Distressed Negatives

[bill_noll1]

Hello list members. This may have been covered before, but I'm curious

if anyone has a suggestion for distressing negatives during

development? I'm talking about severe distressing for artistic

purpose, not just an extreme increase in grain.

 

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I've seen some examples in contemporary art shows, and the effect has

the same look as acid etching away the emulsion. It also is very

similar to the edge effect from Polaroid Type 55 film, for example.

 

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Thanks in advance for any suggest

[n_dhananjay3]

Are you referring to reticulation? It used to happen if the variation

in temperature between developer and stop was high - a sort of

crinkling of the emulsion. I've never tried it but I've heard it is

quite difficult to do with modern emulsions. Try a big temperature

difference and a strong acid stop (which is supposed to help). Good

luck. DJ

[nigel_smith]

I've only had one film 'recirculate' and it was Konica IR750 which

was in the tank with a roll of FP4 at the same time. The FP4 showed

no affects, but the Konica had the very distinctive pattern. I have

seen another example of Konica doing this, although much finer

pattern than my example, so maybe if this is an effect your after,

this would be a good film to experiment with. In my example, I

believe my wash temp climbed to approx 40C after the 'mixer' tap was

bumped. The devl, stop & fix steps were as the correct temps. I

haven't tried to repeat this as I guess you need to plan your

pictures to suit! Some of my images were of the Shrine (a stone

building) here in Melbourne and I could see that the effect could

probably be used to some use.

 

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If you're after negs with big imperfections, maybe take to it while

drying with a hair dryer... you could get crinkles, splotches and

cracks I guess! I've never tried this I might add!

[josh2]

In 'The book of pyro' g.hutchings explains that you can not use dev

temps higher than 80 degrees with pmk because the emulsion starts to

swell as the pyro tries to harden the emuslion,or something to that

effect so you might try pmk at very high temps.-J

[twmeyer]

I have only heard, never tried, that radical changes in Ph will also

cause reticulation. I have a friend that uses the parking lot and his

palm. One short twist or slide at a time, assess, repeat if necessary

(it works for him!)... t

[steve_swinehart]

If you want the film to reticulate, it's really quite easy. Fix the

film using a non-hardening fixer. This is one of the keys to doing

this as hardening fixer causes the gelatin molecules in the emulsion

to crosslink. The emulsion will not swell as much, and the gelatin's

melting point is raised by the hardener.

 

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After you fix the film in the non-hardening fixer, wash the film

gently in 80 degree water (you're trying to get the gelatin to swell

up). Then, soak the film in 100 degree water for about 2-3 minutes

to get the gelatin to really swell up. Don't go any hotter or much

longer as the gelatin will start to dissolve in the warm water. Then

immerse it ice water for about 2-3 minutes and you should have

reticulated film.