Intentional overprocessing....

[eugene_perepletchikov]

<p>Hey guys</p>

<p>I have one roll of film where I think it might be interesting to push the contrast. I am thinking of references such as Mario Giacomelli who had some very stark images, some completely lacking any midtones.</p>

<p>I had shot Neopan 100 and will be developing with Tmax developer. I am wondering roughly how much additional time would be needed to come close to that look. These photos are not particularly important and I am happy to experiment with this roll with the possibility of unpredictable results.</p>

<p>Looking forward to your responses.</p>

<p> </p>

[adam_n.1]

<p>hmmmm maybe develop in d-19 at double the time? if your only choice is tmax i'd still double the time. more frequent agitation, although not necessarily more vigorous</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Eugene, I think you might have things a little backwards. If you want higher contrast, use higher dilutions of developer with shorter times... unless you are pushing the film. You can't extend development unless you give up some exposure on the film.</p>

[gary_stallsworth]

<p>Increasing the time will increase the contrast up to a point. It will also increase the grain. If you can cut the roll somewhere in the middle you could experiment. time + 50%, time + 100%, etc., and see if that produces the results you want. You might consider processing the film normally and then use a high contrast grade/filter if you print in the darkroom, or levels/curves adjustments in PS.</p>

[jay_de_fehr]

<p>I'm with Gary. Paper contrast is much easier to manipulate, and it leaves your negatives intact. <br>

If, for your own reasons, you want to increase the contrast of your negatives, it's simply a matter of increasing development. You can increase development by using a more concentrated developer solution, a higher processing temperature, extended development time, and to a lesser degree, increased agitation, or some combination of the above. Increasing development will also increase shadow detail a little, but not much. How much to increase development is a matter of experimentation, as Gary suggests. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

[pc_b]

<p>Guy and Jay are right on. I do believe though, that you need both somewhat overdeveloped film *and* the right kind of paper for the task (either high-class variable contrast paper like Ilford or Adox/Agfa MCP or fixed grade 4 or 5 paper). </p>

<p>I just pushed TMY-2 to 1600 in Xtol (1+1) and even at grade 5 (on Ilford MG) there were much more midtones remaining than in those classic Giacomelli chiaro-scuro-prints (I hope my Italian spelling isn't too far off!).</p>

<p>Developing at 24°C, adding 50% to the listed time for 24°C, and one inversion every 30s should do, I think. <br>

Another thought: can your enlarger filter 'hard' enough to get VC papers to their grade 5?</p>

<p>Good luck and much fun, cheers, Pete</p>

[eugene_perepletchikov]

<p>Thanks for the responses guys.</p>

<p>This all makes sense, I will try a combination of high concentration and extra developing time. I understand the added flexibility of trying to achieve this in the printing stage, I guess I would still like to experiment at this point to begin to explore the limits and capabilities of film.</p>

<p>I would be curious to know how much Giacomelli achieved in the developing stage, or whether most of it was done in the print? I remember reading somewhere that he overexposed and overdeveloped his negs.</p>

<p>I have a Besseler 4x5 dichroic head enlarger, so would have to see whether it can push multigrade paper that far.</p>

<p>PS. Also realized that I have some Rodinal and DDX left. Would highly concentrated Rodinal produce interesting results here?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>