I tried “lith” developer for the first time today, and was not able to discover why two thin vertical lines, one on each edge of the print, were appearing and would not fully develop until the optimum tones were long gone. I have printed the negative before, and there are no vertical density problems on the film, so I am trying to figure out why those lines take so long to fill out in the developer. Has anyone had this occur to them, and if so, how did you correct it?

-- James Webb (jwebb66@yahoo.com), March 04, 2002

Answers

No James, have not encountered this. Why do you think it has anything to do with lith development? It sounds to me that like it is something else, I mean why would the developer make thin vertical lines?

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), March 04, 2002.

I guess one way to check would be to print another negative and see what happens there.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), March 04, 2002.

It seems to me that you have a problem with your easel, or neg. carrier and you have not yet noticed it (on normal prints). The Lith dev. process has just revealed the problem.

-- George Papantoniou (papanton@hol.gr), March 05, 2002.

Thanks for the responses. I am going to try another negative today and see if the same lines appear. After reading George’s comments, I realized that because I am printing at about 3 stops more exposure than normal, there may be some light reflections bouncing up and then returning to the paper, causing strange results. I also am using filtration below the lens, which may be causing a problem. I will hopefully be able to correct the problem today.

-- James Webb (jwebb66@yahoo.com), March 05, 2002.

James, it is my understanding that one does not use filtration with lith printing - it doesn't do anything. The contrast is controlled through exposure.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), March 05, 2002.

I tried another negative today and when developing the first print I noticed that development was uneven again; the center area was darker than the edges. Instead of letting the edges darken, as I did yesterday, I decided to pull it out when the center tones looked good. After fixing I placed it in a water tray, scratched my head, and did not know how to proceed. It seemed to be a case of uneven development, rather than an enlarger/film problem. I was over at the photo store in the morning, and I stood at the book rack for about 20 minutes reading Dr. Redman’s Lith book, and his suggestions for curing spotty development was better chemical mixing and constant agitation. I was sure I had some good developer, and I agitated constantly. I placed the second print in the developer, not knowing how to solve the problem. After a couple of minutes of development I glanced at the print in the water tray and noticed that the center of the paper was out of the water, with the ends bowed down. I was struck by the fact that the darkened areas in the center were out of the water, and the lighter areas of the print were submerged. I immediately went back to the developer tray and noticed that the paper was indeed bowed down, with the center coming up. Because I had agitated constantly, the center was still submerged, but I guessed that more developer settled on it than the edges because of the bending. I began to use the tongs to keep the print flat, and when the image began to appear, it was even. I made a few more prints, sitting at the developer tray, constantly pressing the paper down with the tongs, and every one came out even.

Next time I hope to buy some lith paper that stays flat naturally, because 20 minutes of tong agitation can get tedious.

Thanks for the comment about filtration. I will not bother with filters when using lith developer.

Thanks again for the helpful answers.......

-- James Webb (jwebb66@yahoo.com), March 05, 2002.

Hi James, glad you were able to figure it out. I use Forte Polywarmtone and have not noticed the problem you mentioned.

Best wishes,

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), March 06, 2002.