Went back and forth between sepia toner and selenium toner for my darkroom prints...

I've been developing black and white prints at home for about 2 years now and I keep going back and forth on which toner to use for longevity. Sepia gives that warm vintage look but I've read it can weaken the emulsion over time if you don't fix it properly. Selenium is supposed to be better for archival keeping but it turns everything a cold purple-black that I'm not always into. I tried a batch of 8x10s last month with sepia and three of them started getting weird streaks after a week... now I'm thinking I should have stuck with selenium. Has anyone else had trouble with sepia fading or am I just messing up the washing step?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.willow11d ago

My darkroom setup is in my basement and the humidity there is always the bigger problem than I think. I've lost a few prints to weird splotching before I got a dehumidifier. It's funny how much of this hobby is just fighting against air and water doing what they want. Makes you wonder if all our careful steps are just delaying the inevitable breakdown.

loganhart10d ago

That bit about "fighting against air and water" really stuck with me... I had a buddy who built a darkroom in his garage and he was so careful with chemicals and timing, but he kept getting these weird color shifts on his prints. Turns out his dehumidifier was actually making things worse because it was too small for the space and cycling on and off, so the humidity was just all over the place instead of steady. He finally gave up and moved his whole setup into a spare bedroom after ruining a whole batch of fiber paper... just goes to show you can do everything right and still lose to the environment.