How to manipulate contrast when contact printing?

[Samriel]

I'm quite new to LF and to film/analog photography in general. For the last several months I've been shooting 8x10, but I often end up with prints that are too contrasty for my taste as I'm shooting mostly portraiture. The negatives do not seem as contrasty as the final print.
As I'm still in my early learning stages, I've only been using Fujifilm Neopan ACROS 100 film and Fujifilm Tone WP (Grade 3 - only grade available) RC contact printing paper, so I could get used to the process. I develop in Dektol (1:2) for one minute at 20 degree Celsius.
Is there an option of lowering the contrast without changing the paper? Maybe using another developer like Selectol Soft? I do have access to other papers (multigrade of lower grade papers), although they are all enlarging papers. Except the difference in light sensitivity, what other differences are there between contact printing papers and enlarging papers?

Any help or advice is sincerely appreciated!

Vlad

[IanG]

You can use Soft working developers like ID-3 & Kodak D165, they will drop contrast by nearly a grade, also flashing can help to.

Those two developers are equivalent to Adaptol & Selectol Soft.

Ian

[Michael Alpert]

Vlad,

I only have basic advice for you, and I hope it helps. Using Selectol will lower contrast. Also, try using a minimum of agitation, perhaps just a bit of movement every thirty seconds. The real answer, however, is to use a lower grade of fixed-grade paper, or to use variable-contrast enlarging paper with your enlarger as your light source. The commonly available VC fiber-based papers are actually much better than some old-timers here would like to admit. You might think about doing whatever it takes (i.e., using enlarging paper) to arrive at a satisfying print; after that, you can refine your materials and practices knowing the level of quality that you have established as a starting point.

[Peter De Smidt]

If you really want to use that paper, you should tailor your exposure/development of the negative such that it gives you the results you want. You can change contrast a bit with paper developers/water bath, but you will run the danger of getting weak blacks.

There a couple of ways of doing this.

#1) Rate the film at exposure index (EI) 64. Expose a standard subject. Now develop the film 20% less than you have been doing. Contact print it in a normal way, using an exposure that'll give you a good black. Judge the print. If there's not enough shadow detail, expose more. If the lighter tones are too dark, develop more. If the lighter tones are too bright, develop less.

#2 Point the camera at an evenly toned and lit black or dark grey surface. Make sure the camera is focused on infinity. Meter the surface and place the surface at Zone I (i.e. close down four stops from the meter reading) with the EI set at 50. Now open up 1/3 stop on the aperture. Expose. Repeat twice more. You now have sheets representing Zone I at EIs 50, 64, 80, and 100.

Develop these sheets for 20% less than you have been. Examine your negatives. If you have a densitometer, look for the sheet that about 1.5 above film base plus fog. Otherwise, look for the sheet and which there's a definite difference between the film base and the expose area. Which ever sheet that is will give you your EI. My guess is that'll it'll be either 64 or 80.

Now find a light gray surface. Expose a sheet at your determined EI such that the surface falls on Zone VIII, i.e. meter the surface and open up three stops. Develop this for the same time you developed the sheets earlier.

Contact print this in the following way. Do a test strip to find the exposure such that it gives you the first true black through the clear film edge. Place an opaque card over half of the frame. Expose for the determined time. Develop the print. You want the part of the print not covered by the opaque card to be slightly darker than the part covered by the card. If you can't tell the difference between the two areas, try again developing for 20% less. If the area is too dark, try developing 5-10
% more.

Hope this helps.

[Richard M. Coda]

I would second the move to fiber-based VC papers. RC papers don't last very long compared to fiber-based.

I use enlarging papers for contact prints (4x5, 8x10 and 11x14) all the time. I know there is Lodima, but my jury is still out on that one.

[Peter De Smidt]

Oops. That should've read: "If you have a densitometer, look for the sheet that gives about .15 above film base plus fog."

I agree with the others, though. I'd use a fiber-based enlarging paper. The negatives are the longer processing times and the need to dry mount them. But you gain a longer lasting print with a better surface.

[Samriel]

Thanks for all the advice. Gives me some ideas what to try next.

I think I'll first try using some Selectol Soft(D165), but I'll definitively try some enlarging fiber papers soon. Do you have any recommendations (preferably from Ilford, as the rest is hard to get here)? Also, what does the "VC" stand for?

[Richard M. Coda]

VC - Variable Contrast.

Ilford make two VC papers, MG (Multigrade) in cold tone and warm tone. Depends what you like. You can also develop the warmtone paper in a cold tone developer (Ethol LPD, which you can use from cold to warm depending on dilution).

Oriental also makes warm and cold tone VC papers.

I prefer Oriental for cold, and Ilford for warm. Be warned, Ilford WT has serious dry down issues IMHO.

[Peter De Smidt]

I like Ilford Multigrade Fiber paper.

[Turner Reich]

I hadn't thought of it until just now, but could one use split grade printing with contact printing? I don't see any reason that it shouldn't but I haven't tried it.