Reducing contrast

[srtiwari]

I use 100 or 400 film to shoot B+W, but often find the contrast too high. I often get negatives difficult to scan. Scanning correctly does help, but I would like to control contrast more even before that.
Aside from using older Leica lenses, which I try to do, I believe overexposing (pulling) film, and underdeveloping help. Anyone have any approximate percentages as a starting point ?
Would 'pulling' 2/3rds stop (e.g. 400 -> 250 iso) and decrease development time by 10 % seem reasonable ? Eventually, I will get to the right combos - just looking to start somewhere.
Any other ways to reduce contrast- other than in Post-processing ?

 

[Mackinaw]

Reducing development time will help reduce contrast. I'd sacrifice a roll of film and experiment. Try reducing times about 25%, for starters, and see what happens.

Jim B.

 

[brandonjscott]

As a very general rule rating a 400 box speed film at 250 and reducing development by 15% should give you decent negative. This of course does vary with the specific film and developer you are using as well as the prevailing lighting conditions of your exposures.

I don't think you'll go wrong, however, on sunny days rating the film at 250 and reducing development by 15%. You should then adjust your development as necessary to get the contrast your looking for after a few rolls.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

What Jim just said: development time reduction is what matters the most, and as he said, that reduction should be considerable: closer to 25-30% than to 10%... Then, you decide exposure (possible pulling) depending on the kind of shadows you want... For shades or overcast it doesn't matter too much, but for sunny scenes you might find you prefer +1 from box speed or +2 if you use a medium yellow filter... The yellow filter plus the filled shadows make a much closer to human sight look...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[f16sunshine]

Try reducing agitation as well as shortening development times (pulling). Many folks agitate consistently from one roll to the next. If you shoot a roll with high contrast scenes less agitation is required. The highlight areas develop more quickly than the shadows. They also exhaust the developer more quickly. If you agitate less you will allow the lower tones to develop without introducing fresh developer to the areas of your highlights causing them to burn. The overall seen will be closer in zones this way (lower contrast). For example. I often shoot Tmax400 at 100-160 in bright daylight conditions. This overexposes the film. I will then reduce normal development time by 25% and agitate only at the beginning and then once more one minute before the end of development (using tmax dev). One warning. Mid-tones can become a bit flat using this method. Here a proper flat (read very full histogram) scan is important. My 2c and experience 🙂

 

[Calzone]

I shoot Fuji Arcos at 100 ISO and Tri-X at 650 ISO, but I use Diafine a two part compensating developer that moderates and compresses the contrast.

Single coated lenses help, but with Diafine I frequently add contrast with filters on old lenses.

BTW Diafine gets reused and does not require replenishment making it very economical if you shoot lots of film. The recommended film speeds though I found to be too aggressive. I make nega tives for wet printing, but they scan well.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Try reducing agitation as well as shortening development times (pulling). Many folks agitate consistently from one roll to the next. If you shoot a roll with high contrast scenes less agitation is required. The highlight areas develop more quickly than the shadows. They also exhaust the developer more quickly. If you agitate less you will allow the lower tones to develop without introducing fresh developer to the areas of your highlights causing them to burn. The overall seen will be closer in zones this way (lower contrast). 🙂

Good point. Less aggitation equals less developement. With Diafine I invert twice in 5 seconds every minute. If I aggitate more I wash out some detail.

Cal

 

[Brian Legge]

Given the film / developer pair you are most comfortable with, try searching flickr for images ala 'acros rodinal minutes'.

That will likely give you a bunch of sample photos with different times. Of course, metering/exposure/scanning/etc will vary but given enough images from different people you can get a sense of what people are getting out of different strategies.

From there, try something, document what you did (how you metered, speed you shot the film at, development, etc). Evaluate the results and adjust. 🙂