Digital BW, The Print

>As a general rule, when developing >B&W negs for both scanning and
>traditional darkroom which paper grade >(i.e. II or III) would it be
>preferable to standardize my film >development?  In other words,
>should
>I develop my negs for a lower or higher >contrast?

It depends in part on how serious you are about tailoring your negatives to 
suit a particular scene and on how much, if any, testing you're willing to 
do.

Ideally you base your development time on the contrast in the scene and on 
how you want the print to look, i.e. shorter time = lower contrast which you 
might want for a scene in which the subject brightness range exceeds the 
ability of the film to hold detail in the dark and bright areas, longer time 
= higher contrast, which you might want for a "flat" scene that you think 
would look better when printed with more contrast than the scene possesses.

The times needed to accomplish this are determined by testing and you can 
learn how by reading a couple chapters in any of several books. The easiest 
one to follow IMHO is Fred Picker's book "Zone VI Workshop" or if that isn't 
available Ansel Adams' book "The Negative" is also good.

The above methodology is feasible if you're using sheet film since only then 
can you develop each negative separately. It isn't feasible if you're using 
roll film since obviously each negative on a roll must be developed the same 
way. If you're using roll film (or if you're using sheet film but don't want 
to do any reading or testing) then for starters set your film speed at half 
the rated speed and develop for 20% less than the manufacturer's recommended 
time.  By cutting the film speed in half you should insure that you'll have 
detail in the shadow areas and by cutting the time by about 20% you should 
reduce the likelihood of blown out highlights.

See how that works with some typical photographs. If your negatives 
consistently tend to look too dense in the highlights then reduce your 
development time by another 10% or so. If they look underexposed in the 
highlights increase your development time by another 10% or so.  It 
shouldn't take long to come up with a single development time that works 
reasonably well for most of your negatives. Of course you need to be sure 
that you use the same temperature and agitation method every time.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "peterzakos" <peterzakos@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 10:52 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Optimizing B&W film development for both digital and 
traditional darkroom


As a general rule, when developing B&W negs for both scanning and
traditional darkroom which paper grade (i.e. II or III) would it be
preferable to standardize my film development?  In other words,
should
I develop my negs for a lower or higher contrast?
Many thanks in advance to all who share their time and experiance in
answering my question.
Peter.




Please visit the Group Homepage to check the Files, and other resources as 
they are often being updated.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint

If you wish to receive no emails or just a daily digest, or you wish to 
unsubscribe, please edit your Membership preferences by visiting this same 
page.

Please follow these basic guidelines:
- As threads develop, trim off excess portions of earlier messages to keep 
them short.
- Good manners are required at all time. No personal attacks or flames. 
Hostile, aggressive or argumentative users may be removed from the 
membership without notice.
- Keep your posts and threads related to the group topic of digital B&W 
printing. Users who persistently make off-topic posts may be removed from 
the membership.
- By posting on this forum you agree to abide by the group rules and 
guidelines, and to abide by the actions and decisions of the group Owner and 
Moderators. See "Group Topic, Rules and Guidelines" in the Files section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/files/

BY PARTICIPATING IN AND/OR POSTING MESSAGES TO THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT 
YAHOO! GROUP YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE "OWNER" AND 
"MODERATORS" OF DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU 
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY 
DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, 
GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF THE  "OWNER" AND 
"MODERATORS" OF DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE 
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES), RESULTING FROM: (i) THE USE OR THE INABILITY 
TO USE THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP; (ii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR 
ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA; (iii) STATEMENTS OR CONDUCT OF ANY 
THIRD PARTY ON THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP; OR (iv) ANY OTHER 
MATTER RELATING TO THE DIGITAL BW, THE PRINT YAHOO GROUP.

Yahoo! Groups Links