Burned highlights or bad development?

[galileo42]

<p>I am slowly returning to processing b&w films after a long hiatus, and I'm still a bit unsure of what I'm doing. Take a look at this. Is this burned out white patch on the arm of the girl with no gradual nuance towards grey a result of overdelopment? Or underdevelopment? This is TMX new at 400, processed in D-76 1+1 for 10'15" min. (per the MDC) in a 300 ml Paterson tank, with Kodak's recommended agitation. The rest of the film (mostly exterior snaps) looks okay. Also, I must add that one edge of the negative is dark, while the other edge is transparent. What does this mean?</p>

<p>Sorry, I goofed while uploading the photo. Now, I don't know how to do it in «Edit» mode. I'm doing it in a next post.</p>

[galileo42]

<p>Here is the photo. Sorry. This crop is about 50%.</p><div></div>

[bobcossar]

<p>I don't know why it is SO grainy. As it is, I'm not sure the highlights are blown out.....could be the subtle skin textures are lost in the grain....sorry to not be of more help here....regards, Bob</p>

[gt1]

<p>Could be your scanning, too, the neg might be fine. How was this scanned?</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I see two potential problems. Feel free to correct me if I guess wrong.</p>

<ol>

<li>This appears to be a scan of the negative. I see what appears to be problems typical of scanning b&w negatives: exaggeration of grain; ragged transitions resembling posterization rather than the smooth gradations you'd see even from grainy negatives printed conventionally.</li>

<li>Harsh lighting. The main problems with the highlights are hard lighting, exaggerated by reflections from oily skin. That's a job for careful use of lighting and cosmetics, not something that can be easily fixed in exposure or development. Only retouching can help with this after the fact. </li>

</ol>

[galileo42]

<p>Thanks for your answers. Why, of course, it could be the scanning. I have checked the neg, and I don't see this white (dark) patch on the arm. In fact the neg is much smoother. This was scanned using a Nikon Coolscan 4000 (at 4000 dpi) in Nikon Scan 4. I use Color negative, 14 bits and 16 samples. I've almost always scanned that way, getting good results most of the time (but not always). Maybe I don't have the right combination for this film. I will try something else.</p>

<p> Yes, the lighting was contrasted. I just quickly grabbed a few snaps of the model as well as I could between two digital session. Still.</p>

[gt1]

<p>I have a different workflow than you since I have a different scanner and software, Epson V700 and the low end Silverfast version. I couldn't get decent b&w scans until I switched to scanning as positive in grayscale and inverting in PS. When I'd scan as a negative I'd get both ends of the histogram chopped off. I've also tried scanning color but I didn't see any improvements and it added time to my workflow so I stopped doing it.</p>

<p>It could be that my cheap Silverfast version is the problem but scanning as a positive is worth checking out.</p>