paper development process and contrast impact

[jnantz]

IVe only managed to shoot 50 foot of delta 400 this year, and ALOT of it was fried due to being shot outside, in high light, high contrasty scenes. Scenes of grapes on grape leaves hanging on the vine.. the prints.. i can get a slightly fuzzy image of the grape stem to print out with texture, and a partial outline of grape leaves, but anything that was in bright light is just PAPER...

you might consider using your favorite print developer until the image peeks through the veil and then transfer the print to a tray of spent developer or caffenol, and then after 1 or 2 minutes agitating,letting the mid tones come out go back into the print developer for a few seconds and repeat, or use expired photo paper, the fog will help cut the contrast in your contrasty negatives.

[Torquemada]

Im one of those funny guys who has no real room for equipment set up... so ive been using ilford paper printing tubes. delightful little things.. and the water savings is HUGE.

[jnantz]

Im one of those funny guys who has no real room for equipment set up... so ive been using ilford paper printing tubes. delightful little things.. and the water savings is HUGE.

using tubes may save water, but it sounds like a really frustrating way to learn how to print.

[Torquemada]

using tubes may save water, but it sounds like a really frustrating way to learn how to print.

its actually a better one for me.. i started printing in trays in the bathtub.. had the safe light on the sink, about 6 feet from the tub itself. Somehow it was still bright enough to screw up my prints.

it is nice to have my chemicals in small bottles, not huge ones. Having a 12 ounce bottle of developer spill is a pain, but its nothing to having to deal with a gallon jug that flipped over.

[jnantz]

Sounds like I had the wrong safelight . It’s important to see the print come up that’s how you know your exposure is close. Do you know any public darkrooms where u live? It might be easier to rent an hour in a darkroom just to figure out what you are doing. Not saying it isn’t do-able with ilford tubes and utoob videos but you’ll be wasting more than 1hours rental fee’s worth of paper, chemistry and time, not to mention it will take you 10x as long with sealed tubes

[esearing]

Then after you standardize for each print - you can still experiment with pre-flashing with blue or green filters to control contrast further. Bleach redevelopment can also change contrast. Analogy, There are many screwdrivers in the the tool box that look similar but one always seems to work better than the others for a given job. You just have to experiment by changing one variable at a time and take good notes. What works for one image may have little impact on another. Print the same image a year later and you may want it to look differently than your initial prints.

[Torquemada]

since im using RC paper... and according to the internets...

RC has a set development based on chemicals.. developing it by visual inspection is NOT going t make good prints. They say an RC print can show a "final" image after 20 seconds of immersion in developer.

[jnantz]

what website says it takes 20 seconds to develop an rc print?

[Vaughn]

since im using RC paper... and according to the internets...

RC has a set development based on chemicals.. developing it by visual inspection is NOT going t make good prints. They say an RC print can show a "final" image after 20 seconds of immersion in developer.

Perhaps this is old info -- some RC papers had developer incorporated into the emulsion, I believe.

[Drew Wiley]

Back when stabilization roller-processors were popular for pre-press applications, if I recall correctly. Those were fast.