Help with altering/retouching b&w silver prints

[RichC]

I’m starting a project involving old b&w snapshots, mostly from the 1930s to 1950s. What I want to do is alter them chemically, to darken and bleach areas and otherwise alter them. It would be excellent if there’s ways to create various effects chemically too, such as blotching and other marks.

I learnt photography with digital cameras, though I do now use film occasionally, so my darkroom knowledge is zero - though faffing with silver prints isn’t strictly darkroom stuff!

Anyway, I’m having trouble finding out anything. I’ve tried Googling to no real avail - I get lost in a sea of digital photography and skin and teeth bleaching links! I’ve tried asking my local camera shops but the folk who knew about film and analogue prints retired long ago!

So, any advice, pointers web links, folks? Cheers in advance!

 

[Phil_F_NM]

First get a copy of The Darkroom Cookbook by Stephen Anchell. Learn the chemistry of what is going on and what has been deposited on the paper. If there is anything you can physically do to the photos themselves, it is probably going to use a toxic substance or two, like potassium dichromate.
In a nutshell, you can't sensitize the silver again and ever make it darker because the process of making a darkroom silver print (or any other salt) works by building up a layer of reduced metal and in the light places on the print that is washed away, it is kept in the dark places. You can never add more silver unless you completely recoat the paper.
One thing you're going to find is that your base, the paper, can't be effectively lightened up in a non-destructive way. The chemicals which would bleach the paper will remove silver deposits that make up the denser areas of the photograph.
If this is an art project using old photos you don't care about, have fun but be careful of course. Wear proper PPE and have adequate positive ventilation. If you are using historical photos of your family or some images you find valuable, scan them, alter them on a computer then print them, either using a digital negative and traditional darkroom or just an archival inkjet process.

Phil Forrest

 

[YouAreHere]

Here's a link -
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_print_toning

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Of course, I forgot toning.

Phil Forrest

 

[Steve M.]

Why don't you scan the prints, alter then in photoshop, and print the photos on your choice of paper with your choice of borders? That way you wouldn't be ruining what sounds like perfectly good B&W prints, and really, once a photo is printed, your options are quite limited to do anything constructive to the print.

What you're talking about doesn't really require much in terms of darkroom skills, as you won't be working in the dark, you'll be working in the light, and you won't be exposing and printing photographic paper from a negative with an enlarger.