Double exposure or other techniques for controlling high contrast scenes?

[Leigh]

I agree with Ari about Acros. It's excellent for holding highlight detail.

Also, consider using a compensating developer. This is what they're designed for.

- Leigh

[l2oBiN]

You could try two bath Pyrocat. See: http://www.pyrocat-hd.com/ . It does an amazing job taming scenes of high contrast.

Hmmm.. Sounds exotic =} I do not have the option of testing this developer at the moment. Perhaps sometimes in the future.. Thank you for the suggestions.

The double-exposure technique I learned in school was to underexpose the dusk exposure, figured with an incident meter, from one to two stops. The "dark" exposure for the lights was figured from a chart based on the "sunny 16" rule for whatever film you used. Worked pretty dependably. Be sure to keep your aperture constant and change only the time for the second exposure. For "brightly lit downtown street scenes at night," this was sunny 16 + 7 stops. For "distant view of city skyline at night," this was sunny 16 plus 13 stops, and "floodlit buildings" was sunny 16 plus 11 stops.

I found that one or 1-1/2 stops was plenty of underexposure for the dusk shot. The dusk shot was made sometime after the sun had dropped below the horizon, your choice on that one.

Don't expect perfect results first time out. It takes a little practice.

Peter Gomena

I will look into this.. Thank you!

Marko, that's a pretty great photo you took.
As for the church, I'm not sure if any technique will bring out the detail if there is no ambient light on it.

Might I also ask whether or not you were using Acros for this shot?

Thank you for the complement. The church did have some light falling on it but it was very little. I metered it to be in zone 3 but I forgot the film looses some speed when one develops in a compensative manner. The film used above was indeed acros.

...Also, consider using a compensating developer. This is what they're designed for.- Leigh

I have tried using difine, but I cannot achieve even development using a rotary system. I cant figure out why...

[Peter Gomena]

If you use a double-exposure technique, it is a good idea to secure your film in its holder so that it does not shift between exposures. There have been several threads in this forum regarding the best tape or method to use. I use plain double-stick "scotch" tape that I have touched with my fingers a few times to reduce its adhesion a little. It does not take a lot of pressure on the film to attach it to the tape for as long as you will need it to stick.

If you plan on returning to the same place if you do not succeed the first time, take good notes so you can nail it the second time.

Peter Gomena

[cyrus]

I haven't used the double-exposure technique for contrast control however masking for contrast reduction is SOP (standard operating procedure) and maybe something worth looking into. There's only 1 exposure of the scene which is used.

[Leigh]

I have tried using Diafine, but I cannot achieve even development using a rotary system. I cant figure out why...

No compensating developer will work properly in a rotary system.

Constant agitation defeats the compensating mechanism, which is
to allow the developer to exhaust completely in dense areas of the negative.

- Leigh

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Pre expose your film to reduce contrast and hold highlight detail. Then expose and develop as you normally do.

[l2oBiN]

I haven't used the double-exposure technique for contrast control however masking for contrast reduction is SOP (standard operating procedure) and maybe something worth looking into. There's only 1 exposure of the scene which is used.

Thnx cyrus. Would you be able to elaborate on this? I am not aware of this technique...?

If you use a double-exposure technique, it is a good idea to secure your film in its holder so that it does not shift between exposures. There have been several threads in this forum regarding the best tape or method to use. I use plain double-stick "scotch" tape that I have touched with my fingers a few times to reduce its adhesion a little. It does not take a lot of pressure on the film to attach it to the tape for as long as you will need it to stick.

If you plan on returning to the same place if you do not succeed the first time, take good notes so you can nail it the second time.

Peter Gomena

Thank you Peter, sticking film to the holder.. sounds tricky. Will look into it.

No compensating developer will work properly in a rotary system.

Constant agitation defeats the compensating mechanism, which is
to allow the developer to exhaust completely in dense areas of the negative.

- Leigh

Leigh, Diafine is a two bath developer. According to Sandy King, it should be compatible with a rotary system.. (e.g. post #4) I have tried to contact him in the past without success (perhaps I should try again)

Pre expose your film to reduce contrast and hold highlight detail. Then expose and develop as you normally do.

Hi Eric. People seem to suggest this quite often, but is anyone actually practically doing this ? I would love to get some real world practical advice on how to do the pre-exposure.

I also have a tiffen ultra contrast filter that I will try. I remember vaguely that it seems to do a similar job to this preflashing technique..

[Leigh]

Leigh, Diafine is a two bath developer. According to Sandy King, it should be compatible with a rotary system.. (e.g. post #4)

I'm quite familiar with Diafine, thank you. I've used it for many decades. In fact I have a box sitting here on the desk.

Quoting the instructions:
"... agitate very gently for the first 5 seconds and for 5 seconds at 1 minute intervals." (boldface original)

Perhaps you should read my earlier text that you quoted:
"Constant agitation defeats the compensating mechanism,
which is to allow the developer to exhaust completely in dense areas of the negative."

Maybe Sandy knows something that the manufacturer does not know.

- Leigh

[cyrus]

Thnx cyrus. Would you be able to elaborate on this? I am not aware of this technique...?..

Masking? Oh I'm sure you have heard of it but here's some more info. Sample procedure to even out contrast: Take a sheet of lith film, put it under your negative, put a sheet of glass over that, and expose to light briefly.
Develop the lith film. It should show a positive version of your negative. It will have density where your negative had clear spaces.
Now tape the positive and the negative together, in register, and make a print. It takes several tries to get the right density in the positive (best done by controlling development time) and you need to figure out a way to keep the two films in perfect register.

[E. von Hoegh]

Pre expose your film to reduce contrast and hold highlight detail. Then expose and develop as you normally do.

Pre exposing film will get it off the toe of the response curve, improving shadow detail and leaving the highlights relatively unaffected.