This is more a comment than a question, but given my own experiences with this paper, and all that I've read and heard about it, I would like to share a few thoughts. First, like many who have tried this paper in the hopes of duplicating the tonal qualities depicted in Ilford's advertisement for this paper--namely, the beautiful portrait of legendary guitarist B.B. King by photographer Albert Watson--I too was somewhat disappointed. Initially, I toned my prints in a 1:9 solution of selenium for a period of from 10-20 minutes. While some olf my prints turned out just fine, I noticed a greenish tint in certain areas of other prints. I have plenty of experience in toning, and therefore do not believe my methods and procedures were at fault. I suspect some other cause would explain the problem. Furthermore, the tonal shift at its most extreme (15-20 minutes in selenium 1:9) was to a distinct (reddish) plum color. Although I like this tonal shift in some prints, in no way does it resemble the deep brown color as shown in the B.B. King photograph. Recently, I toned a few prints in Kodak's brown toner to see if this would achieve the results I was after. I used a 1:8 solution of the brown toner and toned the prints for 10-12 minutes. These prints come very close to the tonal color in the B.B. King photograph. Also, I do not detect any of the unacceptable green tint in these prints. Comments???

-- Thomas L. Schumacher (tlschuma@oro-tech.net), September 25, 1998

Answers

I was told by Ilford UK that the BB King image was toned in Agfa Viraden toner 1/50 10 mins.

-- Mark Campbell (mcam1ita@stokecoll.ac.uk), September 26, 1998.

According to Ilford tech John Placko in the Ilfopro newletter Vol 6, No. 1 (Winter '98) their sample prints were toned in selenium 1:3 for ten minutes. BTW, becoming an Ilfopro member is free. You get access to the members forum on their web site, and their spiffy little newsletter, too.

-- Michael D Fraser (mdfraser@earthlink.net), October 13, 1998.

For anyone interested in this paper, Ilford does publish an excellent sample book of actual prints, made with various developers, and many different toners, at differing dilutions. I've only seen it in one photo shop in Vancouver (Leo's), so I suspect most photo dealers don't know about it yet. If you can find it, it's well worth a look. The range of tones available from MG Warmtone is astounding. Selenium can produce anything from light purple to deep red depending on the time, dilution, and paper developer. I'm just starting out with MG Warmtone, so I'm afraid I can't say much as yet from experience.

-- David Dutchison (ddutt@vcn.bc.ca), December 15, 1998.

I had a 30 min. conversation with Albert Watson about a year ago. He told me that all his toners are custom constructed from loose dry chemistry like you might buy from The Photographer's Formulary. That may be one reason the effect is hard to duplicate...t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), November 05, 1999.

I get that rich chocolate tone....

Develop the paper in LPD 1:2 for the customary time of two to three minutes, then tone in selenium toner 1:4 for five minutes or more.

I never could get that sort of complete toning with a weaker toning solution.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), November 06, 1999.

To John Hicks: is "LPD" (Liquid Powder Developer?) a warm tone developer, with glycine? Do you fix and wash before toning?

Regards, Peter

-- Peter.Olsson@lulebo.se (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), November 08, 1999.