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  #11  
Old 23rd January 2021, 12:05 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks Michael, I am glad I got it right. Next time I print I must give this a go just as an experiment. It had just seemed to me that once the exposure was reduced by as much as 2 stops then the reduced illumination on the paper would be two much for an extra minute or so of development to, in effect, more than compensate for the reduced illumination

Mike
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  #12  
Old 23rd January 2021, 02:01 PM
Terry S Terry S is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Aislabie View Post
I remember the keeping properties of the made up solutions as being very poor, so I'll need to get myself set and ready to go, if I want to try it out.

Thanks for your help.

Martin
I've never had a negative that wasn't able to be sorted with one of Ilford's under the lens filters, mostly needing the lower grades, to print over developed negatives, taken when I was starting out.

But the Beers developer formula seems interesting and could be useful in getting a very high contrast print, as in high key, as Martin says in his first post. I have all the chemicals, so will add it to my never ending list of things to try.

Looking around, there are quite a number of formulas, that all seem to vary slightly, but the following link will take you to one that mirrors the Darkroom Cookbook formula, in case you don't have a copy:

https://www.digitaltruth.com/product...02-0120%5d.pdf

As for buying the chemicals, the two that I would recommend buying 'off the shelf' are Sodium Carbonate / Washing Soda, which I buy for a £1.00 in a local shop for a big bag and Sodium Sulfite, which loads of swimming pool companies sell on ebay, for a lot less and for a lot more.

Terry S
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  #13  
Old 29th January 2021, 05:39 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Just an update on the selenium toner intensification of my negatives - it works really well and is very easy.

I would say I got about 1 ~ 1.5 grades harder change in the negatives I used.
  • Loaded the film on to a Paterson reel and closed up the tank as usual way.
  • Soaked the film in tap water for 5+ minutes - with intermittent agitation (to wash off the wetting agent I used when I processed the film originally)
  • Soaked the film in Hypo Clearing Agent for 5 mins with intermittent agitation (as recommended by Tim Rudman in his toning book).
  • 6 minutes in 1+2 Selenium Toner Soln - 15 sec per minute agitation.
  • Soaked the film in Hypo Clearing Agent for 5 mins with intermittent agitation.
  • Washed film for 20 min.
  • Rinsed with wetting agent.
  • Dried in the usual way.

All the processing was done at 20 degC.

Martin
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  #14  
Old 29th January 2021, 07:25 PM
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Great result, Martin.

Just out of curiosity, could intensification have been avoided at the shooting and processing stages or was it unavoidable?
Have you noticed any negative artefacts as a result of intensification, better or worse than contrast expansion via development?

Thanks for sharing your negative intensification process procedure, btw.
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  #15  
Old 29th January 2021, 09:27 PM
EdmundH EdmundH is offline
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This may be a simplistic answer, but I use Rollei RPN developer, which lists three different dilutions according to desired contrast; the strongest solution does give significantly more contrast than standard, which I've used several times in this situation.
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  #16  
Old 30th January 2021, 06:08 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyNL View Post
Great result, Martin.

Just out of curiosity, could intensification have been avoided at the shooting and processing stages or was it unavoidable?
Have you noticed any negative artefacts as a result of intensification, better or worse than contrast expansion via development?

Thanks for sharing your negative intensification process procedure, btw.
Hi Martyn

I used N+1 development on the Negatives originally to try and give a more contrasty negative with which to print, expecting that I would be able to achieve the look I wanted within the normal paper grades.

However, when I came to print I realised I would have needed N+2 ~ N+3 development to achieve the look I was after.

But, I didn't realise that at the time.

If I ever do anything like this again, I will shoot multiple rolls so I can do N+1, N+2 and N+3 development.

As far as I can tell selenium intensification offers nothing that N+2/N+3 development would not be able to achieve - but is a useful way to rescue/improve an existing negative.

Incidentally, I have never had to use Grade5 for any print before - except out of curiosity - just to see what it would look like.

As the saying goes - you live and (hopefully) learn.

Martin
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  #17  
Old 31st January 2021, 12:21 AM
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Martin: you do realise that you are going to have to show us the finished print when you are happy with the result
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  #18  
Old 31st January 2021, 05:01 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Quote:
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Martin: you do realise that you are going to have to show us the finished print when you are happy with the result
Be careful what you wish for Bob.

I have enough working prints to bore the pants off you guys

Ha ha

Martin
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  #19  
Old 15th May 2021, 02:32 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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I've now had the opportunity to print from several of my selenium intensified negatives.


Yes, they are more contrasty - by at least a 1.5+ grades.

But, the prints also look much more grainy - much more akin to a 35mm neg rather than a 6x7 neg.

Interestingly, when you look through the focus finder (Peak), the grain doesn't look that much bigger.

I've no idea how the neg doesn't look that much grainier but the print does.

Martin
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  #20  
Old 15th May 2021, 06:17 PM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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The conventional way of getting extreme contrast used to be a lith developer, which uses hydroquinone in a highly-alkaline medium.

The formula I used, long ago, was Kodak D9 (chosen because it uses neither formaldehyde nor acetone):

Part A
500mL HOT water 50C
22g sodium bisulphate
22g hydroquinone.
22g potassium bromide.
to 1L of water.

Part B
1L COLD water
sodium hydroxide 55g*

* sodium hydroxide evolves heat when added to water. Wear hand and eye protection.

Keep parts A and B in stoppered bottles for a few weeks at most.

Mix equal volumes of parts A and B for use. It feels soapy.

I have no idea if this works with modern emulsions such as Multigrade. In 2013 Tim Rudman wrote a report on lith-ing different papers.

I bought Ascher digital weigh-scales through the Wish website. Not trusting an unknown brand at a ridiculously low price (£9) I also bought calibration weights. The scales are really accurate, 200g down to 0.01g.

Be careful - these scales are used by class A drug dealers to measure doses of cocaine and heroin!
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