Looking for big grain

[Calzone]

I was taught this as a common technique for newspaper photographers. Development time of 90 seconds as I remember- dirty, huge grain, but it made deadline and for newsprint halftones of nighttime fires or accidents it looked fine.

Dan,

Thanks for your response. 90 seconds is good to know.

Basically for larger grain you want a strong developer is the moral of the story.

If Rodinal is used perhaps only slightly diluted.

Cal

 

[Austerby]

Wow. Some great suggestions here.

I've just got a pack of Kentmere 400 so I'll try some of those HP5+ methods on that to see what I can get - Ralph Gibson-alike.

 

[nightfly]

If you can find a copy of Darkroom by Lustrum Press they have Ralph Gibson's developing routine which I think Tri-X overexposed and developed for 9 minutes in Rodinal 1:25 as mentioned above.

 

[Noserider]

For sure Dektol or D-72 1:1 6 min at 68 F. Max grain with good tonality.

 

[PhotoGog]

Looking for big grain

overexpose and overdevelop hp5 or tri-x in Rodinal 1+25 Ralph Gibson treatment and you'll get lots of big grain and a huge boost in contrast. HP5 E.I . 200 11mins @20c in Rodinal 1+25.

Love that combo

I second this. Look up -Ralph Gibson look- on this forum for more.

 

[sepiareverb]

We don’t get to use Ralph Gibson’s Tri-X these days. Very different animal. Not that his method won’t produce more grain on the current version, but it won’t be the same.

 

[Ccoppola82]

I experimented with some 2 baths and tried a couple that were intentionally unbalanced. One gave a super high contrast with heavy grain. I believe it was

Bath A
6.5g metol
30g sodium sulfite
Water to 1 liter

Bath B
12g sodium carbonate
1 liter of water

4 min each bath.

The low sulfite in bath A reduces the grain softening effect while the carbonate in bath B raises the alkalinity above normal development ranges. Maybe I'll shoot a roll in the next couple days and post results here.