The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

Toning Prints 115
The sepia/sulfi de/hypo alum toners are the most stable as the selenium toners will only protect
the shadow areas, not the highlights, unless toning is taken to completion, in which case
the entire print will take on a color/tone, which will depend on the paper used.
The second method is to protect the silver by coating it (as opposed to converting it)
with another metal, such as gold.
Sulfi de/Hypo-Alum Toners
When a print is improperly fi xed or the fi xer has reached or is near exhaustion, areas of
the dry print will convert from metallic silver to silver sulfi de, leaving random brown stains.
When this occurs, the print is ruined. This conversion may take place in a matter of weeks
or years.
However, by using a single-solution, sulfur-reacting toner such as Kodak T-1a Hypo-Alum
Sepia Toner or Kodak T-8 Polysulfi de Toner (Formulas: Toners: Brown Toners) it is possible to
convert the entire print at once. When this is done, the print cannot degenerate any further
and instead of a ruined print the result is an archival print.
With most sulfi de/hypo-alum toners the color will be sepia to deep brown depending
on the toner, paper, and developer used. However, polysulfi de toner at dilutions of 1:100, has
been found to protect most papers with little or no color shift.
Sulfi de/hypo-alum toners are reusable and often improve with age. They usually contain
a milky-white deposit, the result of sulfurization, which should not be fi ltered but stirred well
before use.
The following are suggestions for sulfi de/hypo-alum toning.
● While the toned print is still in water, wipe it with cotton to remove any surface scum—wear
gloves.
● Use temperatures of around 110F/43C to reduce toning times. At this temperature, prints will
still take from 15 to 45 minutes to tone. However, resin-coated (RC) papers should not be toned
at this temperature as they may delaminate.
● While chrome alum can be used in hypo-alum toners, it is more hazardous to the environment
and so potassium alum is preferred.
Selenium Toning
Selenium toner converts silver bromide in the emulsion to selenide. Selenide is impervious to
most environmental pollutants. Not only that, but selenide has a deeper maximum black than
metallic silver, enhancing the richness of the shadows.
Selenium begins by converting the densest areas of the print, then the mid-tones, and
fi nally the areas of least density, the highlights. When used at dilutions of 1:19 or greater
and a time not to exceed fi ve minutes, selenium toner will not affect image tone with many
papers. 3 Unfortunately, recent tests indicate that selenium is a less than perfect archival toner,
3 The dilution is paper dependent. Some papers can stand a much lower dilution, some require more.
Make a toner strip test as explained earlier in this chapter.