands into this process.

What was your favorite part of the workshop?  And, for a first-timer in Lith-printing, what might you recommend for starters?  Did you use the same dev & dilution for all of them, or is it something you varied?  What kind of negatives work well?

Told you I was gonna pick yer brain. 

Glad you had fun, and welcome back, too! We missed ya!


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## terri (Sep 17, 2007)

ann said:


> wonderful terri, glad you had so much fun and learned so much at the same time. A real win win


Thanks so much, Ann! It was a great experience, although I preferred the travel time to the last workshop.


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## terri (Sep 17, 2007)

JamesD said:


> Awesome, Terri! I'm green with envy.:mrgreen: Glad you got to enjoy the likes of our western states, too.... They're my favorite!
> 
> This stuff is marvellous! I really like the looks of the statue on the Fotospeed paper, you say gold toned? #3 certainly takes on a different look and feel, it looks almost... I dunno, maybe "deeper," somehow. The paper naturally came out with the orange tint? I've _got_ to get my hands into this process.
> 
> ...


awww...:hug:: You mean the mental ward was quiet and well-behaved in my absence? :mrgreen: 

Okay, hmm...first, thanks for the kind words. Yes, the statue was gold toned briefly, no more than a minute or two. Toning is a blast all by itself since you can do it under normal room light and carefully watch your color shift. Tim Rudman happened to be standing next to me watching this one, saying, "Careful, if you want to maintain those upper highlights, not too much longer," or I might have gone too far.  

That Fomatone MG is crazy paper and yes, can give an orangey-brown tone, with some greens and reds, depending on the tonal values of your print. My husband did one of a shot he took out in Bryce Canyon and it's amazing. You start thinking of what the paper can give you and match it to your images. 

Favorite part of the workshop...? Hard to say, I was glowing every minute. It's a blast being the darkroom from morning till night. It's a thrill to pull a good lith print. Tim Rudman has a wicked sense of humor and we played off each other very well, so he was just fun to be around, as were my fellow students. It's a joy to be surrounded by people who love film and alternative processes and darkroom work - no one had to explain themselves. :razz: What's not to love? 

For starters....well, I'm a total beginner of course, so I plan to continue on with what I mainly used: Fotospeed LD20 lith developer, 1:8 dilution. Choose negatives with nice tonal values and something fairly easy to print for your first few efforts. You run your test strip in normal B&W developer, just like always, and select your time by viewing the highlights only, then start by doubling the time - it doesn't have to be exact, as you learn quickly, so it's not difficult starting out. You will control your highlights by your exposure - and control your shadows during tray development, visually, and learn to "snatch" the print when you've determined you have the appropriate blacks. (It's not as complicated as it sounds, but your new best friend will be some kind of darkroom flashlight where you can observe your blacks coming up in the print.) You can get most supplies from good ol' Freestyle. 

I will shamelessly plug Tim's book, as well. :thumbup: I _almost _decided to try it on my own just from the book, but the lure of the workshop in Montana was too much to resist! But it's an excellent resource, even though some of the papers mentioned are no longer available - but new ones are.

I think I'm babbling.....can you tell I'm quite excited by this process?


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## windrivermaiden (Sep 19, 2007)

Yowzzzzza! You are having my dream. I want to go to PF for a workshop. This dang needing to make a living to eat bites!

I love these prints. And to be with like minded folks and not having to explain one's self...the lux!


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## terri (Sep 20, 2007)

Thanks, Windy! 



> And to be with like minded folks and not having to explain one's self...the lux!


Breath of fresh air! With Tim Rudman leading the pack, no less. Quite validating. :mrgreen:

Start saving your pennies, girlie.


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## windrivermaiden (Sep 20, 2007)

I AM, I AM! AND GOING TO CALL IN SPECIAL FAVORS WITH FAMILY IN THE AREA FOR SLEEPS AND EATS.


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## Bill LaMorris (Dec 17, 2007)

Hi, very nice work. Have you tried any of the other lith formulas? I have had good results with Fotospeed, but I would like to mix my own formulas. I have just started using the Ansco 81 formula in  Tim Rudmans book, and have had mixed results. I like the overall effect but I am not satisfied with the look of the shadows. They are a dark chocolate instead of a dense black. Do you have any suggestions? I also had severe pepper fogging problems using Kentmere Fineprint and Fotospeed. Any help would be appreciated. Bill


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## terri (Dec 17, 2007)

Bill LaMorris said:


> Hi, very nice work. Have you tried any of the other lith formulas? I have had good results with Fotospeed, but I would like to mix my own formulas. I have just started using the Ansco 81 formula in Tim Rudmans book, and have had mixed results. I like the overall effect but I am not satisfied with the look of the shadows. They are a dark chocolate instead of a dense black. Do you have any suggestions? I also had severe pepper fogging problems using Kentmere Fineprint and Fotospeed. Any help would be appreciated. Bill


Hi Bill - welcome to TPF! I've not played much with anything other than the Fotospeed, and I have tried higher dilutions with it. I'm personally not going to be too adventurous until I feel I've mastered the effects with dilutions/temps/Old Brown additive - you know the drill.  

About your brownish blacks - off the top of my head, and from one beginner to another - take a look at your variables and tackle one by one. What paper(s) are you using? How many stops over are you printing? Also, isn't Ansco known to deliver a warmer black...? It might be that's all it is (if that's the case).

About the pepper fogging with the Kentmere with Fotospeed - I'm somewhat surprised, since that's generally such an excellent combination. You know, we did have a "bad batch" of the Kentmere paper (If I'm remembering this correctly) while at the workshop in September, and we were getting very poor, non-lith type results. After testing it every way he could think of, Tim Rudman called our supplier (Freestyle) and it was determined to be a bad batch of the paper. This is fairly recent so it *could* be the same thing. 

Hopefully some of this is helpful. Someone with more experience might weigh in here, as well.

Thanks for the kind words about my work. I'd been wanting to start lith printing for a very long time.


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