This darkroom session was very exciting and I am very happy to share my first ever Lith Print with you. While still a completely black and white process it results in a print with colors! Yes, colors in a black and white photograph, and that can be just the beginning. So let's dive right in.

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What is a lith print? Lith is an abbreviation for lithographic. And what I am sharing with you today has to do with applying the lith method to a darkroom paper during the printing process. Normal development goes through two stages: a short induction period (around 15 seconds depending on paper, developer, temperature, etc.) and an autoacceleration period. The development completes in about 90-120 seconds (again depending on variables).

For lith printing, a very dilute special developer is used resulting in a very long induction period that is in minutes, not seconds. Based on variables like temperature it can be from about 5 minutes to over half an hour. In my case, I had t wait over 10 minutes at 20°C for anything to appear. I guess when one gets used to it it will be more natural but the first time caused a dose ox anxiety. Did I mix the developer the right way? Since I've had it for over a year, did it oxidize? But then things start showing up and anxiety turns into excitement.

At 20°C things continue to go slow despite what's called infectious development. It causes the development to pick up speed exponentially. Blacks start showing up quicker and quicker and eventually mid-tones start joining in. Unlike the regular development process there is no fixed time with the lith method. One has to wait until the blacks look great and then pull the print out of the developer and go straight to the stop bath. That point is called a snatch point. Only experience and a lot of experimentation helps fine tune this point. It does not help that the fiber based paper also suffers from a dry down effect where a wet photograph appears brighter than a dry one. As a result, the print needs to be snatched a bit ahead of the blacks going deep black.

This technique does not work with all photo papers. Many modern multigrade papers with added developers are not usable and the selection of lithable papers is dwindling. I need to enjoy this technique while we have some papers and who knows, maybe posts like this with get more people excited about it raising demand for such papers and keeping them around long-term.

Let's leave theory behind and see what I actually went through to get my first lithographic print. I had a photo in mind for more than a year so my selection process was quick. I just had to reach into my 2019 binder, locate the right film strip, and load it into the enlarger. The photo was captured with a Nikon FE with a 28mm pre-AI lens on Ilford FP4 black and white film and I believe I had an orange filter mounted on the lens since the sky was beautifully blue with fluffy clouds floating by.

The first step was to get a regular print. I measured my dark and light points with a meter and set an f-stop to give me an exposure between 10 and 20 seconds. However, I had this process figured out based on printing on Ilford multigrade papers, not the Foma Fomatone 132 paper  I was using here. I also did not want to open the lens up beyond f/8. After two test strips, I landed on 35 seconds at f/8. It appears the Foma paper needs more light but it is hard to draw conclusions based on a single print. I also did not properly account for the dry down and ended up with a darker print. For a regular black and white print, I will have to go back to the darkroom and improve upon that.

Chautauqua BelleTraditional Black and White Darkroom Print

Chautauqua Belle
Traditional Black and White Darkroom Print on Foma Fomatone 132 Paper

I have cheated with this scan of the 5x7 print and increased the overall brightness to what I would like it to be. The print unfortunately did not feature any whites, just light grays.

Alright, let's get to the exciting part. For a lith print, the recommended starting point for exposure was 3 stops over. I opened the lens up from f/8 to f/4, which accounted for 2 stops, and doubled the exposure time from 35 seconds to 70 seconds to add the third stop. I developed the print in a 5x7 tray filled with 200 ml of diluted developer (Arista Liquid Lith Developer, 4ml Part A + 4ml Part B + 192ml water for a 1:24 dilution). As mentioned above, I was a bit nervous when nothing was happening for minutes. I actually thought I saw something several times but it was not there. It was just wishful thinking. I should add that all of this is done under a dim red safe light as the paper is only blue sensitive. So while one can see it's not really bright, everything appears darker than it really is, and there is no color perception.

But somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes I could start seeing the top right of the ship's canopy and the lamp posts showing up. I was slightly rocking the tray back and forth the whole time to insure the paper always had fresh chemicals to respond to. Eventually I decided to snatch the print at 27 minutes, quickly submerged it in the stop bath, and then to the fixer. At this point, I could not really see any obvious difference between the earlier regular print and this lithographic print. Sure, contrast and tonality appeared different but not in any dramatic fashion. All looked black and white too.

After about a minute in the fixer I turned the light on for a quick inspection on the result. Wow! All of a sudden all of my uncertainty melted away. Maybe the print was not perfect but it looked absolutely gorgeous to me. For my first attempt, I was very happy. It worked and there was definitely color in the print. And the increased contrast of this process also held the highlights brighter and as such the lith print did not lack whites. What you see below is what I was looking at.

Chautauqua BelleLithographic Darkroom Print on Foma Fomatone 132 Paper
Chautauqua Belle
Lithographic Darkroom Print on Foma Fomatone 132 Paper

Encouraged, I repeated the process one more time to get more out of the developer. Things went a bit slower and in the end I pulled the print sooner to see how a brighter rendering would look. And then I tried a third print. And nothing. Absolutely nothing came up even 30 minutes into development. It was only then that I considered the capacity of the dilute developer.

I use Kodak Dektol for my normal developer and dilute it 1:2 or 1:3. That provides a lot of developer in the tray. My lith developer was diluted 1:24 and I only had 8ml of the actual developer in the tray. I guess I have determined that at minimum, I need 4ml per 5x7 print. Unfortunately, it's not so easy as the tray size, temperature, and other factors influence the speed of exhaustion.

That variability got confirmed for me since I went back one more time to get a few more copies of this print. This time, I mixed 1 liter (20+20+960) into an 11 x 14 tray and pre-heated it to 30°C to speed things along. The first individual print went much faster, the second one not so much. Then I developed two at once and unfortunately, I was back at almost half an hour. This was the point to determine why. I should have taken a temperature reading to see if I was back down to 20°C or if the developer exhausted after just 4 prints. Since I used five times more developer I was hoping for 10 prints. Maybe the temperature dropped on me, maybe the larger tray caused faster oxidation. The higher initial temperature definitely sped up exhaustion. I don't know, that's for next time to figure out. I may also need a heating pad under my tray to keep the temperature higher, especially with the winter season coming.

Thanks for reading along and sharing in my excitement! I hope you liked the behind the scenes story. If not, I hope you like the result. And if not, I thank you for being here anyway.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! For more darkroom prints, head over to the Darkroom gallery. Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!

Previously from the darkroom:

Organ Mountains Desert PeaksRoad Trip 2018 Tree PhalanxBirdsong Park The LiveryRoad Trip 2018

Van Patten's Mountain CampRoad Trip 2018 Magnolia GasRoad Trip 2018

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And we are back at the Niagara River Gorge to appreciate and enjoy the raw power of water again. I have had several posts from the location before so I am sure you already know how much I love the place. And while I already have a decent collection of photographs from there I always try to mix things up a bit.

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The Niagara River flows from Lake Erie in Buffalo, NY, to Lake Ontario in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. Its 35-mile path creates the international border between the United States and Canada and is crossed by several major bridges (Peace Bridge, Rainbow Bridge, Queenston-Lewiston Bridge). Once the water leaves Lake Erie the river immediately narrows to a width of 1,500 feet and depth of 17 feet as it reaches a rock ledge, which naturally controls its outflow. Along its whole way the river drops about 326 feet.

The Niagara Gorge extends from the Niagara Falls for 7 miles downstream to the foot of the escarpment at Queenston. In the wildest section that we are visiting together today, the Whirlpool Rapids, the river drops about 50 feet in a little more then a mile and terminates in the Whirlpool. About 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 cubic meters, 2.8 million liters) of water go over the crest of Niagara Falls every second during peak daytime tourist hours and all of that water enters the Niagara Gorge and the narrow Whirlpool rapids.

And that's only about half of the water as the other half is diverted for power generation before the Falls. It's hard to imagine how twice as much water would look.

The WaveLower Niagara River Rapids

The Wave, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

And now back to our photographic visit. What can be changed for a new take? I can plan to focus on different aspects of the gorge, I can bring different equipment, and I can hope that luck will throw a bonus or two my way. On my previous visit earlier in the year I used a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera to capture the spirit of the area on the square format. For this visit I wanted to try something different again.

I traded my classic manual focus cameras for a more modern piece of equipment, the Nikon F4, and equipped it with a Nikkor 80 - 200 f/2.8 zoom lens with the intention to capture close ups of the wild water action going on here. I wanted to isolate the powerful buildup of water into large swells and waves and catch them falling over on themselves in huge water explosions.

The CrashLower Niagara River Rapids

The Crash, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

And the film of choice for the day? I wanted the water to look as clear as possible and decided to go for a black and white film. And since it was a bright sunny summer day I reached for the Kodak Double-X 5222 motion picture stock. It's interesting. It was made for filming in dim conditions but I love how it renders bright tones. And while it's increased blue and lowered red sensitivity may not always work the best for grand landscapes with big blue skies it is the perfect choice for capturing close ups whether natural or manmade.

The SwellLower Niagara River Rapids

The Swell, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

On location I headed to a few of my favorite spots and spent quite a bit of time at each watching the water, learning its tricks of the day, and then watching the action through the viewfinder attempting to capture the decisive moment. But what is a decisive moment in situation like this? Is it when a huge wave tips over resulting in a huge splash? Is it just before it tips over? Or is it when the initial swell starts forming? I tired to get a few examples of each of the situations and you can see a short selection out of those here today. And my favorites? Probably not the obvious ones. As of right now, I am leaning towards subtlety and the swell formations, as in the photograph directly above.

The ShoreLower Niagara River Rapids

The Shore, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

Towards the end of the roll I decided to put it all in context. Yes, it was a bit backwards and I went for the establishing shots at the end. I thought that was perfectly fine as I had already had many sets from my past visits. The river offers gorgeous rocky banks on both sides providing both great platforms to roam and explore and to point a camera at. And past these river banks are impressive tall cliffs rising high above.

The CliffsLower Niagara River Rapids

The Cliffs, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

And then there are the trees happily growing in what seems to be a very inhospitable place. It's all rocks everywhere! And winters at the gorge are tough too. In color, it can be quite a bold palette but I really like how the Double-X film's tones rendered this landscape in shades of black and white. The light is shimmering and sparkling, isn't it?

The Watchman at WhirlpoolLower Niagara River Rapids

The Watchman at Whirlpool, Lower Niagara River Rapids
Photographed with a Nikon F4 on Kodak Double-X 5222 Black and White Film

I could not leave without snapping the Watchman Tree leaning and watching over the Whirlpool that gave the state park its name. It's here where the river widens and makes a 90-degree turn right spinning up the Whirlpool in the process.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!

Icicle FormationBlack & White Winter LakeshoreBlack & White Upper Papermill Falls in Black & WhiteBlack & White Wetlands PondBlack & White PhalanxBlack & White

I have been holding off as long as I could not to be accused of accelerating the arrival of winter but there is no hiding it now. Colors are popping all around us and the pace has accelerated dramatically over the last few days. And now that a cool down and rain are coming, I hope it is going to leave some leaves up for all of us to enjoy before the dreaded season of grey is upon us.

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These pictures are from about this time last year as we were heading east from Buffalo to Syracuse, New York. As anywhere and any time the best idea always is to get off the expressway. And we certainly did, even if only for a section. We had a planned stop that we enjoyed very much. Afterwards, instead of heading back to I-90 we continued east on the smaller roads.

Old Water TowerWestern New York

Sunset on the Rocks, Lake Erie Lakeshore
Photographed with a Nikon N75 on Kodak Portra 400 Color Negative Film

All along the way we were surrounded by wonderful colors and not constantly stopping was very difficult. However, the trip had a goal that required actually making it to the destination on schedule. At one point we crossed through a small intersection and as I was checking the traffic from the left I saw it. I saw the gorgeous old water tower and was not going to miss it. We turned around, made a right turn, pulled over to the side of the road and out I headed with my camera.

Old ShedWestern New York

Dipping In, Lake Erie Lakeshore
Photographed with a Nikon N75 on Kodak Portra 400 Color Negative Film

And it turned out the location was even more generous. I wanted to check the tower out from the other direction too to make sure I would not miss an even better shot. While I did not find a better angle on the water tower I found this super antiques shop hiding in the colorful foliage of the season.

So get off the expressway, turn off the GPS for a few minutes, and just go wherever you feel like. It's a strangely liberating feeling that I love to employ as often as possible whether on the road or at home. You'd be surprised what you can find around the place you live if you allow yourself to take a few random turns.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! For more travel photography, my Travel Photography gallery offers an interesting mix of places all around. Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them (commission earned) and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!

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