dilution for highlights

[Mark Kononczuk]

ok,
hope these are clearer now:

The film is Fomapan 100, 4x5
f/45 , can't remember the time, probably a quarter of a second or something like that
old graflex camera with aposironar 150 lens
my cable release stopped working so i tied a bit of dental floss to the shutter release, as it is what i had on hand , image seems sharp enough?

process-

pre-wash: 1 minute in distilled water
Ilford chems:
ID11, 1:1 developer:distilled water, solution filtered thru cotton wool, 7 mins at room temperature, around 19 degrees C
stop bath: distilled water + a splash of spirit vinegar, 1 minute
Ilford rapid fixer, 1:5 with distilled water, fiktered thru cotton wool,15 mins
now I had a problem with the rinse as I didn't have enough distilled water so I filtered tap water through a coffee filter for half an hour but I don't think coffee filters are designed for that volume of water.

Before hanging up to dry I always have little white specks on the neg, I don't know what this is so I will buy a proper mains filter and photoflo tomorrow.

I don't know if you can see the difference on the photos, I can on my laptop screen. the second image is more contrasty so I'm guessing that is the 7 minute 1:1 dilution.
The project i'm doing at the moment i'm hoping to exhibit as 1 meter x 1m 20 (or thereabouts ) prints so that's why i'm being a bit fussy about the details.

thanks

[Mark Kononczuk]

aha,
and the other neg was developed for 20 mins , a dilution of 1+3 developer to distilled water.
same temperature
agitation every 2 mins

[Mark Kononczuk]

and the scene for the test photographs i chose especially for it's contrast as i have a whole load of negs to develop where there is a massive range, maybe 6 or 7 stops difference between lights and blacks. i exposed for the blacks or one stop above thinking i would make up lost highlights in developing the negs and in printing as the information seems to be there, hidden.
generally i exposed for 2 seconds where the light meter showed 4 seconds for the darkest parts and 1/8th of a second for whites

[Michael R]

My opinion - I don’t think you need any compression procedures, especially for the luminance range you are describing.

and the scene for the test photographs i chose especially for it's contrast as i have a whole load of negs to develop where there is a massive range, maybe 6 or 7 stops difference between lights and blacks. i exposed for the blacks or one stop above thinking i would make up lost highlights in developing the negs and in printing as the information seems to be there, hidden.
generally i exposed for 2 seconds where the light meter showed 4 seconds for the darkest parts and 1/8th of a second for whites

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah, six or seven stops is easy, if that's all that's really involved, provided exposure level and development itself is reasonable.

[Daniel Casper Lohenstein]

I had an issue with blown out highlights. ...
Attachment 219370
Attachment 219371

I don't see a problem at all. You have nice, powerful highlights with texture. Zone VII is supposed to be just like that.

With Fomapan, you have more of a problem with Zone II and III, which usually come out too dark. That's why people develop longer. This leads to brighter highlights. Perhaps you should actually develop shorter and lower the effective ISO ... But then you get even more into long times (Schwarzschild).

The solution is a decent film, like Ilford FP4+ ... Or to use Fomapan only when you really have enough light. Or to live with dark shadows.

By the way: if you work on the computer, you can't judge how the big print, which you want to produce, will come. I don't know any photographer whose computer produces textured highlights and shadows as well as real Splitgrade.

[Mark Kononczuk]

ok,
thanks for your feedback.
bearing in mind that the shots have already been taken on Fomapan and i need to continue using the same film for continuity of the project, what dilution of ID11 would you recommend?

[Michael R]

ok,
thanks for your feedback.
bearing in mind that the shots have already been taken on Fomapan and i need to continue using the same film for continuity of the project, what dilution of ID11 would you recommend?

1+1 or stock

[Doremus Scudder]

Just stating the obvious here, which, however, hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet:

If your highlights are consistently "blown out" (I really dislike that term, though), the first logical recourse would be to reduce your development time. In other words, not change agitation, dilution, formulation, etc.

There aren't that many situations that can be handled with standard developers used at the right time and the contrast controls available in the darkroom. Yeah, sure, there are things like the dimly-lit church interior with a nice sunlit scene out the window where we want to hold detail and contrast in both areas, but even in these cases exposing correctly and developing less coupled with darkroom techniques usually do the trick.

Compensating developers are great, don't get me wrong, but careful developing and printing with "standard" developers can accomplish the same thing.

Best,

Doremus

[Bernice Loui]

Information not recorded on film at the moment of exposure cannot be recovered during the development process.
What ISO was used for the light meter ISO reference number setting? Film "box" ISO or ?

Accommodating 6 to 7 f-stops on B&W film (aka n- exposure_development. Or over expose then under develop) into a very printable negative is not that difficult. It is much about understanding how B&W film and print making process works and how best to work within these limitations. As for scan-digital try fix up, again, if the information has not been recorded on film there is little to no ability to recover that information.

Pyro developers tend to have the ability to extend the films dynamic range by staining which works in conjunction with the printing papers as an additional contrast control element.

Again, key is testing for actual film speed as needed to achieve specific reference point density and gamma as needed to achieve the print goals in conjunction with the developer to be used and printing process to achieve the finish print.


Bernice