brian_kong

This is my first time here on the Q&A forum, and lucky me that I can

find such an interesting argument along. I should hang around more

to learn.

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I have been spending recent couple of months on B&W developing and

maybe I can share my experience (though might not be truth).

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By varying the exposure, it can surely deliver different contrast in

theory. But whether it can delivers your required contrast, density,

tonal change, graininess, film base clarity etc. at the same time, or

with each element under your expected range of control? It is highly

questionable (esp. in B&W development when your method is highly

unstable).

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Personally, I think the key idea of AA's zone system is to collect

the necessary details that you want to the film where you can

transform such infomation to an effect you want on the photo. In

other term, it highly relates to contrast control. In order to vary

the contrast of B&W, people have created a number of methods. Some

use filters, some use chemicals, some use different darkroom

equipment, some adjust time / temperature / dilution / agitation /

exposure.....some do it in a more "clever" way by scanning the film

and adjust contrast on screen, or buy a different film for different

occasions. As long as the method fits into your requirement, I think

its fine.

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And if you are trying to use the darkroom developing techniques to

resolve the problem, my experience is that you really have to spend

some time on practising. The key matter is consistency. You have to

adopt a strict procedure to control your development, including

liquid temperature, dev. time, agitation styles, dev. timing etc..

Say for an example, you can start with Kodak's film datasheet and use

their development datas as a start (say like T-Max 100 roll film,

tank development, 21 degree). Then take a number of pictures with

consistent exposure (I prefer to use grey card, grey scale and with

consistent branketing) and see the result (density, contrasy,

graininess, tonal change etc). Say like if you found the best film

which works along with your requirement (eg. fits to your enlarging

equipment), and under this development method it can render details

within range of over-3, under-3 range of exposure with acceptable

graininess. Then ongoing you know what you can capture on the film

when you press the shutter, and also understand on which side you

should lean on (over/under) that deliver what you want. This method

basically derives from zone system, and it really takes time to

practise, and my advise is to make it simple first and try for at

most two / three development combinations (usually Kodak will offer

you the dilution / temperature combinations) for each film.

Personally, I have tried 1:1, 3:1, pure liquid at the moment with D-

76 and T-Max 100, with a number of development time / agitation

method / temperature combinations. If you can deliver stable result

on your devp skill, and each time you can adjust a single element of

developing and see the result (ie. Kodak suggests we use developing

time to control contrast, does it really works, or by what magnitude

it works, or even by what time the contrast / development time

relation comes to inverse?). It is fun, but it is also pain over the

neck. Nevertheless, it renders you with the information required to

handle different lighting situations, even the extreme ones, and get

the required details you like into your film.

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I have seen a couple interesting articles of AA on the story befind

his photos, and I think he has taken a lot of pain and puzzle in

order to derive the zone system which we still use today. I think it

worths to pay some time in the darkroom in order to understand his

wisdoms (and also discover the things untold by AA).

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Brian Kong