The customers visiting my booth at the numerous Art Shows where I sell my images continually are intrigued by the hand-tinted black and white prints I am selling. Hand-tinting is not something new, although it seems to be in a revival stage in Fine Art Photography. Many times I hear comments such as, "That (hand-tinting) must take a lot of time". I just smile and explain how it is done. It really is quite easy to do.

The technique I use, is the tried and true method using Marshall Oils and Pencils. These can be purchased at Hoyers and through almost any photo product catalog. Other companies have oils and dyes also. I have not tried these, but I assume they work equally as well. Computers can be used to add color also, but as yet I have not tried this technique.

The main thing you need to remember in hand-tinting a photo is: YOU CAN'T MAKE AN IRREVERSIBLE MISTAKE. All Marshall kits come with a bottle of P.M. Solution. Simply wiping your hand-tinted print with P.M. Solution with a cotton ball will remove all colored oils. You can start over, change colors, lighten the colors, or whatever to make the print look right.

I find that, and this is just my personal feelings, using color selectively while leaving much of the print B & W seems to work best.

Let's get started and tint a print.

1. Is your print on fiber or resin paper? If it's fiber, your ready to tint. If your paper is resin coated, you need to spray the print with Retouch (available at Hoyers) if you are using colored pencils. The Retouch puts teeth on your paper to grab hold of the pigment in the pencils. Although Marshall recommends Retouch before using their oils on resin coated paper also, I find that I like the looks of the oils better when not pre-treating the paper. I have found the oils go on the paper more smoothly without the Retouch.

2. Choose what area you want to tint. Choose the oil color. You can use a Q-tip, a cotton ball, or your finger. All work fine. If you are using pencils, simply color the area in. I discovered with pencils that sometimes your results look like a coloring book (lines of color not a solid area of color). This is not noticeable on a rough surfaced subjects (e.g. wood), but on a smooth subject surface (e.g. A car bumper) the lines do not look right. This is fixed simply by dipping a clean Q-tip in P.M. Solution. Gently dampen the pencil marks. Use the other end of the Q-tip and smooth out the lines. Presto the color now is evenly spread. It looks just like the oil tint.

As you tint, the shadow areas in the print will show through, revealing and sometimes enhancing all the fine details of your print. The oils and pencil colors are transparent.

3. Remember, be selective on where to tint. Don't overdo it.

4. Once you are finished, let the tinted print air dry.

5. Finish the print by spraying it with a Matte or Gloss spray (again available at Hoyers).

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

You can add color to color prints. Why? You cropped out most of that overcast or washed out sky, but there is still an annoying section of white sky there above that one building. A finger and a touch of blue tint (Presto, a blue sky). If you are artistic leave some white as clouds. Does that fall foliage you captured needs some zing? Get out your orange, yellow, and red oils. I have added greens to greens also to add some zip. Just don't overdo it when adding any color.

Although they take longer to dry, regular oil paints work just as well as Marshall oils, as long as they say semi-transparent.