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Photo Forum / Film Photography / Darkroom / March 2004Contrast with New TRI-X
All of my exposures are to contrasty with the new Professional TRI-X. I have tried to over come this by rating the 320 film at 400 and reducing the development time, I use D76 (undiluted). Am I going about the right direction to reduce the contrast or am I making it worse? The negative density is fine. At least I am happy with it. What approach should I take to reduce the contrast? Thank Alan Tippett i would not uprate exposure (could even downrate) and reduce dev time even more. Jorge > All of my exposures are to contrasty with the new Professional TRI-X. > I have tried to over come this by rating the 320 film at 400 and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Thank Alan Tippett >i would not uprate exposure (could even downrate) and reduce dev time >even more. > >Jorge Thanks for the response. I guess I didn't finish my question completely. I should have also included in my question that I have reduced the developmnet time between 1 and 1.5 minutes. Would rating the film at a slower ISO reduce the contrast? Alan Yes, it would, since shadows would be denser (say, closer to highlights) and the speed loss that will come with less dev time will be taken care of. Jorge > Thanks for the response. I guess I didn't finish my question > completely. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Alan > Yes, it would, since shadows would be denser (say, closer to highlights) > and the speed loss that will come with less dev time will be taken care > of. Actually it depends totally on the shape of the film curve. With Tri-X the highlights get compressed (shoulder) as you increase exposure and this will reduce contrast. But with Tmax the highlights might actually gain density faster than shadows so the opposite happens. And also the way you print affects this: if you print so that the film base is just barely black, then the total contrast will increase if you increase film exposure - no matter what film curve. This is because the highlights get more density but the clear film base does not, of course. But in general, altering the exposure does not change contrast much, only shadow detail. If you want constantly less contrast, then decrease development (or use lower contrast filters). Severi > > Yes, it would, since shadows would be denser (say, closer to highlights) > > and the speed loss that will come with less dev time will be taken care [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Severi I don't think Tri-X sheet film has much of a shoulder, at least not until very great overexposure. Rather, it tends to expand highlights due to its upward curving characteristic. Compare Tri-X Professional Sheet film to T-Max 400, which is relatively straight line. The very long toe characteristic of Tri-X will tend to lower shadow contrast and raise highlight contrast with a consequent depression of mid-gray values where the same shadow and highlight points are printed. This characteristic is capable of producing quite dramatic renditions of some types of scenes and some types of portraits. The shape of the curve is affected to some extent by the developer but is mostly a property of the emulsion itself. Note that Tri-X roll and 35mm film (ISO-400) is a completely different emulsion with a medium toe and fairly straight mid section. It also has very great overexposure latitude. Very few modern films have a true shoulder at any normally encountered exposure. However, they are capable of great densities which can look like highlight blocking simply because they exceed the range of the printing paper to accept them. The detail is still there if you burn in enough.  Signature--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com > I don't think Tri-X sheet film has much of a shoulder, at > least not until very great overexposure. You are correct, my mistake. I didn't notice it was the TRI-X Professional we were talking about :( But the point remains: curve shape does affect (slightly but still) overall and local contrast. Severi S. > Would rating the film at a slower ISO reduce the contrast? No. All things being equall, reduceing development will reduce contrast. It will also reduce the ISO a little. The ISO or EI is determind by the shadow densities. You have heard of "expose for the shadows develop for the highlights? I think some would recommend that developer at a 1:1 dilution. Dan reduce development -> reduce contrast and ISO -> expose more to compensate. Jorge >> Would rating the film at a slower ISO reduce the contrast? > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > develop for the highlights? > I think some would recommend that developer at a 1:1 dilution. Dan Reducing the exposure will reduce shadow detail increasing the apparent contrast. I would cut the developing time by 20% for starters if you are using a condenser enlarger this is equal to about paper grade (i.e. going from a 3 to a 2). If you don't have enough shadow detail then increase the exposure. Kodak development time are for diffusion enlargers. You can first try using a lower grade paper to see if that gives the results you wants then adjust the time so you can print normally on a grade 2 or 3 paper. I would also use D76 1:1 with Tri X. Its little grainier but much sharper with better tonality. Sheldon Strauss www.shel.focalfix.com > All of my exposures are to contrasty with the new Professional TRI-X. I have > tried to over come this by rating the 320 film at 400 and reducing the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Thank Alan Tippett This is the right direction. See my answer to your other post. Try varying the development time by about 10% steps from 10% to about 40%. You will find that you must increase exposure by about one stop at 40%. That should reduce the contrast by more than a paper grade. The rule of thumb is to reduce time by 33% and increase exposure by about 3/4 stop for a one paper grade lowering of contrast for conventional film. Because the development time may become too short try diluting the developer 1:1, that will increase development time about 1.4X for the same contrast. For D-76 there is no significant change in grain or film speed with this dilution. Signature--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com |
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