The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

Printing Methods and Techniques 79
to fresh developer to achieve warm tones. This is because the presence of used developer
prevents the silver halide from being fully developed to black. The amount of used developer
should not be more than that which would allow development to take place within a normal
developing time of two to fi ve minutes. This technique is especially effective with developers
containing glycin (Formulas: Ansco 130 and Dassonville D-3).
The four most important components in a developer for infl uencing image tone are
the developing agent, bromide restrainer, organic antifoggant, and the amount of hardener.
Developing agents such as glycin or pyrocatechin give a warm image tone in the absence of
an organic antifoggant, such as benzotriazole. Organic antifoggant tends to cause a cold or
bluish image tone. Also, as the bromide content is increased through successive prints the
image tends to become warmer in tone.
Color-Dye Sensitization In Chapter 4, Film Development, I mentioned the use of color-dye sensitization
to replace silver particles in fi lm. Color-dye sensitization when applied to fi lm is of questionable
benefi t to the photographer. However, when applied to paper it is not necessarily a
bad thing. Color dyes enable the manufacturer to create papers with a fast printing speed and
increased tonal scale. On the other hand, dye-rich papers do not respond as well to bleaching,
toning processes, or direct image color manipulation through the use of print developers. This
is doubly true of dye-rich papers with over-hardened emulsions which are discussed next.
While paper manufacturers are not legally constrained to disclose the nature of their
emulsion formula, one thing to watch for are the buzz words “silver-rich.” This usually indicates
an older formulation that does not use dye. And while it does not mean the paper is
better (some old formulas are pretty bad and some of the “dye-rich” papers are very good; for
example, Ilford Multigrade IV), it usually means the paper will respond well to image color
manipulation with toning.
Hardener Hardener is a necessary component of both fi lm and paper. Without some hardener,
the emulsion would slough off during development. Hardener also protects the emulsion
from damage but only when the material is wet and during high temperature drying.
Once the fi lm or paper is dry, hardener serves no further purpose vis-à-vis protection of the
emulsion.
Until the late 1960s, paper emulsions were “soft” and easily damaged. This was because
they contained a minimal amount of hardener in their emulsion. Printers handled wet paper
carefully or used hardener in their fi xer to prevent damage. As a result, it was nearly impossible
to machine-process black and white papers without damage. However, machine processing
turned out to be far more profi table, both for commercial labs and the manufacturers who
make, sell, and service the machines. Many modern papers have been overly hardened so they
can be machine-processed. Unfortunately, if too much hardener is used in paper manufacture,
it prevents the paper from responding to extended development, color changes with direct
development, and toning.
If the paper you are using is resistant to toning it probably has more hardener than necessary
and is probably heavily dye-sensitized. This does not mean it is a bad paper, it means
you should use a different paper if you want to manipulate image tone or control contrast
through extended development.