Matthew Colodny , Nov 20, 2009; 04:03 p.m.
I recently started using Ilford Selenium toner, and I love the results. But I sometimes feel that there are really only certain parts of the image that I want toned, and others that I want to remain the same in order to preserve some of the contrast in the print that I love. So I found some small old paintbrushes of mine from my modelling days and started to paint some toner onto the images as they were. I found that I could tone only the areas that I wanted to this way with with great success. I would post examples but I don't have a decent scanner so it wouldn't do them jsutice.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried something similar, and if they have if there were any tips they could give me either about the process, or about selenium toner in general. For example, does the dilution make a huge difference, since I have primarily been using 1-4 dilution and it seems a tad bit powerful for what I want. Would diluting it further still yield workable results?
Thank you in advance.
Bruce Cahn , Nov 20, 2009; 09:38 p.m.
Yes I have toned with brushes The real advantage is that you can tone different parts of the print with different toners. They do not work over each other, but do work side by side.
Tim Gray , Nov 21, 2009; 01:10 a.m.
Tim Rudman talks about this (or something similar) in his excellent book on toning. There is some material that he mentions that you can paint on your photo to mask off areas that you don't want toned. You then remove it after you spot tone your photo.
Bethe Fisher , Nov 21, 2009; 09:00 a.m.
One of my previous photo teachers used a mask designed for watercolors to block areas of prints when toning. It's basically a latex-like semi liquid that you can paint on and then rub off after. I've used it with sepia and it works well. There are different ones, I'm sure, but I used one from Winsor and Newton that I got at Michael's Arts and Crafts. Using this stuff will let you dunk the print as usual and let you control the dilution that way (possibly easier than with brushes). My old teacher would frequently use a couple of toners to get the look he wanted. I don't know if he applied the mask to a toned area to then apply a second toner or if he toned right over the first toner. It was a cool effect though.
Arthur Plumpton 
, Nov 21, 2009; 07:22 p.m.
I have yet to have experience with it, but Jack Coote described a proces for selective toning in his mongraph "Monochrome Darkroom practice".
His masking involved painting with "a removable layer of Maskoid. There are a number of rubber solutions made for the purpose; they are usually colored so that their location can be easily seen during the application. When toning has been completed and the print is dry, the layer of rubber is easily stripped off from the surface."
Ric Johnson , Nov 23, 2009; 11:45 a.m.
An good friend of mine uses Q-tip's for toning selenium in just cetain areas, without toning anything else. Try toning at 1:20 instead of 1:4, but, the stronger the dilution the stronger the tone itself, and the time will be either longer or shorter. I always tone my "finished" prints (complete) at 1:30 and it takes 20 minutes.
sebastian Sussmann , Nov 27, 2009; 06:58 a.m.
Fotospeed sells a fotomask specifically for this purpose, I haven't used it myself but it seems pretty straightforward, good thing is that they also sell finger condoms which may or may not be useful but are least amusingly named.
In terms of dilution it depends what paper you are using, RC papers often need a stronger solution (even up to 1:3) to react to the toner and some require even a hoter solution up to 24C. Make sure you use it in a well ventilated place or outside because there's nothing more painful than a selenium migraine!
Using 1:20/30 will archivally protect your prints if you tone from between 12 and 20 minutes but shouldn't give you a perceptible difference in tone
Toning fibre prints I usually use a solution between 1:12 and 1:15 depending on the paper and the print toning from between 5 and 15 minutes is usually enough, make sure you have plenty of test strips to see what works best for you.
