Photographic print toning
Encyclopedia
In photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, toning is a method of changing the color of black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photographs. In analog photography
Analog photography
Analog photography is a commonly used term for photography that uses a progressively changing recording medium, which may be either chemical process based or electronic ....
, toning is a chemical process carried out on silver-based photographic prints
Photographic printing
Photographic printing is the process of producing a final image on paper for viewing, using chemically sensitized paper. The paper is exposed to a photographic negative, a positive transparency , or a digital image file projected using an enlarger or digital exposure unit such as a LightJet printer...
. This darkroom process can not be done with a color photograph and although the black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photograph is now toned, it is still considered a black and white photograph as it is monochromatic. The effects of these processes can be emulated with software in digital photography
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
History
Beginning in the 1880s, sepia was produced by adding a pigmentPigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
, called sepia, made from the Sepia officinalis cuttlefish
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....
found in the English channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, to the positive print of a photograph.
Chemical toning
Most toners work by replacing the metallic silverSilver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
in the emulsion
Emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible . Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion is used when both the dispersed and the...
with a silver compound, such as silver sulfide
Silver sulfide
Silver sulfide, Ag2S, is the sulfide of silver. This dense black solid constitutes the tarnish that forms over time on silverware and other silver objects. Silver sulfide is insoluble in all solvents, but is degraded by strong acids. Silver sulfide features a covalent bond, as it is made up of...
(Ag2S) in the case of sepia toning. The compound may be more stable than metallic silver and may also have a different color or tone. Different toning processes give different colors to the final print. In some cases, the printer may choose to tone some parts of a print more than others.
Toner also can increase the range of visible shades visible in a print without reducing the contrast. Selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
toning is especially effective in this regard. Some toning processes can improve the chemical stability of the print, increasing its potential longevity. Other toning processes, such as iron and copper toners, can make the print less stable. Many chemical toners are highly toxic. It is extremely important that the chemicals be used in a well ventilated area. Rubber glove
Rubber glove
A rubber glove is a glove made out of rubber. Rubber gloves can be unsupported or supported . Its primary purpose is protection of the hands while performing tasks involving chemicals. Rubber gloves are worn during dishwashing to protect the hands from detergent and allow the use of hotter water...
s and face protection should be worn when handling them. Some toners contain chemicals that are carcinogen
Carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes...
ic.
Selenium toning
SeleniumSelenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
toning is a popular archival toning process, converting metallic silver to silver selenide. In a diluted toning solution, selenium toning gives a red-brown tone, while a strong solution gives a purple-brown tone. The change in color depends upon the chemical make-up of the photographic emulsion being toned. Chloro-bromide papers change dramatically, whilst pure bromide
Bromide
A bromide is a chemical compound containing bromide ion, that is bromine atom with effective charge of −1. The class name can include ionic compounds such as caesium bromide or covalent compounds such as sulfur dibromide.-Natural occurrence:...
papers change little. Fibre-based papers are more responsive to selenium toning.
Selenium toning may not produce prints quite as stable as sepia or gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
toning. Recently, doubts have surfaced as to the effectiveness of selenium toner in ensuring print longevity.
- In most applications, Selenium Toning was not used for its Sepia or Red Tone by Fine Art Photographers. In fact it was used for the opposite of those effects
- Agfa Portriga Rapid and Agfa Record Rapid (the highest Silver content Black and White Photographic Paper made for the Mass Market) had a brownish green tone. Depending on strength of Selenium Tone mixed to water, a three to four minutes tray bath, with continuous circulation, removed the brownish green tone and provided a deep rich black...the difference is immediately discernable to the naked eye and makes for a richer print.
- Higher concentrations of Selenium Toning and longer tray baths produced the red to desired effect. 99% of Vintage prints in Museums, sold at Galleries and auction that are Selenium Toned, are toned, to remove the brownish green tone and provided a deep rich black,
- Most reported tests over the years in tech photography publications had Selenium Toned prints at twice the longevity of untoned prints.
Sepia toning
Sepia toning is a specialized treatment to give a black-and-whiteBlack-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photographic print a warmer tone and to enhance its archival qualities. Chemicals are used to convert the metallic silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
in the print to a sulfide
Sulfide
A sulfide is an anion of sulfur in its lowest oxidation state of 2-. Sulfide is also a slightly archaic term for thioethers, a common type of organosulfur compound that are well known for their bad odors.- Properties :...
compound, which is much more resistant to the effects of environmental pollutants such as atmospheric sulfur compounds. Silver sulfide
Silver sulfide
Silver sulfide, Ag2S, is the sulfide of silver. This dense black solid constitutes the tarnish that forms over time on silverware and other silver objects. Silver sulfide is insoluble in all solvents, but is degraded by strong acids. Silver sulfide features a covalent bond, as it is made up of...
is at least 50% more stable than silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
.
There are three types of sepia toner in modern use;
- Sodium sulfideSodium sulfideSodium sulfide is the name used to refer to the chemical compound Na2S, but more commonly it refers to the hydrate Na2S·9H2O. Both are colorless water-soluble salts that give strongly alkaline solutions...
toners - the traditional 'rotten egg' toner; - ThioureaThioureaThiourea is an organosulfur compound of with the formula SC2 . It is structurally similar to urea, except that the oxygen atom is replaced by a sulfur atom, but the properties of urea and thiourea differ significantly. Thiourea is a reagent in organic synthesis. "Thioureas" refers to a broad...
(or 'thiocarbamide') toners - these are odorless and the tone can be varied according to the chemical mixture; - PolysulfidePolysulfidePolysulfides are a class of chemical compounds containing chains of sulfur atoms. There are two main classes of polysulfides: anions and organic polysulfides. Anions have the general formula Sn2−. These anions are the conjugate bases of the hydrogen polysulfides H2nSn...
or 'direct' toners - these do not require a bleaching stage.
Except for polysulfide toners, sepia toning is done in three stages. First the print is soaked in a potassium ferricyanide
Potassium ferricyanide
Potassium ferricyanide is the chemical compound with the formula K3[Fe6]. This bright red salt contains the octahedrally coordinated [Fe6]3− ion. It is soluble in water and its solution shows some green-yellow fluorescence.-Preparation:...
bleach to re-convert the metallic silver to silver halide
Silver halide
A silver halide is one of the compounds formed between silver and one of the halogens — silver bromide , chloride , iodide , and three forms of silver fluorides. As a group, they are often referred to as the silver halides, and are often given the pseudo-chemical notation AgX...
. The print is washed to remove excess potassium ferricyanide then immersed into a bath of toner, which converts the silver halides to silver sulfide.
Incomplete bleaching creates a multi-toned image with sepia highlights and gray mid-tones and shadows. This is called split toning. The untoned silver in the print can be treated with a different toner, such as gold or selenium.
Fred Judge FRPS made extensive use of sepia toning for postcards produced by the British picture postcards manufacturer Judges Postcards
Judges Postcards
Judges Postcards is a picture postcard manufacturer based in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. It was known as Judges Limited between 1910 and 1984.- Fred Judge :...
Metal replacement toning
Metal replacement toners replace the metallic silver, through a series of chemical reactions, with a ferrocyanideFerrocyanide
Ferrocyanide is the name of the anion Fe64−. In aqueous solutions, this coordination complex is relatively unreactive. It is usually available as the salt potassium ferrocyanide, which has the formula K4Fe6....
salt of a transition metal
Transition metal
The term transition metal has two possible meanings:*The IUPAC definition states that a transition metal is "an element whose atom has an incomplete d sub-shell, or which can give rise to cations with an incomplete d sub-shell." Group 12 elements are not transition metals in this definition.*Some...
. Some metals, such as platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
or gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
can protect the image. Others, such as iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
(blue toner) or copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
(red toner) may reduce the lifetime of the image.
Metal replacement toning with gold alone results in a blue-black tone. It is often combined with a sepia toner to produce a more attractive orange-red tone. The archival Gold Protective Solution (GP-1) formula uses a 1% gold chloride stock solution with sodium or potassium thiocyanate. It is sometimes used to split tone photographs previously toned in selenium for artistic purposes.
Dye toning
Dye toners replace the metallic silver with a dyeDye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
. The image will have a reduced lifetime compared with an ordinary silver print.
Digital toning
Toning can be simulated digitally, either in-camera or in post-processingVideo post-processing
The term post-processing is used in the video/film business for quality-improvement image processing methods used in video playback devices, , and video players software and transcoding software...
. The in-camera effect, as well as beginner tutorials given for software like Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
or GIMP
GIMP
GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
, use a simple tint. More sophisticated software tends to implement sepia tones using the duotone
Duotone
Duotone is a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting color halftone over another color halftone. This is most often used to bring out middle tones and highlights of an image...
feature. Simpler photo-editing software usually has an option to sepia-tone an image in one step.
Examples
The examples below show a digital color photograph, a black-and-white version and a sepia-toned version.The following are examples of the three types using film:
See also
- Color gradingColor gradingColor grading or colour painting, is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color timing and is typically performed at a photographic...
- CyanotypeCyanotypeCyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints...
- Film tintingFilm tintingFilm tinting is the process of adding color to black-and-white film, usually by means of soaking the film in dye and staining the film emulsion...
- GrisailleGrisailleGrisaille is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles in fact include a slightly wider colour range, like the Andrea del Sarto fresco...
(painting) - List of software palettes — Color gradient palettes section
- MonochromeMonochromeMonochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
- PlatinotypePlatinotypePlatinum prints, also called platinotypes, are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development....
- Selective colorSelective colorSelective color is a post-processing technique where most of a photo is converted to black and white, but some parts are left in color. This is usually achieved by using layers and masks in photo editing software .A common application for selective color is portraiture, to keep the eyes and...
External links
- Sepia Toner Application to convert digital images
- Ilford: Toning prints
- Sepia toning in a developing tray.
- Sepia toning in Adobe Photoshop
- Sepia toning in the GIMPGIMPGIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
- Sepia toning in Java