tho60
Well-known
If you look at a negative (which is not so good), how can you decide whether the exposure or the developing went wrong? E.g. underexposed and overdeveloped negs might look similar.
x-ray
Veteran
Shadows are determined by exposure and highlights by development. Empty thin shadows equal under exposed. Flat thin highlights equal under development. Dense shadows equal over exposure and dense highlights equal over development.
Without seeing examples of good negatives it hard for a beginner to judge a negatives quality.
Are you scanning or printing? Every scanner has it's own personality and different scanning profiles result in different results from a given negative. One scanner and profile will make a different looking scan than another scanner and different profile. If you're wet printing different enlargers have different characteristics too. Diffusion prints flatter by a grade than condensers and point source is contras tier than condenser enlargers. Different brands of paper have different contrast characteristics as do different types within a brand. RC papers print different than fiber based. Also to complicate it different film developers produce different characteristics from each other and the same is true for paper developers.
As you can see there are many variables and combinations each giving a different result. Now bring in the human element. If you use the same developer, film, paper developer combination and same enlarger you'l still get a different image than I will. This is why it's foolish to worry about what camera, film, developer etc. that anyone else uses because the end result will be different for you.
Without seeing examples of good negatives it hard for a beginner to judge a negatives quality.
Are you scanning or printing? Every scanner has it's own personality and different scanning profiles result in different results from a given negative. One scanner and profile will make a different looking scan than another scanner and different profile. If you're wet printing different enlargers have different characteristics too. Diffusion prints flatter by a grade than condensers and point source is contras tier than condenser enlargers. Different brands of paper have different contrast characteristics as do different types within a brand. RC papers print different than fiber based. Also to complicate it different film developers produce different characteristics from each other and the same is true for paper developers.
As you can see there are many variables and combinations each giving a different result. Now bring in the human element. If you use the same developer, film, paper developer combination and same enlarger you'l still get a different image than I will. This is why it's foolish to worry about what camera, film, developer etc. that anyone else uses because the end result will be different for you.
rscheffler
Well-known
Use the edge markings and frame numbering as a guideline. If they're quite dense, then the film was developed correctly/sufficiently. If they're rather faint, the film was under developed.
