Photographic print toning

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A sepia-toned photograph taken in England in 1895

In photography, toning is a photographic print toning process carried out on silver-based (black-and-white) photographic prints to change their colour. Some toning processes can improve the chemical stability of the print and allow it to last longer. Other toning processes can make the print less stable.

Many early prints that exist today were toned with sepia toner.

Most toners work by replacing the metallic silver in the emulsion with a silver compound, such as silver sulfide (Ag₂S) in the case of sepia toning. The compound may be more stable than metallic silver and may also have a different colour or tone. Different toning processes give different colours to the final print. In some cases, the printer may choose to tone some parts of a print more than others.

Toner also can increase the tonality of a print. This increases the range of visible shades without reducing contrast. Selenium toning is especially strong in this regard.

Many toners are highly toxic. It is extremely important that the chemicals are used in a well ventilated area. Do not sniff a chemical to identify it unless you are sure that the chemical is not toner. Wear proper gloves and face protection. Some toners are carcinogens.

1 Selenium toning
2 Sepia toning
- 2.1 Sepia tones in pop culture
3 Metal replacement toning
4 Dye toning
5 Digital toning
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Selenium toning

Selenium toning is the most popular of the archival toning processes, converting metallic silver to silver selenide. In a diluted toning solution, selenium toning gives a red-brown tone, while a strong solution gives a purple-brown tone.

Selenium toning may not produce prints quite as stable as sepia or gold toning. However, its appearance is much more subdued than sepia and it is cheaper than gold. Selenium toning also increases the tonal range available in the paper.

Different printers use somewhat different methods of selenium toning, but most often a fixed (and perhaps rinsed) print is placed in selenium toner solution and then rinsed, treated with hypo clearing agent, washed, and hardened.

[edit] Sepia toning

A sepia-toned picture, taken in Chicago, Illinois, in 1949

See also: Sepia tone

Beginning in the 1880s, sepia toning was produced by adding a pigment made from the Sepia cuttlefish, found in the English channel^[1] to the positive print of a photograph. The chemical process involved converts any remaining metallic silver to a sulphide which is much more resistant to breakdown over time. This is why many old photographs are sepia toned—those are the ones that have survived until today.

Although sepia toning began as a printing method, today it is seen as a genre, much like black and white photography.

[edit] Sepia tones in pop culture

Sepia-toned images are heavily associated with the 1800s and "that old-time feel." Many photographs of the American Old West were recorded in sepia tones, particularly Edward Weston's photos of Carmel.

The Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz were in sepia tone, until Technicolor takes over in the land of Oz.

Wings of Desire movie by Wim Wenders is filmed in sepia mostly, to depict that the movie protagonists, invisible angels, lack the usual human senses; when the angels are not present, the movie is shown in full color.

[edit] Metal replacement toning

Metal replacement toners replace the metallic silver, through a series of chemical reactions, with a ferrocyanide salt of a transition metal. Some metals, such as platinum or gold can protect the image. Others, such as iron (blue toner) or copper (red toner) may reduce the lifetime of the image.

Metal replacement toning with Gold alone results in a blue-black tone. It is often combined with a sepia toner to produce a more attractive orange-red tone.

[edit] Dye toning

Dye toners replace the metallic silver with a dye. The image will have a reduced lifetime compared with an ordinary silver print.

[edit] Digital toning

Toning can be simulated digitally, either in-camera or as a later post-process.

The in-camera effect, as well as beginner tutorials given for software like Photoshop or The GIMP, use a simple tint which is usually a poor imitation. More sophisticated software tends to implement sepia tones using the duotone feature. See Sepia tone.