Processes

Traditional silver printing:

All prints are hand-made in the traditional darkroom by Tim Rudman, using silver gelatin papers processed to the highest current archival standards. Toned prints using archival toners based on selenium, gold and sulphur ('sepia')  for both aesthetic effects and improved archival permanence are available for purchase. Prints toned with non-archival toners, based on iron, copper, titanium and vanadium are not routinely offered for sale, but enquiries  for these prints are welcome.

 

Lith printing:

Not to be confused with lithography or with the use of high contrast graphic arts film, Lith prints are also made from conventional negative material exposed onto Black & White silver gelatin papers, but using specialised developer and technique. This process is a flexible, creative and interpretive one, but also time consuming and can be fickle. Results can vary greatly with technique and with the paper's emulsion, each having its own distinctive properties. Many papers suited to this process are no longer made and  prints made on these papers will now only be available in very small numbers until deep frozen stocks have been exhausted or have deteriorated. Lith prints on current materials have their own distinctive and different look.

 

Toning:

Neutral and cold tone Black & White images are toned for greater permanence and tonal enrichment (deeper blacks and enhanced luminosity) and generally with minimal colour shift. Warm tone and other coloured images are toned for interpretive reasons of mood, atmosphere, depth or abstraction. Lith prints, which are naturally 'coloured', are toned for the same reasons to produce either subtle or major colour shifts as well as for archival permanence.

 

Film stock:

Both conventional panchromatic and infra-red silver-based film is used in various formats. Infra-red film also records light wavelengths in the near  infra-red part of the spectrum that are invisible to the human eye. This produces imagery that appears surreal to us and these negatives are especially suitable for the delicate interpretations that are achievable with lith printing.