When did selenium toning become popular?

[faberryman]

Fred Picker certainly popularized selenium toning from the 1970s onward.

[HT Finley]

I started in the early 70's because of the AA books. I used a very weak solution, not to tone per se, but just to knock off the ugly pea-green tint. Back then I was using Ilfobrom paper, which they discontinued for no good reason.

[Mark Sampson]

The last two posts suggest that selenium toning became a 'thing' when the idea of 'archival processing for permanence' was spreading through the photo world. I suppose that would have been from the late '60s onward(?). By the time I was learning the craft, in the late '70s, it was accepted wisdom. Of course there was a decline in b/w paper quality in the late '70s, early '80s, blamed mostly on the Hunt brothers' attempts to corner the market in silver. (Which did cause silver prices to rise.) But the use of selenium toner did give a deeper black, even on those not-so-good papers. Luckily for us, the manufacturers eventually decided that there was a market for good-quality paper!

[Keith Pitman]

I have a copy of Lootens with a last copyright date of 1967 that does not mention selenium toning. It does mention Kodak Gold Protective Solution GP-1

[Jim Jones]

The second printing of Adams' The Print (Published by the New York Graphic Society in 1950) describes his philosophy on toning on pages 24 and 25, and his use of KRST Toner on pages 78-80.

[Tin Can]

The last two posts suggest that selenium toning became a 'thing' when the idea of 'archival processing for permanence' was spreading through the photo world. I suppose that would have been from the late '60s onward(?). By the time I was learning the craft, in the late '70s, it was accepted wisdom. Of course there was a decline in b/w paper quality in the late '70s, early '80s, blamed mostly on the Hunt brothers' attempts to corner the market in silver. (Which did cause silver prices to rise.) But the use of selenium toner did give a deeper black, even on those not-so-good papers. Luckily for us, the manufacturers eventually decided that there was a market for good-quality paper!

Glad you put it that way. My 20 year old prints were not toned as I rejected the process for health. Must have worked, I'm still here. The prints are unchanged,

But so many experts now insist it's a necessity I am ready to give it a go. I'm too old to worry about health...

Oddly, Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner is easily available and highly recommended. But they sell no paper! It's also cheaper than the faux.

[Oren Grad]

The second printing of Adams' The Print (Published by the New York Graphic Society in 1950) describes his philosophy on toning on pages 24 and 25, and his use of KRST Toner on pages 78-80.

Very interesting. Thanks for digging that up.

[Drew Wiley]

Permanence of b&w images was a major concern in the 19th C due to horrible coal air pollution - a problem revived in countries today experiencing their own industrial revolutions. Hard to say just how much selenium improves the permanence of our modern silver-gelatin prints, but these don't achieve DMax without some kind of supplemental toners. I routinely keep on hand a tweak of GP-1, selenium, and sulphide brown, but employ them selectively and often in combination to adjust final image color and density. From the look of BW's later preferred medium, Oriental G, I think that his use of sel toner was routine - you just don't get that image color or final depth w/o it, even in amidol.

[Merg Ross]

As Mark mentioned, in the First Edition of Making A Photograph (1935), Ansel notes his preference for, "a cold blue-black tone yielding the richest values when treated with Eastman Selenium Toner or Nelson Gold Toner". It was what he taught his students at the CSFA in San Francisco, and most of the former students that I knew, followed their leader and made prints in varying shades of blue. I think that it is fair to assume that in this country, Ansel was responsible for the the popularity of Kodak Selenium Toner. It was often suggested as a necessary step in the "archival" process.

[Merg Ross]

Another anecdotal observation: my impression is that Edward Weston didn't tone, and even Brett, a generation further on, mostly preferred not to. I'd speculate, with emphasis on speculate, that the practice wasn't so well established in Edward's time, while Brett was a man of strong opinions who would have been happy to thumb his nose at the conventional wisdom whatever it said. But can we come up with more concrete evidence on the evolution of practice?

I believe that if Edward had toned, Brett would have also. It was actually Ansel who suggested to Brett that he try Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner. He used it from the late 1960's until 1980, at which time he discontinued its use.

To Drew's point, Brett's later prints on Oriental papers were developed in either Ethol LPD or Oriental Paper Developer, after he abandoned Amidol due to health issues.