Boosting contrast with extended development, your choice of film.

[GoodOldNorm]

I'll second using RF to increase contrast -- which rules out TMax, etc.

And I have given well-exposed negatives a slight bleach to deepen the shadows followed by selenium toning to boost the highlights. Perhaps something like that would come in useful if you have a neg or two that end up a little shy on contrast.

All good stuff, thank you Vaughn and all who have taken the time to share your knowledge.

[Jim Noel]

Yesterday I Googled WD2H+ and the first site up was a PDF of the 3rd edition of the cookbook. I have no idea where it came from.
When I am in real need of HL density, I tone the negative in Sepia. More increase than with selenium.

[Vaughn]

Yesterday I Googled WD2H+ and the first site up was a PDF of the 3rd edition of the cookbook. I have no idea where it came from.
When I am in real need of HL density, I tone the negative in Sepia. More increase than with selenium.

Do you find your low values dropping a little with sepia toning (seems to happen with prints a little)? Actually would help to boost contrast...along the lines of my bleaching then selenium toning. Sepia toning would preserve the negative!

[esearing]

You likely want to do a test using a 4x5 step wedge or a low contrast backyard scene. Develop one sheet normally then another at 50% more time. Then print both using various grade filters (assuming you use VC papers). You may find you can expand 3 stops using just printing filters vs trying to expand the negative. I like the way FP4 expands in zones 4-7 with Pyrocat M but most of the time I only do a 10%-15% increase in development time and work with the blue filter more. You can also try using a print developer like Ansco 130 at 1:10 for 10-12 minutes for film. IF you tend to scan then it is more important to have all the tones captured than to have a contrasty negative, so the RF method works.