I am looking for the formula for the developer that Ralph Stiener used for his cloud phtographs. I have seen his developer discussed somewhere, but i don't remember if it was on these forums or maybe an old issue of Camera and Darkroom or Darkroom Techniques. I have searched through the archives on this forum and have not found anything. It seems I remeber it being a D-23 type but i don't remember his specific formulation. As always, thanks for any help in advance.

-- James Chinn (Jchinn2@Dellepro.com), December 12, 2001

Answers

I believe Steiner also used lots of overall bleaching for "brilliancing."

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), December 12, 2001.

Yes, John, Steiner did use a bleach process for making his highlights brilliant while still maintaining deep, rich shadows. He used a highly dilute solution of iodine and water for the bleach followed, of course, by fixing. I believe the iodine solution was tincture of iodine from you local pharmacy diluted by adding only a few CCs of iodine to a liter of water. Maybe only 2 or 3 CCs per liter. It will take a little experimentation to determine the exact dilution that works with whichever paper you elect to use.

-- Ken Burns (kenburns@twave.net), December 12, 2001.

There is mention of Steiner's method in Tim Rudman's Master Printing Course. Its a bath based on Farmer's Reducer. Check it out, p114. From the way it's written, it appears that Steiner must have kept the formula something of a secret. Rudman's book is excellent, by the way, at least for someone looking to improve his/her darkroom skills from the basics (like me).

-- George Paltoglou (stellar@optusnet.com.au), December 12, 2001.

I found the article "Ralph Steiner on Brilliancing" in the Sep/Oct 1992 issue of _D&CCT_. There's a discussion on bleaching but nothing about a special developer.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), December 12, 2001.