low contrast negs

M

Mike Riches

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Hi All

Have 3 rolls of HP 5 shot on sand . I over EX . one and two stops ,plus yellow filter
All three rolls are dense .

Have tried printing them they are all very gray . Have used a #5 filter
No luck .

Anything I can do to save them ?


Thanks in advance

Mike
 
You can use Selenium Toner to intensify your negatives. I've done this in the past and was able to increase contrast by 1 1/2 grades, with a long-ish soak in a strong concentration.

I recommend testing on one or two shots first to determine the proper time/dilution combination.

And remember that Selenium is poisonous. Always wear gloves and use it in a well ventilated space. Reading the Material Data Safety Sheet is highly encouraged!
 
Before getting into the chemicals, are you sure that simply increasing the enlarger exposure will not do the trick? You should always be able to obtain a print with dark areas (assuming there are shadows in the scene). The question then is does the print have good contrast.
 
Photo_Smith said:
If the negs are really thin you could try intesifier.

Can I see a digisnap of them?
Click to expand...

The OP has negs that are too dense not too thin.

Selenium bonds to the silver that does exist on a negative making it more dense.
Intensifying will not help a dense neg. Only more paper exposure time.

Are you using VC paper? Expose longer and try filtering to increase contrast. As well you can try pre-Flashing the paper to get some tones laid down before exposing the paper with the negative.
 
Wouldn't increasing exposure time simply increase the density of the entire print, leading to a darker but equally flat image?
 
What's really overexposed, the sand?

You could try burning in the lower portion of the image (I assume that's where the sand is?)

Randy
 
f16sunshine said:
The OP has negs that are too dense not too thin.

Selenium bonds to the silver that does exist on a negative making it more dense.
Intensifying will not help a dense neg. Only more paper exposure time.

Are you using VC paper? Expose longer and try filtering to increase contrast. As well you can try pre-Flashing the paper to get some tones laid down before exposing the paper with the negative.
Click to expand...

I read low contrast and presumed flat (mea culper) in that case the remedy is easy, just use longer exposure if you can see it on the negative you can print it, I've got reasonable results from 4-5 stops over.
Pre flashing will lower the contrast by 1-2 grades.
The other route would to use farmers reducer or similar.

But I'd still like to see the negs before giving my professional opinion.
 
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