contrast control

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I am just getting back into photography after several years and am having trouble controling contrast in my prints. I am using an Omega c-760 diffusion enlarger. My negatives appear to be fine. I have been reading Ansel Adam's book the Print and noticed that he doesn't use filters to control contrast while printing, but different solutions of developers and paper grades. Does anyone have any ideas or experiences following his advice. I would like to try some other methods of controlling contrast and use filters as a last resort.

-- Justin Fullmer (provo.jfullmer@state.ut.us), April 10, 2001

Answers

Ansel Adams came up before VC paper and so based his technique on graded papers, etc. Before getting too involved with all that chemistry, why not try a box of VC paper, such as Ilford Multigrade IV, and some filters?

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), April 10, 2001.

Hi, Justin, The advice above is welcome and you can take for granted that, using filters, controls over contrast are much wider than any magic formula you can find in shelves or books. Different formulas will play subtle alternatives to local contrast and the whole tonality of the print, mainly if you adopt warm-tone emulsions. Anyway: welcome back!

Cesar B.

-- Cesar Barreto (cesarb@infolink.com.br), April 10, 2001.


Another take on this. If you are going to use graded papers you need to have the contrast of the negative match more closely the contrast of the paper you will be using. Using a softer or harder developer is good for 1/2 grade changes in contrast but if you have negs that have more contrast, VC paper is the way to go. If you want to stick with graded papers then you will need to calibrate your system to match whatever grade you want to use.

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001.

Check out Dr. Beer's Developer. It can be found at www.photoformulary.com. This is a 2 part developer. Part A will give you a low contrast print and with the addition of Part B you will be able to raise the contrast accordingly. I have the recipe, in PDF format, to mix it up from bulk chemistry if your interested. Cheers

-- Scott Walton (f64sw@hotmail.com), April 11, 2001.

get The Darkroom Cookbook for a good selection of formulas for varying contrast and tone. Or go VC. Or both.

In the older days, VC paper did not have the quality of graded papers. Many people feel that is no longer the case. I have no basis for an opinion. I never used VC much myself, so I prefer graded out of old habit. But I will be trying some VC again very soon, because the Ilford Multigrade has (or used to have) some other qualities that I havent been able to find in a graded FB paper.

-- Wayne (wsteffen@skypoint.com), April 23, 2001.



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