Reducing contrast during film development possible?

[sorin]

I shot a couple of rolls of Ilford HP5+ at noon. The subject was very

interesting but the light very harsh. I was wondering if there is

anything that can be done during the film development to reduce the

contrast. I rated the film at 200 thinking that a pull would reduce

contrast. I normally use Sprint film developer (D76 1:1 equiv) at

20deg. I scan & print digitally so I can correct to some extent

digitally but if there is something that can be done before that,

that'd help.

[lwg]

Try developing for 25% less time.

[joe_hunt1]

Yes - "pulling" the the ISO 400 film to ISO 200, combined with reduced development, is an accepted way to tame contrast. Just as "pushing" the film to ISO 800 or higher, with increased development, can raise contrast.

[jim_shanesy]

You should also dilute the developer for a compensating effect. I only use pyro developers so my high contrast dilution would probalby be useless to you, but I'm sure someone else on this forum can come up with compensating dilutions and times for a non-staining developer. 200 is a great speed at which to rate HP5+ BTW. Any higher and you'll lose substance in the shadows.

[gedc]

I was having problems with some lab-developed film being too contrasty and difficult to print. So I started developing my own film and have settled on HP5+ developed in HC-110 at a dilution of 1+63 with minimal agitation. Using such a high dilution combined with agitation during the first 30 seconds and then only once every 2.5 to 3.5 minutes reduces contrast significantly.<br>

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In fact, it reduced it so much I had to print with a #3.5 filter so perhaps I have compensated too far and need to modify my times slightly. I recently started a thread that contains some relevant discussion:<br>

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<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004sDm"><b>http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004sDm</b></a><br>

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Here are some other links that discusses the use of HC-110:<br>

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<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004p5I"><b>http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004p5I</b></a><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004hbs"><b>http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004hbs</b></a><br>

<a href="http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/"><b>http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/</b></a><br>

<a href="http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~leica/hc110.html"><b>http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~leica/hc110.html</b></a><br>

<br>

<br>

Regards,

[m0002a]

Film development times recommended by the manufacturer are just a recommendation--that's all. Not every one has the same contrast requirements, so you should alter the development time to suit your needs.

 

As others have said: with more development, the greater the negative contrast. With less development time, the lower the contrast. The amount of development is affected by time, temperature, agitation technique, etc.

 

The contrast change occurs because the deep shadow areas of the negative are not affected much by variations in the amount of development, whereas the highlights are much more affected by the amount of development.

[larry_lambert1]

There are a few ways to tame HP5, but only try one at a time, for roughly scientific repeatability. You could try water bath, really dilute active developers, or just pulling back the development time. Each one of these will leave a minor signature, so do a little looking around on PDN for examples of each. Non of these are terribly difficult to accomplish, but water bath will require an absolute dark develping area.

[wickedmartini]

Expose for your shadows and develop for your highlights...

 

mdd