Adam spake thus:

Hi everybody! Would someone be able to help me with a darkroom
question? I've been "shooting pictures" for several decades but this
semester marks my first actual darkroom experience. I have one nice
shot (35mm Tri-X) of an old (restored) vending machine in an old
(restored) train station, and nothing in the image gives any clue that
it was taken recently. What I'd like to do is make an enlargement that
somehow looks as if it was shot (and even printed?) in the 1930s or
1940s... at least something that would fool a casual viewer at first.
Does anyone here have any suggestions on how to (inexpensively) simulate
that '30s/'40s "look"? As I said, I'm a beginner in the darkroom, and
my paper on hand is Ilford Multigrade IV RC De Luxe Pearl.

Adam, let me make a suggestion here. Rather than try any of the fancy,
esoteric solutions that people here have proposed (toning, etc.), why
don't you just do the following, which you can do with what you already
have: make a series of prints from your shot, using your RC paper, at
various contrasts and of varying density. (You do have access to a set
of contrast filters, don't you? If not, they're inexpensive.) For each
contrast grade, make a set of prints ranging from light to dark.

Be sure to mark each print with the contrast grade and exposure data.
When they're dry, you can spread them out and see if any of them have
that "30s-40s" look you're after.

It won't cost you very much, and you'll probably learn more about
darkroom technique than you bargained for.


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