Digital BW, The Print

Proportional reducer might be a better way to go. Don't bleach your thin
areas and reduce the silver in the dense areas. One might also set up to
print the neg and flat bed scan that. 

 

Eric Neilsen

4101 Commerce Street, Suite 9

Dallas, TX 75226

214-827-8301

 

www.ericneilsenphotography.com

SKYPE ejprinter

 

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Clayton
Price
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 9:46 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Scanning through dense negatives

 

  

Well, with all the various scanning suggestions for very dense negatives, my
experience has been
that none of them really work well, including drum scans. I've a collection
of a couple dozen 
negatives waiting for me to get around to using a chemical reducer, which
IMO is the best, and 
probably fastest way to save those negs. 

There's lots of info on the internet for reducers, but most of the googled
inquiries turn out to be 
lectures of how to expose your negatives, rather than fixing the already
dense ones.

However, if you decide to do it yourself, the most common process is a
combination of
Farmer's Reducer (which is basically Potassium Ferricyanide), and Sodium
Thiosulfate (which is
hypo/fixer). You would want to use only that, and not a rapid fixer or one
with hardener in it.

The same chemistry will work as a subtractive reducer (removing equal
amounts of silver from
both the highlight and shadow areas) OR as a proportional reducer ( removing
more from the
overexposed or overdeveloped highlights than from the shadow area.

The subtractive method is a singe solution of Farmer's Reducer with Sodium
Thiosulfate, and the
proportional method is two trays - one with each chemical, and the process
can go back and 
forth until the densities are correct. Diluting both solutions with water,
will slow the process, which
is helpful, especially when one is first trying the process. Finally, one
would wash the reduced 
negatives for about 15 minutes, then add a couple drops of Photoflo to get a
streak free dry surface.

You do not need a darkroom - my plan is to use the kitchen sink! You do need
rubber gloves
and a couple or three darkroom trays - plastic or stainless steel.

Finally - there's tons written about this process. I stumbled on one book
called the Elements of
B&W Printing by Carson Graves. He has a chapter called "Salvage Techniques -
negative 
reducers". I'm not connected in any way with the author or publishers, but
it looks like a 
helpful publication - accessible both from the internet and bookstores.

These days, the best source I know of for purchasing the chemistry is
Photographers' Formulary.

Hope this helps.

Clayton Price
www.claytonpricephotographer.com

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