Digital BW, The Print

For night photography, insofar as producing negatives for scanning for
digital printing, the main problem is burned out highlights and inadequate
shadow density.  This is not a big deal in darkroom enlarging, but the
difference with digital is a scanner cannot burn in a highlight.  Try this
idea to push process the shadow areas while simultaneously pull processing
the highlights.  This is called "water bath" development by Ansel Adams in
his books.  Water bath development is the basic technique that Ansel Adams
used to make his most famous photograph "Moonrise, Hernandez New Mexico",
although he did have to selectively intensify the foreground area also.  The
information published in his book "Examples" is incomplete, my source is a
magazine article interview published forty years before the book was
written, if you want the citation let me know.

Water bath gives you the net effect of a two minute development for
highlights and a 15 minute development for shadows.  The way it works is
that you soak the the film with developer briefly, and then transfer it to
water.  The emulsion of the film, which is carrying the developer, can be
thought of as a sponge.  The highlight areas are hungry for developer and
use up all that is contacting a highlight at once.  Shadows use very little
developer so whatever is in the emulsion tends to be retained and continue
developing shadow areas, even when the highlights have exhausted their
supply.  Here is how I do it:

Using real-silver B&W film, set up some extra tanks when you develop.  In
addition to develop, stop, fix, add a tank with a mild balanced alkali and
add another tank with raw water

Presoak your film for two minutes in raw water, then put your film in the
developer for 30 seconds with constant agitation.  next, lift your film out
and gently put it into the alkali.  do not move or touch it.  Be sure the
table is not vibrating from your stereo or a fan motor, etc.  Absolute
stillness is necessary.  Let it sit for five minutes.  Next put it into the
pure water and vigorously agitate.  (the purpose of the water is to get the
alkali off the film).

Repeat the procedure for a total of three cycles.  This is to prevent
mottling of the sky area.  It is a good idea to flip the film alternately
upside down in the alkali to reduce "bromide drag"

I think you will find that silver B&W, which already records a full 11 stops
of visible light, will record a few more, and that the silver film has a far
longer scale than any chromogenic film.  There are several other favorite
developer techniques for night photography, such as Rodinal diluted 1:90.

Tom Robinson