Toning with Espresso

Continuing experimentation with toning or in this case staining I decided to see what soaking an image in espresso would do. While I let one of my test prints pre-soak in about 75* water for 5 minutes, I ran a double shot portafilter full of freshly ground espresso through 4 cycles which gave me about 8 ounces of espresso. I let the espresso chill a minute in the freezer but it was still warm when I dumped it into the tray and inserted the print. Within 30 seconds a good deal of staining had occurred but I let it go on for 15minutes total immersion time. I did check it a couple of times to see if it was getting darker or unusable. I gave it a quick rinse under the tap to wash off most of the surface coffee and then a good soaking wash for 15mintues. Below are the results. Its a nice light coffee stain tone with no apparent effect on the non-white silver tones other than making them look slightly colder in the darker areas. Overall I like the effect but probably would not use it as a primary toning/staining device. It is not likely archival.

Technical: LOCATION Sope Creek Ruins Roswell GA. FILM 4×5 Delta 100 – developer HC-110.
PRINT Berger CB WarmTone paper, developed in Photographers Formulary 106 1:15, Stained in espresso. This test print was not fully developed under enlarger.