I Know Lith-Fu

[shadowfox]

There are some things in printing that I completely don't get like Sabattier effect. But there are some things that I like the look of it instantly before I fully comprehend what it is or how to achieve it.

Last Saturday is one of those breakthrough moment for me, finally I was able to produce a Lith print that I'm quite happy with:

Scanned from 8x10 print using Microtek Scanmaker i800. Just to be clear, the sepia-ish tone comes with the technique, I didn't tone the print later on, not to mention in lightroom. In fact, the color is one of the allure of Lith printing.

I'll do a write up on this in my journal, for now I just want to say: I Know Lith...

NOTE: For those who are not familiar with this printing technique, just google Lith Prints, Tim Rudman, Wolfgang Moersch. You should get an evening long of reading and lots of cool pics ahead of you 🙂

What do you say, like it or not like it?

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I too played with Lith printing, got pretty good at it and it was alot of fun. I used a few different products but settled on Moersch with outstanding results, repeatable results. Moersch easy lith was the product that worked best for me, BTW here is the man, the myth, the legends flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26921666@N05/ .

Here is one of my favs:

Todd

 

[shadowfox]

Todd, I followed your thread on lith some time ago, it gave me PES (Print Experimentation Syndrome) 🙂

Have you done some more lately? which paper did you use?

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I used Foma 532-II, another member "Keeds" sent me some prints on this paper and I really liked them. I haven't printed anything lately, I need to get off my butt and get back in the darkroom 😉

Todd

 

[palec]

Here is one of my favs:

I have this print at home and I like it!

 

[shadowfox]

I used Foma 532-II, another member "Keeds" sent me some prints on this paper and I really liked them. I haven't printed anything lately, I need to get off my butt and get back in the darkroom 😉

Todd

I use Fomatone MG (the RC version) and I'm anxious to get the developer "old" enough to produce more colors, so far even though the colors are apparent, they are not "punchy" enough for me.

But I'm amazed at how different it looks from ordinary prints. And I'm liking the way the controllable parameters has immediate visible effect.

When I finished the Easylith bottles, I think I'm going to order the 5 bottle (advanced edition 🙂 ) from Mr. Moersch.

 

[shadowfox]

I used to love lith when I had my darkroom set up. I went with the film method; enlarge a negative onto a 5x7 or larger film sheet (which effectively made for a black OR white positive). Then contact print that onto another sheet (to make the negative). Then overlay the two, slightly out of register (imagine a "drop shadow'). Expose that onto your paper with a flash from the enlarger (sans negative). You basically get a black/white "ink drawing" sort of effect. Really fun.

That does sound like fun. Would you consider scanning your prints for us to see? I'm curious now 😀

 

[tomalophicon]

I use Fomatone MG (the RC version) and I'm anxious to get the developer "old" enough to produce more colors, so far even though the colors are apparent, they are not "punchy" enough for me.

But I'm amazed at how different it looks from ordinary prints. And I'm liking the way the controllable parameters has immediate visible effect.

When I finished the Easylith bottles, I think I'm going to order the 5 bottle (advanced edition 🙂 ) from Mr. Moersch.

You may have done this already, but I throw 4 or 5 old bits of paper in the developer an hour or 2 before the session and it ages it nicely. Adding a little bit of old brown to that really gets it going quite quickly.