Ok, up front I know this is a rookie question but, I would like to know what is the proper order to bleach and tone. Do you bleach first and then tone or can you bleach after toning?

Thanks everyone,

Kevin

-- kevin kemner (kkemner@tateandsnyder.com), December 13, 1999

Answers

You must bleach first.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), December 13, 1999.

The definitive answer is: You read the instructions coming with the toner, and you observe them. This is a good idea with all kinds of potentially hazardous chemicals.

There are toners that don't require any bleaching at all, for example selenium and gold. These are what Rudman calls dunk-watch-snatch processes in one of his books. Other toners (sepia is the most common example) require the silver image to be bleached and re-developed in the toner.

There are also methods where the image is not bleached out completely, to achieve split-toning effects. To learn more about toning than just what is laid down in the instructions, see (e.g.) Tim Rudman "The Photographer's Master Printing Course".

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), December 14, 1999.

Thanks for your reply. Actually I was referring to selective bleaching as part of the overall printing process not bleaching as part of the toning process. For instance, if there is a highlight I want to lighten or make prominent would I do this before bleaching? Or, can I do it after?

-- kevin (kkemner@tateandsnyder.com), December 14, 1999.

I think I know what you're saying, you want to lighten certain areas of the print and tone the whole print, but you want to know what to do first. If that's right, then you should do your bleaching/re-fixing first, then sepia tone; if you try to bleach after toning, you get wierd, but sometimes wonderful results. I wouldn't reccommend the latter for spot-bleaching, though, since there is usually a very definitive change in colour in the bleached area. shawn

-- shawn gibson (s_g@stu.wdw.utoronto.ca), December 15, 1999.

Remember to use real pottassium ferricyanide for bleaching; using sepia bleach will bring the values back up as soon as you put in into the toner bath.

-- shawn gibson (s_g@stu.wdw.utoronto.ca), December 15, 1999.

The subject line got me on the wrong track.

Besides changing the image tone, toning often aims at making the image more chemically stable. Therefore, it may well be that bleaches won't work any more after toning. (I haven't tried it yet, but I am fairly sure that a selenium-toned print can hardly be bleached by typical bleaches such as ferri.) As far as I can see it, you have to adjust the tones first, then you tone (which may include a further bleaching process of the kind I was aiming at in my answer). Is that what you meant? In some cases, you might even want to rely on pre-development bleaching. (See Rudman's book.)

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), December 15, 1999.