Compensating Development

During the two years that I have been into large format photography I have avoided extreme contrast situations (greater than n-2), because there was just too much else to learn. On a recent week long backpacking trip to Utah I decided not to pass up some excellent photos because of this. I now have a few negatives I'm not sure how to process. Bruce Barnbaum's book has some excellent starting points for tri-x in hc-110 and for t-max in t-max rs, however, I would prefer to continue my t-max in hc-110 endeavers in this area if possible. Do any of you more experienced folks have some numbers to get me going with c(n-3), c-, c-- and c--- for t-max in hc-110. I would prefer a two solution procedure, but one solution would be good as well. Also , perhaps some estimates on how many stops to open up for each. I know I have to fine tune this stuff for myself, but this seems to be way more complex than establishing film speed, normal and push and pull develpment times. Just a little direction would be greatly appreciated to get me going in the right direction. Thanks.

Two bath developers are compensating and will only develop the

highlights to the optimum. Diafine will give a 1 stop speed increase

whereas Divided D76 will keep your speed without any loss or gain. They

both are fine grain (very) with Diafine higher in acutance. There are

to many opportunities that, as you even stated yourself, are missed.

With a few compensating developers to choose from in your darkroom,

there will be no reason not to take these photos!!! I have alot of

recipes that I can send you or you can get a few commercially available

split baths that should not be over looked.

Cheers

Paul there was an article which appeared in View Camera a while back relating to pyro development and a technique called 3 over 2. That is you expose the shadows 3 stops above your normal placement and cut back on development by 50%. You don't take highlight readings when using this technique because apparently this would scare you.

 

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I've not used this technique myself yet but have come close to it and have had excellent results with pyro at N-2, N-3 and more recently with DiXactol used as a single bath but can be used two bath for a more compensating effect.

 

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Regards,

TMX works great in HC-110 if you thin the developer out to about

1:30. You will probably need about 15 minutes for normal, so plan on

maybe 9 or 10 to start with. I have done about -3 at 12 mins. by

spreading out the agitation toward the end of the time by a couple

minutes. Don't run too much film through the devloper, though, there

is not much developer in there. Probably a one shot batch. If you

have not developed your trip photos, just make about three negs. in

the yard and do them at once for three different times to see what

you get. You should get enough of an idea to be able to do the real

ones next.

Yeah! What E.L. says. HC110 works very well with the TMax films. But

be careful in two regards. If you didn't give extra exposure for the

shadows(Z3>4) then I wouldn't go beyond N-2 because even though the

shadows don't move much, they do move and you may end up with

printable highlights at the expense of empty shadows. And TMax films

don't have a thick emulsion so be careful with any type development

schemes that rely on developer uptake by the emulsion. Dilute

developer and an agitation scheme that gets longer toward the end is

the way to go. I second the notion of going out in your backyard and

taking a few test shots of a 6 or 7 stop range subject and practicing

on those first unless you can get back to the places you went and take

some more shots. James

Has anyone tried doing N-2 or greater contractions with dilute HC110

using rotary processing?

Pyrocatechin (catechol) is often touted for its compensating

qualities, due to the tanning effect it has, which is directly

proportional to the amount of exposure. Adams gives a nice formula

in 'The Negative'. Sandy King has published a new formula called

Pyrocat-HD, which uses phenidone and pyrocatechin, that I think is

worth experimenting with. DiXactol is said to be a glycin and

pyrocatechin formula, and being a two-solution developer should have

strong compensating effects.

Chris, once you get to N-2 I would start pick another method of

processing your film. I use rotory and at N-1.5 the highlights become

too dense no matter what your developer dilution. I go to hangers

because I can control agitation schemes better. In extreme SBR

conditions I use a very dilute developer and start with vigorous

agitation the first time and then drastically reduce agitation until

I'm at a point of just letting the film stand with no agitation at

all. If you have these SBR problems I would use some pre-exposure and

then some selenium toning after development. That's worth 1.5+ stops

right their. Masking is also an option. If using PYRO as a developing

scheme make sure to give extra exposure so the pyro has some silver to

work on otherwise that tanning ability only yeilds empty grey shadows

with no detail. James