selenium intensification as part of a normal workflow

[jarred_mccaffrey2]

Has anyone embraced selenium negative intensification as a part of

their everyday work flow instead of just a rescue method?

 

Ansel Adams said in _The Negative_ that selenium intensification gives

an effect similar to N+1 development (the same as pushing 1 stop)

without the increased grain size. Could one leverage this to

effectively increase the speed of their film? Would this allow you to

calibrate a reduced exposure? My guess is you might get a bit of

mileage out of this technique, but not much since this is a

proportional intensifier.

 

Additionally, I'm thinking that using selenium toning in both the

negative and the print might help to spread values out a bit.

Selenium toning is generally known to spread the values and add a

richer feeling to dense areas. These are shadows in a print. On a

negative these are the highlights. Does it make sense that selenium

intensification combined with selenium toning would help to get a

richer range of values in both shadows and highlights on the final

print? Or is this logic somehow flawed?

[jarred_mccaffrey2]

To clarify my thoughts on selenium negative intensification followed by print toning, I'm essentially saying that if intensification will help to straighten and raise the shoulder of a negative and straighten and raise the shoulder of a print, does the combination of these help to get richer values in both the highlights and the shadows of a print?

 

Thanks!

[silent1]

I'd bet that selenium intensification won't increase shadow density, and as such is in fact increasing contrast, not effective speed. Because of that, it's likely to be useful for N+1 (especially if you decide you need N+1 after giving N development), but not likely to allow you to calibrate a higher metering speed without losing shadow details.

[david_goldfarb]

I wouldn't want to make it part of the regular workflow, because I like to have it available as an option to increase contrast.

 

It wouldn't help at the shadow end, so you couldn't reduce exposure and expect to make it up with selenium, but you could develop to N-1 and bring it back up to N with selenium intensification. One attraction of that would be enhanced archival protection of your negatives (negatives and microfilms are often selenium toned in archives. It would be interesting to see whether an N-1 neg that is toned to N would be more or less grainy than an untoned neg given N development time. In general a thinner neg is less grainy than a denser one, but if the density is part silver/part selenium, it might not look the same as a neg the density of which is all silver.

[donald_miller1]

I wouldn't use it as a part of my regular workflow unless I were working with 35 mm and enlarging to the maximum. I would much prefer to use a staining film developer instead. The proportional stain that a pyro based developer imparts acts in the same manner as selenium. In other words it is proportional to silver density with the greatest effects in the highest density regions. The stain also decreases the apparent effects of grain. This stain will typically add .15 -.30 highlight density to a negative having the density range that one would use for silver printing.

[erik_gould1]

I have used it and continue to use it as a part of my 35mm work flow. As stated

above, toning the neg increases contrast, selenium can only tone what is there, if

there is no silver, no tone. As you said, it works proportionately. From what I have

seen, film speed is not affected in any significant way. I use it to get N+1 and N+2. I

never try to develop 35mm up to N+2, I give N+1 development and then tone. Keeps

the grain down. Try it out and report back.

[phillip_p._dimor]

Slight off topic but I selenium tone any and all negatives made with duplicating film. Both for permanence and the look.

Didn't Ralph Gibson selenium tone his negatives? Don't hold me against that quote but I thought I had read that somewhere.

[doremus_scudder1]

Jarred,

 

The above responses pretty much sum up what selenium intensification of negatives is good for: increasing contrast without increasing graininess to a large extent as with increased development time. Although I shoot large format, I almost always use an alternate means of achieving N+2 and higher developments for reasons of graininess and film response (some films are difficult to get N+2 from with only increased development). Selenium intensification, therefore, goes into my "bag of tricks" for increasing contrast along with changing paper grade, tweaking the print developer, using a ND filter to achieve long exposure times and then not compensating for the increased contrast, etc. If you need to increase contrast in smaller negatives and fine grain is of paramount importance, I could see using selenium intensification regularly for achieving N+1.

 

I have found selenium toning to give not quite one Zone of contrast increase. An N+1 neg selenium toned and printed on grade 4 paper with added carbonate in the print developer can get an effective N+3 or 4. It, therefore, is part of my "normal work flow" even though rarely used.

 

FYI, I have found the best use for selenium intensification of negatives is for selective intensification. Using a spotting brush or cotton swab, selected areas of a negative can be given a little extra punch.

 

I now use selenium intensification much less than before since I have standardized on a staining developer. Toning the neg removes the stain and effectively cancels out any increase in contrast. I have heard that a couple of ninutes in an alkaline bath or used developer will return the stain to toned negatives, but have not tried it yet.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

[phillip_p._dimor]

See;<br>

<a href="http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f11/f11.jhtml">For long-term keeping, treat duplicates on this film with KODAK Rapid Selenium or KODAK Brown Toner.</a><br><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009R3G">.."Skip the hypo clear, wash the heck out of it and tone it (brown or selenium) for the longterm." -DK Thompson</a><br><br>

I wouldn't say that selenium toning negatives is of 'dubious' value.