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-   -   Toning with Green Tea (http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=3680)

Mike O'Pray 16th January 2011 10:37 PM

Toning with Green Tea
 
I was browsing through the site digitaltruth.com/articles.php and came across the article "Rollei IR400 Examples in F76+".

There are three shots there the last of which is toned in green tea. It's a shot of trees which I appreciate lends itself to green toning but I was amazed at how good the toning looked.

No details on the strength of the tea or make but I'd assume that any green tea would work but at black tea toning strength at least( another assumption on my part). I'd assume it is easier than chemical green toning and maybe cheaper if you can find a source of cheap green tea.

Worth a look. It certainly worked for a wooded area the way that toning with black tea( the other example) didn't for me. I have no idea what F76+ is nor whether using Rollei IR with appropriate IR filter contributed to the use of green tea but I suspect not. In fact with the green tea toning the IR effect seemed to be nullified and would have been redundant anyway with green toning in my opinion

The site is worth a look anyway. Lots of stuff on IR films

Mike

MPerson 16th January 2011 11:12 PM

Mike - have you seen this?

Mike O'Pray 17th January 2011 12:11 AM

Yes I do recall this but on re-examination I could see nothing that gave a genuine green tone as the shot in digitaltruth did. Before seeing the digitaltruth example my assumption would have been that green tea would tone similarly to black tea but if the pic in digitaltruth is to be believed and I see no reason not to believe it, then green tea does genuinely produce an authentic green tone which in my opinion matches or betters anything I have seen in Tim Rudman's or Tony Worobiec's books on toning.

Assuming of course that the scan in digitaltruth is a genuine reflection of the toned print.

It might be that there are many green teas and few or maybe only one produces the authentic green tone so it might be a long search for the tea that reproduces nature's "green".

Mike

MPerson 17th January 2011 06:30 AM

I have to say that is the only example I have seen that is green. All the others range from dark blue to black.

F76+ is one of the developers in the Clayton range.

Maybe Andrea will have the answer.

Steve Smith 17th January 2011 08:01 AM

I started a thread simialr to this a couple of months ago. I have tried green tea but not with much success. Ordinary tea worked well but coffee was even better (just as well really as I can't stand drinking the stuff!).


Steve.

Mike O'Pray 17th January 2011 02:53 PM

Thanks Steve. When you say not much success with green tea, what actually happened? Was there any hint of greeness at all?

Thanks

Mike

Steve Smith 17th January 2011 03:06 PM

Not a lot of toning with green tea. My green tea looks more like regular tea but a bit lighter so I wasn't expecting a green tone. although I might try it again one day if I find some green tea which really is green.

I also tried food colouring. This worked but appeared blotchy. Could be down to insufficient fixing/washing though!


Steve.

wiesmier 17th January 2011 05:53 PM

I have toned a FB print in green - tea and it looks lovely.

JimW 17th January 2011 06:55 PM

Tim Rudman has something in his book on toning. Don't have it here, so can't quote him. I have toned RC prints in ordinary tea-quite effective, if you ignore the tong mark on the border of the print.... 4 t-bags to a litre of hot water. Have not tried the green stuff yet, but will find out from my mate who actuallly drinks the stuff what colour it actually is...

Mike O'Pray 17th January 2011 09:16 PM

Thanks all. I must admit that my impression of green tea is that it is not very green to look at and yet the print I refer to is clearly a very natural green.Steve's experience doesn't fill me with hope either.

For most subjects green toning is a minority taste. Nothing in Tim's book really grabbed me in terms of examples but for vegetation/woodland scenes the green tea used as in the example quoted seemed to give a very natural look.

It may be that somewhere out there is the "right stuff" but finding it is another matter. Wouldn't be so bad if I got the wrong stuff, time after time, but could use it for drinking. However as tea goes I am a strictly a black tea man. That's black as in the colour of old army boots and thick as in the teaspoon floating upright in the middle of the cup :D:

Any further info that anyone comes across is very welcome

Mike


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