Theory of Contrast, Pulling and Pushing in Black and White Development

[Arjay]

@ Arjay: We amateurs ;-) are now moving ahead on this topic, it would be fun to see your images too. Next week I'll post both RAW and developed scans of my next experiment.

Yep. Will do. However, give me time till January. I'm going to follow mfogiel's suggestion and start with Tri-X and Prescysol EF. Unfortunately, It seems I can't get this developer in Germany, so I will have to order it from the UK - that'll take some time ...

PS For reference, here's the link to mfogiel's contribution with sample images:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1194349&postcount=40

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I'm with mfogiel, if you're scanning, do what will get you the most detail, and adjust contrast on the computer. I know the OP doesn't like post processing, but there is nothing faster or simpler than adjusting contrast in software--and the image retains the qualities that give a film image its particular look.

 

[Bob Michaels]

My take on this is the following:
When you scan, what you really want, is not only to have the highlights and the shadows, but also all the gradual tonal passages in between. This is primarily, why it makes sense to overexpose slightly and keep your development time short, and/or ose a compensating developer on top of this. This way you get a negative which will scan ok as negative without clipping anything, and the histogram will fill completely your little chart in the scanner with a fairly full and gently rounded curve. This is a raw material, from which, mainly with just a slight contrast increasing pull of the curves in the midtones, you get a splendid tonally image. If your film is overexposed and overdeveloped, you risk some serious highlight compression, if it is strongly underdeveloped, the shadows will be compressed. <snip>

Yep, that is what has always worked for me. Exposure biased towards the plus side and development biased towards the underside. You definitely do not want to overdo it.

Scans need to capture everything that is on the film. No more, no less. My best prints come from flat crappy looking scans. I add the contrast where I want it in the image editor (mine is Photoshop). I always use an S shaped contrast curve that boosts the contrast in the midtones extending into the shadows but lets the highlights gradually taper away. The curve shape is tweaked for each print as I think is needed.

One of the things I enjoy most about digital output is that I can put the contrast where I think it should be rather than just an overall increase / decrease. But I have no problem if someone else loves the wet darkroom.