Ethol LPD and printing landscapes

[Noah B]

I've recently been using ethol lpd 1:4 and oriental cooltone paper to print my negatives. Prior to that I used ilford warmtone paper in d-72. I've been doing landscapes and using a polarizer most of the time and found when I switched to this developer/paper combo my negatives didn't print the same as before. I'm finding that I have to add a lot of magenta to get my desired contrast, but on the warmtone and d72 I was using maybe 5 magenta at the most (I'm using upwards to 50M now). I also notice that when I go from 0 to say 20M the color of the print changes, it's more cooler toned at 0 and at 20M it looks more magenta (I know it sounds weird but thats what happens). When I get one print right it looks great and neutral to light warm toned, not sure where to go from here since I've got a few contact prints that are magenta colored and really low in contrast. Any advice?

[Doremus Scudder]

You've changed two things; paper and developer. Maybe it's the paper, maybe the developer that is giving you less contrast. LPD is generally known for good contrast, so I might suspect the paper. Try some of the Warmtone in the LPD and see.

As for your print tone change; it's not too unusual with VC papers for the different emulsions to have a slightly different image tone (and toning characteristics). Likely the higher contrast elements of the emulsion have a bit warmer tone than the less contrasty.

That said, prints that have a magenta-tinged base and are low in contrast could be improperly fixed; you may be getting veiling and color change in the unfixed halides. Try refixing one of your low-contrast magenta prints in fresh fix and see what happens.

Best,

Doremus

[Renato Tonelli]

Another point worth mentioning is that LPD 1+4 will give you a warmer tone than 1+1 or 1+2. When I am printing with Oriental (Cold Tone) I use it 1+1 to get the neutral-to-cold tone the paper is well-suited for. I don't know why you're getting the magenta cast - I am assuming that you are fixing to completion and is not related to poor fixing.
Try developing with a 1+1 or 1+2 dilutions and see what happens (it shouldn't matter as far as the magenta cast is concerned but it's worth the two sheets of paper to find out)

[Rick A]

I also recommend using LPD developer at 1+1 for cool tones. I found it helps my prints look a touch more contrasty than they actually are.

[Noah B]

Thanks for the input gents, I went back in the darkroom the other day and bumped up the contrast to around 50M and everything looks normal and dense. I'm assuming with the different dilutions of LPD it changes the contrast range of the paper? I wanted to see how warm I could get the Oriental paper and compare it to Ilford warm tone in D72. It looks about 40ish% lighter in tone, and I'm starting to like it a bit. My blacks are black which is a relief, I read where people add some type of chemical to make the blacks extra dark. I've also read about a 1:14 dilution for warm tones, but that seems a bit much, maybe worth a try?