Split Grade Printing the Ilford Way Using Multigrade Under-the-lens Filters

How to do split grade printing the Ilford way using a Durst M670 Colour Enlarger and Multigrade under-the-lens filters.

[@stevedigby883]

Thank you for this video. I have wondered about split-grade printing for years but never tried it. Your explanation makes it easy.

[@davecarrera]

Not sure if you will see this Dave, but thank you for explaining this very well indeed. Wishing you well.

[@DarkroomDave]

I'm semi-retired now so don't look in here as often as I used to. Thanks for the comment, pleased you found it useful.

[@llPinkFloydll]

It's great to have such a master printer to give advice to people on KZbin! Thank you for these videos!

[@kwisatz_haderach]

This is probably one of the best channels if it comes to analog printing and deserves 1.8 million subscribers instead of 1800.

[@DarkroomDave]

Pleased it's of use. Dave

[@barmst]

Since learning split grade printing my prints contrast range has improved greatly. Thank you for your teaching's.

[@JakeBorchenko]

By far the best tutorial I have seen on split grade printing. Thank you!

[@LeytonC]

This has basically revolutionised how I make prints in the darkroom, fantastic video...

[@DarkroomDave]

Pleased it helped you. Dave

[@Machster10]

Thanks for info on the sequence of filters used not mattering. Does not matter which order they are used.

[@juliesheetz1]

Now I get it " illumination " Thank you, very elegantly put!

[@DarkroomDave]

+Julie Sheetz You're welcome. Dave

[@illitrait]

...superb stuff, Mr. Butcher! I always meant to try this out but never quite came around to doing it, primarily because I erroneously thought it would be much more complex. Can't wait to have a go now - I'll be using a multigrade head on my Focomat V35, so it'll be a lot easier to just dial in the grades. Thanks a lot for this.

[@ayteeattam]

Awesome! Such a straightforward explanation. Thank you dude.

[@macolive65]

You've been away for a while! I'm very pleased that your back. Your videos are most helpful!

[@DarkroomDave]

Many thanks for your comments Michael. My bad back limited what I was able to do. Making KZbin videos just dropped off the list of things to do for a while. I have another one which just needs editing, on Ilford Above Lens filters. That should be up in a week or two. Dave

[@macolive65]

+Darkroom Dave looking forward to it.

[@BlackLabAdventures]

Would you be able to share what your opinion and preference is concerning filters? Below the lens, or above the lens filters; which would be your choice?

[@macolive65]

I was going to ask the same thing.

[@DarkroomDave]

Under the lens filters are much easier to use and give the same result. Above the lens filters are fiddly to get out of the box under safelight and easily drop through through the filter drawer into the enlarger head, If that happens you have to take the enlarger head apart to get the filter back. Dave

[@milandragojlovich5500]

Very nice and easy to understand explanation; great job!!!

[@deemdoubleu]

Thanks for the explanation, I will be sure to try this out next time.

[@Karreth]

That's much easier than I thought. I will have to give this a try in my darkroom tonight.

[@KevinErhardt]

Thank you Dave, good explanation!

[@DarkroomDave]

Pleased it hit the mark. Dave

[@TheMungo54]

Really useful video, thanks!

[@madlenheather3622]

Great explanation and support for newbies and more advanced. Really helpful!

[@MaxMustermann-yp7zt]

Thanks a Lot of this phantastic advice.

[@andrewfrost8866]

Very interesting Dave, thanks for sharing.

[@DarkroomDave]

Many thanks Andrew. Hope all is well with you? Dave

[@andrewfrost8866]

Darkroom Dave very well Dave. Hope alls good with you and Jan. I've just returned to shooting a little film. 645 and 6x6. Just a little :)

[@DarkroomDave]

We're both well thanks Andrew. I just have to be really careful what I do because of my bad back. If you need any hands-on darkroom help I'm your man! dave

[@andrewfrost8866]

Darkroom Dave keep the back well Dave. And the plan is for some help on one of your darkroom says next year :)

[@DarkroomDave]

Thanks Andrew. We'll look forward to seeing you again, dave

[@kennys6]

The only way i print now thanks to this video...

[@kevinbrum9940]

Great video i use this method a lot now as it takes care of contrast and gives my prints that extra glow , as for burning and dodging,that still happens but for artist purposes. Btw its fantastic on hard to print negatives ,like infrared ones. Long live silver printing looks sooooo much better than digital.

[@stephendeakin2714]

That seems so much easier than using my current f stop meter method, thanks ever so much for demonstration. The durst b & w head on my enlarger is quite slow to change from grade zero to grade five so must get a set of filters.

[@DarkroomDave]

I'm pleased the video was of help. I have an f-stop timer in the cupboard, I never use it now. It doesn't really work for the split grade technique. It was designed more for when graded papers were at their height and single exposure printing with lots of dodging and burning was the norm. When Ilford developed the split grade technique for their vastly improved Multigrade papers with MGIV the f-stop method kind of became redundant. Dave

[@stephendeakin2714]

+Darkroom Dave Looks like I will just be using timer function from now on Dave.

[@ashfaque_1]

Excellent tutorial. Thanks a lot. :)

[@ekawrecker]

Very helpful thank you.

[@fredericvasquez316]

Just ordered the kit :)

[@matthewthomas5997]

Really fascinating, thank you!

[@SuperBruzzler]

Great Video

[@W1nw0rth]

Thank you so much for this, I can't wait to practise this in the next day or so!

[@anderspaxton789]

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[@zevsaint1248]

@Anders Paxton Instablaster :)

[@anderspaxton789]

@Zev Saint I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im trying it out atm. Takes a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@anderspaxton789]

@Zev Saint It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my account !

[@zevsaint1248]

@Anders Paxton Glad I could help xD

[@Alexandermeter]

I am printing a long time, but still thank you for this nice tutorial, learning even more :) !

[@irishvoyageur]

Thanks for the instructions on doing split grade printing. How did you decide to use only 1 second at grade 5 in your final printing when your first one was done at 3 seconds? Thank you!

[@DarkroomDave]

Pleased it was useful. The timing was an educated guess! I look at the test strips and first print and adjust according to what I want the final print to look like.

[@thomassmyth7944]

Top Class... A great, clear, and practical tutorial with minimum waste. May I ask, what Safe Light have you found best for Multi Grade paper. Thomas.

[@DarkroomDave]

I use Ilford 902 safelights and Paterson safelights but any orange or red safelight will be fine. Yellow safelights will be borderline safe and would need checking before using them. Dave

[@IainHC1]

Brilliant!! Awesome vid and information :-)I'm just trying some split grade printing right now but using the colour head (and boy am I struggling!!) I don't really want to use separate filters because I don't want anything in front of the lens.I didn't realise I had to divide the time by 2. I've found grade 5 but am yet to find the softer grades on the head. My enlarger is a Phillips.... complete with a separate hand held electronic filter grade and timer control unit....BUT the numbers for the filters don't really follow in a way I can use the data from Ilford tech sheets :-( I'm working on a hit n miss method at the moment.I'm just off to watch some more of your vid's :-)

[@DarkroomDave]

Ilford under lens filters were/are made by Lee Filters so are the same quality as the ones you put in front of your camera lens so I don't think you will lose quality, as long as you don't put finger prints on the filter itself. Dividing by 2 is just to get you started, it's seldom the end point. The hand-held bit you describe sounds like a built-in exposure meter for printing. If so these don't really work with the split grade technique I've described, they're designed for the old single exposure technique that you used to use with graded papers. You're better off starting from scratch. Also not sure how you manage to find grade 5 but nothing else! Good luck. Dave

[@IainHC1]

My previous comment doesn't really flow well does it. I've found that the lamp for the red filter in my colour head has blown. I think that this has to have an effect on the final mix of light being projected through my negative and that's probably why I'm struggling a bit. I will take your advice and use my Ilford grade filters but I will still try to get my head around the system my enlarger has (no point having it and not understanding how to use it). Thanks for your book too, It was delivered yesterday (Friday). I will be in touch after Christmas to book a darkroom course with you. Thanks for your reply Dave.

[@terrywbreedlove]

This technique may be a good answer to high contrast forest scene. The light coming through the trees and hitting small areas and other areas being in the much darker shade of the trees is a tough shoot.

[@steveh1273]

to increase your contrast you went with #1 filter for 3 seconds and increased exposure time with the #5 filter to 4 seconds. What made you add the 1 second to the #5 filter exposure? I could understand the #1 for 3 seconds and #5 for 3 seconds.

[@DarkroomDave]

I wasn't seeing the level of black in the shadows that I expected, they were more dark grey. In order to add more black I increased the grade 5 exposure time. One second was actually more than was needed but trying to show subtle changes in a video is difficult so I tend to overdo it to make sure changes are seen. The timer that I have on that enlarger is a little basic too and only allows 1 second changes so I would have had to start again by stopping the lens down to make a smaller change! Sorry if it confused you. Dave

[@steveh1273]

Stopping the lens down would complicate the exposure time calculation for sure. I don't know how to calculate time increases for 1/3 or 1/2 stops smaller apertures. There should be something out there for time vs. aperture changes.........Anyway, you basically went by feel / experience to add the extra high contrast you needed.

[@DarkroomDave]

I prefer to call it skilled guesswork! Dave

[@TheBeurne]

Darkroom Dave but by adding one second, you basically increased the exposure time right? I don’t get why we change the exposure time while split grading. Another thing is don’t get: when you split grade #0 3sec and #5 3 sec, isn’t it the same than 2.5 6sec? I’m a bit lost with the grading

[@AI-Hallucination]

Brilliant Dave fucking love you man been watching your videos for ages just realised I had hit the subscribe button

[@jezaitkens6676]

Darkroom Dave You increased the time for grade 5, but filter grade 0 to grade 1. Any reason why you didn't just decrease the exposure for grade 0?

[@DarkroomDave]

Increasing the time would just increase the density, it wouldn't change the overall contrast. I wanted higher contrast over the whole print so increased the low contrast exposure from grade 0 to 1 to achieve it. Reducing the exposure time at grade 0 would have increased the overall print contrast but the density would have been too low. Dave

[@Jeztastic]

Ah I see.

[@Kref3]

Hey Dave. When you do a larger print, like 12x16 or 16x20 (which is the largest I can do in my darkroom), Do you use small papers in several spots to capture the highlights, midtones and darks?

[@Kref3]

And after watching some of your videos I realize that you exclusively use RC paper for your videos. Do you not use bayrta FB papers generally because they do not offer you anything that RC does offer, too, or is this only to keep things simple in the videos?

[@DarkroomDave]

always use FB papers for my own printing for lectures and fine art prints for clients. I only use RC for darkroom workshops and videos to keep things simple. I will do some FB videos at some stage but not right now.

[@DarkroomDave]

No, I do 2 or 3 test strips on the same place to judge what I need for the whole print and just go for it, even with 24 x 20 inch paper. I've got the hang of printing FB over the years.

[@redbank542]

Excellent!

[@Gellyvision]

Hi Dave. Your videos are great. Thanks for making them. Quick question, can I use any plastic measuring jugs for mixing chemicals, or does it have to be paterson? Also, what do you think of accordion bottles for storing chemical? Do they actually improve its life? Many thanks

[@DarkroomDave]

Hi Kenny, black and white processing chemicals can be used in any rigid plastic or glass measuring cylinders or jugs. Accordion bottles are good to store made up chemicals as they reduce the air in the bottle so chemicals should last longer (less oxidation). Don't keep them for too long though, oxygen can still diffuse through the walls of the bottle and cause oxidation over time. Hope that helps. Dave

[@NahuelBralo]

you focus whit the contrast filter? or not? thanks a lot! regards from Argentina!

[@DarkroomDave]

No point in having the filter blocking part of the light while you're focussing. Best to focus then put filter in place. I do stop the lens down to the f-stop that I print at for focussing though.

[@terrywbreedlove]

I have a photo I just printed using the split grade technique. I like how my white water looks and want to retain that but I have a dark log I want more detail in. Which filter do I give more time to to get more detail in shadows ? I am assuming the grade 0 filter ?

[@DarkroomDave]

Hi Terry, if the light areas are good then don't change the grade 0 exposure. It's the grade 5 time that needs to change. Try reducing the time at grade 5 until you see the detail you want. Good luck. Dave

[@smyffmawzz]

Did you stop your enl lens down after focusing and prior to exposing the print .And if so , To what ?

[@DarkroomDave]

I usually focus at the aperture that I use for the exposures. This is usually f8 on my f4 80mm Apo Rodagon. Dave

[@pcanh1234]

Iam confused, I've been tying split printing., the Iford filters say to double time on the 4 and 5 filters and 1 to 3 half the time, the prints came out far too light at 3secs on a 6 secs test,.so I doubled to 12 secs grade 4 and 1 half grade 0, came out ok.

[@DarkroomDave]

Just ignore the Ilford fiddle factors. Use whatever grade and exposure time works to get a good print. PS sorry for delay in responding. Dave

[@hydrodynamica9233]

Hey Dave I've always used above the lens filters but I want to get one of these below the lens kits. In your experience do you notice any print quality loss from below the lens?

[@DarkroomDave]

No, they give the same result. The under lens filter needs to be clean, no scratches or fingerprints. The above lens filters this isn't so important.

[@Machster10]

Just keep the filters above the lens and all is cool.

[@jesperbent3685]

Hi dave. Im starting to do color prints and ive done it for a while on kind of hit and miss filtersettings on my color m605. Now i found a old durst color negative analyser ii and cant google anything about. Do you by chance know how this works?

[@DarkroomDave]

No, never used one. It's always much quicker for me to print without one. Dave

[@rob9709]

Hi Dave, thanks a lot for the job of making this video. I'm a student at the Art Academy in Brussels. I was very interested about your printing method. I spent some hours experimenting your method yesterday to find out how split grade could improve my prints. So to be clear... let's say my overall base time is 14 seconds filter 2.5>>> 7 seconds with filter 0, and 7 sec with filter 5>>> if highlights need more details I increase the filter 0 exposure time...(1 sec for instance...) if I need deeper black in shadows I increase the filter 5 exposure time...(1 sec for instance) which means an overall time exposure of 16 seconds (8+8) instead of 14sec….. Is that right ? So you DO change the basic overall time... Thanks a lot !

[@DarkroomDave]

Hi Rob, don't get hung up on the precise times for the 2 exposures. They don't matter. Use whatever time gives you the best print. The grade 2.5 exposure is just to give you a ball park time as a starting point for the split grade print. Good luck. Dave

[@jesperbent3685]

What f stop do you use?

[@DarkroomDave]

I usually use 2 stops down from wide open, so on my f4 lenses that's f8. I sometimes use f11 if I need a longer exposure time to allow for accurate burning or dodging. Dave

[@jesperbent3685]

Ok thanks dave. Ive been trying hard to make b &w on my durst m605 color setting my filters to 0 and starting with a 2.5 under the lens ilford filter. Ive been doing test strips again and again : from f 11 with 5 sec increaments to the last one here f5.6 with 10 sec increaments . The fist one was all blank when developed and the last one with 5.6 and 10 sec incr. So the longest ive been on is 50 sec at f.5.6 ..is that to short a time??! Eben here the image is kind of all washed out. What the heck is going on. I just did some 40x40 ra4 prints ..ofcourse with a 80 mm and so on...so i guess it cant be the bulp. Ive renewd my developer and fixer but with the same washed out images. Im trying to do a 30x40 bandw print . Can you help me?😫 ( it was no problem when i had the m601 condenser enlarger btw)

[@Foxglove963]

@@jesperbent3685 I use a Durst CLS 1840 diffusion color enlarger, it accepts 8 X 10" negs and it works also very well for B & W. I can do multiple exposures. I also use a condensor Ahel type 1200 45, I need to swap condensors for 35 mm, for roll film and for 4 X 5" film formats. In my experience the very best exp. meter is the Zone Master by RH Designs, England, in which you can feed the paper type and other variables, so that you don't need to make all that many test prints.

[@TobiJenkins]

Hi Dave. The final print was with grade one @ 3 secs and grade five @ 4 seconds. What does this technique give you as opposed to printing say 7 seconds @ grade 3. I thought the highlights were controlled by the time and contrast (blacks) by the filters. Best Tobi.

[@DarkroomDave]

Hi Tobi, humble apologies for my tardy response. Not sure how I missed your comment and question. If papers responded in an ideal way you're right the grade 3 print would be very similar to the split grade. Fortunately they're not, so split grade works. The low contrast exposure gives more detail in the final print and largely controls the overall print contrast. The high contrast exposure gives you a lot of control over the blacks and shadow details. Hope this is still of use. Dave

[@krishartsphotography5643]

Great video Sir , Thank you :)

[@akinoname6622]

Great

[@joseph5ize]

una pregunta; habra acaso una ampliadora digital?? que en vez de meterle un film de 35 mm, pueda proyectarse la imegen pero de un medio digital????? mucho me ayudaria su respuesta. espero me haya comprendido

[@juliesheetz1]

this is genius, who knew! what is contrast versus density ? thanks in advance;)

[@DarkroomDave]

Contrast is usually understood in photo terms to mean the rate of increase of density with increased exposure. Grades 0 to 5 on Ilford Multigrade paper all have the same maximum black density, for any given surface. High contrast is then achieved from a high rate of increase of density from small increases in exposure. Low contrast needs a much lower rate of density increase as exposure increases. On film it's usually called the Gamma and you choose what Gamma to develop your film to, which effectively means the contrast.

[@monochrome17]

Why split grade when a single grade setting gives perfectly good results?

[@DarkroomDave]

Split grade printing gives you a tool to eliminate or reduce image manipulation. In other words you need less dodging and burning. If you have a technique that avoids image manipulation then fine. The technique was invented by Ilford in the early 1990's as a method to make darkroom printing easier for more people.

[@JamesOxford98]

Is you son also named Dave and run an an electrical engineering channel?

[@DarkroomDave]

No, no known relation

[@baudad]

Are you saying that the print you got by using two filters could not be obtained by using a single filter? Goes against what people like David Vestal and Howard Bond have said.

[@DarkroomDave]

No that's not what I have said. You may produce similar prints using both methods but the Split Grade method makes it easier.

[@jeta1383]

@@DarkroomDave May make it easier BUT easier is equal to complacency. Isn't the point of split grade printing is to create greater creative control over your full contrast tonality?

[@DarkroomDave]

If something is easy it doesn't mean you are complacent in using it. As a pro printer I want the easiest, quickest process to give me the print I want. Time is money. It also allows great creativity because instead of just having full and half grades using filters you effectively have an infinitely adjustable grade range between 0 and 5 by using split grade printing.

[@Igaluit]

I use this only to rescue diffficult or poorly exposed negatives.

[@DarkroomDave]

That's fine. If you are happy with your darkroom processes then stay with them. Split Grade is the technique that was developed by Ilford printers and technical teams for use with Multigrade papers. It makes printing much easier for all negatives, except thin ones with little density. It is one of the most powerful darkroom printing techniques because it removes the need for dodging and burning with lots of negatives. Dave

[@Igaluit]

I'm not against this technique and I know some photographers who use this technique exclusively. I find I sometimes get a disturbing sheen or shine. Sometimes it works very well. It depends on the negative. As for the burning and dodging, it becomes much more difficult with split grade. How much will you dodge or burn with the white filter or the black. Sometimes, just buring-in the white is not enough and you must do the blacks a little bit too. Can get real complicated.

[@DarkroomDave]

I can't see how the exposure technique can affect the surface appearance. Dave

[@TomE1248]

I read sheen or shine as refering to highlights...