Strange Halo effect

srtiwari

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Just developed EDU Ultra 120 film in Rodinal 1:100 Stand development for an hour- like the smooth tonality. BUT, there is this funky "Halo" effect seen at most contrasty edges, even on the negative. So it is not likely to be a scanning artifact, or from post-processing. It gives the image a glow, but doesn't look normal. Could someone tell me what it might be ?

BTW, it was shot with a Mamiya 7 and the 80mm lens.

i-Z4QNkxb-L.jpg
 
With stand developing areas with less exposed areas will have more unused developer that will drift downwards.

I experienced this a lot with high contrast scenes and stand developing.
 
That's the Foma film, and it does that because the Foma films don't have much of an antihalation layer. I've seen it with the 100 and the 400, in any developer I've tried. One of the reasons I never really liked the films.
 
Oops ! I just found the packaging. You're right, of course, Chris. I was confused since the actual roll does not name the brand, and the developed film just says Ultra.
I'm glad its film related, since I don't have (and won't buy) any more. I was afraid it had something to do with my technique !
 
While Chris is correct about the poor anti-halation properties of Foma films, what you are describing and what I am seeing has nothing to do with that. When a film halates it causes diffuse halos around highlights because the light is scattering and reflecting off of the film plate. This is a property of the film regardless of what developer you use. HIE was infamous for it.

What is happening with your negatives is a result of your stand development. Rodinal is a fantastic developer, but the use of it as a stand developer is problematic. Without getting too technical, because of it's high pH Rodinal in effect stays active along the contrast edges of a negative. The fresh developer in the shadow tones along these edges diffuses into the adjacent area and increases the density of these areas resulting in an effect akin to an unsharp mask in Photoshop. Without agitation this mechanism can get very pronounced and this is why you are seeing the halo. It tends to occur more in thicker traditional emulsion films.

Talk to people that have decades of experience with Rodinal (ahem) and you will find that stand developing isn't a good use of the developer. Neither is using it in really high dilutions for other reasons unless you are doing rotary processing. I am not saying that it doesn't work, but it is more difficult to obtain optimum negatives this way consistently. But you know that now firsthand.

If you are hell bent on stand developing the use of lower pH Glycin developers works far better. Fx-2 comes to mind which was developed by Crawley partly for the purpose of stand developing. The only good or famous photographer that used stand developing that I am aware of was William Mortenson. I don't recall what developer he used but I wouldn't doubt it is on the internet somewhere and I wouldn't be surprised if it contained Glycin. I would almost expect it to contain Glycin.

Thanks for weighing in. However, as you probably know, there is a long thread here on Stand development, where many, particularly P. Lynn Miller, have had excellent results with this technique -(http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=927796&postcount=47)

Also, I've never encountered this before. I intend to develop another film today with this technique. and will post results...
 
Striwari, I never said it wouldn't work, but you have evidence right in front of you what happens when it goes wrong. I explained why this happened. You can believe people posting on the internet who think they reinvented the wheel or you can believe your own eyes. At any rate I don't want to waste any more time with this. I wish you luck.

Actually, I appreciated your input. I was merely trying to sift through information to try and understand what happened.
 
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