World of Lith Printing by Tim Rudman – book review

Anthony Mournian from the Photographers’ Formulary takes a look at Tim Rudman’s book: World of Lith Printing.

Writer / Anthony Mournian

World of Lith printing is an anomaly in this time of sea change in the world of photography.

During a time when millions of photographers are moving from film-based imagery to digital image capture and darkroom by Photoshop, Tim has set out to showcase what many view as the bizarre and unpredictable Alternative Process of Lith Printing.

He began with a worldwide call for entries during early 2005. While Tim has devoted a large part of his adult life to the taming of this tiger and has more than enough stunning images of his own to fill this book and several more, he wanted to give others a chance to showcase their work in what will surely become a classic work of the history, instruction, and illustration of Lith Printing.

This is not merely a “coffee table” book of images. With the Master Photographer’s Lith Printing Course as his prior volume, the World of Lith Printing gives a novice all the information necessary to produce quality work.

Important to success in any field are the correct tools and materials.

Chapters of WoLP give lists of papers and developers currently available in a fast-changing industry.

The qualities of each lith paper and/or developer are explained, as well as why some papers and developers simply will not work for this process.

This could be called taking the guesswork out of the process, but it is an example of Tim’s careful, methodical unraveling of what had been a largely haphazard and unpredictable Alternative Process.

Beyond the process of making a basic lith print, Tim explores in clearly written, tightly edited chapters, the advanced techniques of “two-bath techniques,” toning and bleaching, and the latest shade of the chameleon, “Digital Lith Printing.”

In a chapter titled. “Lith Forum,” you’ll find a collection of tips and techniques gathered from contributors to WoLP. To help the reader follow up, the name of each tipster is included, as well as a means of contact for more information or discussion.

One of the most helpful chapters for beginners and professionals alike will be the chapter titled, “Key Points.” So heavily edited that it is almost in outline form, Key Points gives you the entire Lith Printing process on a single page. Of course, it took Tim many years to work out all these details, and it probably took just as many to finely hone his lecture into the minimalist style explanation of a process that has mystified or defeated many of us. Watch the video as Tim explains ” The Two Golden Rules of Lith Printing“. World of Lith Printing is illustrated with some of Tim’s own work, but the focus is really on professionals and photographers worldwide. Many, invited by Tim to share their work in WoLP, are people of international repute, but in a chapter titled, “Open Submissions,” you will find works of stunning quality by photographers who still must go to a “day job” to put food on the table. These photographers do their magic in closet dark rooms, a darkened kitchen or bathroom, or in a corner of a garage, and they all produce first-rate images and lith prints.