lift printing

Lith printing is a simple but ‘different’ Black & White printing technique, using ‘ordinary’ B&W or colour negatives, a suitable black & white paper and Lith developer – from which the process gets its name. It involves heavily overexposing a suitable black and white paper – usually by two or three stops – and then only partially developing it in a highly diluted lith developer.

This process has often been shrouded in mystery and described as ‘unduplicatable’ with no two prints ever looking similar. I don’t agree with this and have attempted to unravel the mechanics of the process in order that, by better understanding what is happening, one may control and therefore predict results. As is often the case with such things, it turns out that the rules of the game are actually quite simple. Certainly it is a very controllable process and it is possible to reproduce results very closely.


This is a very creative printing process and the results are unlike conventional black and white printing in several respects. The prints produced using this technique can often be more ‘arty’ looking than conventional black & white prints.

Lith prints are colourful even before toning and may contain warm coloured mid and light tones of unusual delicacy and beauty, sitting alongside shadow tones with the opposite properties of high contrast and cold colour. Having said that, the process is extremely flexible and prints may be made with quite different properties. They may be extremely warm or very cold toned. They may be soft and subtle or gritty and graphic. The actual colours vary with the materials and techniques used. This is an extremely expressive medium and will take your photographic creativity onto a new plane.