Lith printing

Lith printing is my new adventure, started just recently.
I thought it may be a nice technique for printing collodion glass negatives and I truly find the results much more interesting then with traditional B&W printing.
I did only two printing sessions - with film negative and with collodion ambrotypes and I still have a lot to learn, but I really like it so far. 
I like the fact that the results are unrepeatable and a bit unpredictable. On the other hand the choice of paper, exposure and development times give many options of controll and allows for creating completely different prints for the same negative. 
The interesting fact about lith printing is the way of controlling the contrast - brights are controlled by the exposure and darks by the development and can be adjusted separately. Short exposure time and long development will result in bigger contrast and fine grain, while long exposure and short development gives less contrasty and grainy, often 'dreamy' like prints. It will also influence the colour of the print. But a lot depends on the quality and age of the developer, which is exhausting very quickly. Development in this process is called 'infectious' what means that dark tones develop faster then bright ones and the darker they become the faster they develop. Watching this and waiting for the 'snatch' point can be very exciting. 

In my first steps I have used Fomatone MG classic matt and gloss papers and Rollei Vintage Lith Developer, and here are the examples:

contact print from 8x10 collodion plate, 40s exposure (f8,just to have comparison with times used for enlarging film negs) 6min development, Fomatone MG classic gloss:

25x25 cm print of 6x6 B&W negative, 2min exposure (f8), 11min development, Fomatone MG classic matt:

contact print from 4x5 collodion plate, 35s exposure (f8) 6min development, (gloss):

contact print from 8x10, varnished collodion plate, 90s exposure (f8) 7min development, (gloss).:

more about lith printing:
www.unblinkingeye.com
www.lithprint.com

WPC workshop, Killruddery, 23rd&24th June

Attention! the date of the Killruddery Workshop is changed. 
It is moved on the 23rd and 24th of June.
http://www.facebook.com/events/414328385265945/

2 days, intensive, group of 4, 
chemicals, equipment, manual and lunches provided,

Brief Program:

Day 1, morning

1. Introduction:
History and overview of the process, chemicals, equipment needed,
darkroom set up, organization,
Health and safety recommendations.
Care and maintenance of chemicals. 
Mixing chemicals.

2. Preparation of glass plates, sanding edges and cleaning.

3. Demonstration of the complete process. (camera set up, pouring a glass
plate, sensitization, exposure, development, fixing and washing)

Day 1 afternoon, day 2

4. Practicing, practicing, practising

Making plates by student – as many as you can, 
Individual guidance with the process, trouble shooting, 
work with natural and artificial lightning, 
work with darkbox in more remote areas of the Gardens

5. Demonstration of the varnishing technique. Varnishing.

for more information contact me at:
fabijanczykphotography@gmail.com
0860783053

Old photos, new prints. Cyanotypes after a long break.

After a long break in cyanotyping I did a few new prints of my old photographs, and it was a nice change after WPC,(comparing the complexity of these processes), that I was concentrated on for the last year.

I have used different papers that I found in my studio and was a bit surprised with a Fabriano 5 HP smooth paper, that I've used for the first two images. First of all  after applying the chemicals on the paper and after drying there were still brush strokes visible. They are visible on prints. Secondly highlights never got bright, but stayed quite intensively blue. All that may be connected with my chemicals getting a bit old now, what in connection wih this 50% cotton paper gave unexpected results.

However I quite like these prints and their more ' dreamy' aesthetics.

8x10 print,35 min exposure, halogen lamp, digital negative of collodion scan

8x10 print,45 min exposure, halogen lamp, coffee toning, digital negative of collodion scan

The following two were made with accordingly Winsor & Newton and Fabriano Artistico papers, and gave the results similar to my earlier prints:

13x16cm print,45 min exposure, halogen lamp, coffee toning, digital negative of collodion scan, Windsor & Newton

4x5 print,15 min exposure, halogen lamp, coffee toning, collodion glass negative, Fabriano Artistico 

All the above were made with my recently build DIY printing frame, that works very well:

WPC workshop Killruddery summary.

Although it's already 3 weeks after the workshop in Killruddery I'd like to make a short resume of this event and introduce a lovely group of brave photographers, who decided to take part in this dangerous and exhausting venture :)

This is an ending portrait, so, as you can see they stayed in quite a good form after all this.

my lovely workshop group: Alice, Nick, Stephen an Sally (from left to right)

They worked very hard  throughout the whole weekend. They cleaned a huge amount of glass:

this is just a small part of what was cleaned, they seemed to enjoy it ....

they were blinding themselves with bright lights, trying to sit still and motionless for a loooong time....

they were concentrated...

...very concentrated....

and they were choosing their subjects very carefully...

But sometimes they had enough and were trying to hide....

....well,  'Mystic, awful was the process.'(Lewis Carroll, 'Hiawathas Photographing')...

All in all everything went very well and a couple of nice plates were done. Here is the proof - a sample of their results. Well done everyone and thank you all, it was a great weekend!

Collodion with Marta

On Sunday I met with Marta and we went through the whole wet plate process and did a few plates together.

Marta is a very talented and ambitious photographer and picked up easly all the stages of the process, having a perfect 'pour' (of collodion and developer) from the beginning to the end of the workshop.

Some backstage images:

and the results:

Marta by me: