Traditional Darkroom Print-Making | Between the Pines | My Dark Method | Rainy Day Printing

For my fellow nerds...
Original negative was shot with the Zone VI 4x5 view camera using Arista EDU Ultra 100 film. Printing was performed with Ilford Warm Tone 8x10 FB paper at F/16. Contrast filter #5 with dodging as shown in the video. Paper development in Kodak Dektol at 1:3. A dual fix process was used with Legacy Pro Odorless Rapid Fixer at 1:9. Prints were then toned in Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner for approximately two minutes. A thirty-minute bath in Kodak Hypo Clear 1:4 was implemented prior to the final wash. Minimal spotting was required.
The three hand-made prints are available for immediate acquisition here: bit.ly/Between...
My book of photographs from the coast of California 'On the Left'
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End-music provided with thanks by:
Kevin MacLeod
'Ambient'
Link: incompetech.fi...
License: filmmusic.io/s...

[@randallstewart175]

Drying down the test strip or print in the old microwave to more correctly judge its final density and contrast. That's a trick I first saw many years ago being used by Ansel Adams of all people. I like it!

[@AdamWelch]

It's my fault for never committing to one paper. My fiber dries darker than my resin coated and the resin always a bit lighter than the fiber. I learned the hard way to never put the RC in the microwave 😁

[@randallstewart175]

@@AdamWelch Been there. You only have to make that error once, although you (I) can dry RC in a microwave if really in a hurry. You just have to be very careful at low power. Other point: Having to use your enlarging lens at f 16 is putting it outside its optimal aperture range. Have you considered adding some neutral density in the filter drawer or installing a lower wattage bulb?

[@AdamWelch]

@@randallstewart175 Yes, I have considered ND filters for the enlarger more than once but always end up never going further. I've actually rigged up some of my 100mm square filters twice, maybe three times to extend some extremely short exposures. This just happened to be a fairly thin negative as well. Honestly, much more thin than I thought it was initially. The lens for this particular print was my Schneider Componar 135mm F/4 and for whatever reason it's always printed sharper at F/11 to F/16 and even F/22 doesn't present much diffraction, especially with lower contrasts. Ironically, I have another Schneider (I think it's 50mm F/3.5) that is essentially horrible anywhere outside of F/8-F/11. Here's a question: do you do much contact printing at all?

[@randomsixty]

This is reminiscent of many of my winter weekend evenings.

[@stevenmeitner8477]

I'm impressed you can dodge in such a short exposure. Most of mine are in the 15-20 second range and I still feel rushed sometimes.

[@AdamWelch]

I always intended to switch that bulb out for a lower wattage but of course never did. I also was going to eventually add a swing out filter holder for my nd filters but of course never did that either. So really, any dodging skills I may have were born out of laziness haha It was definitely a challenge and I feel quite a few of my prints suffered for it really. Now that I'm living and printing (contact only) full time on the road in the mobile darkroom it's going to be even more interesting.

[@Stewz66]

The microwave fucking killed me.😂

[@AdamWelch]

They will eventually....

[@Mulva234]

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Soundtrack…great choice!

[@AdamWelch]

Been a long while since this episode but I'm fairly sure it was "A Song for Bob"...man...still gets me. Some Nick Caves' best. Good ear, my friend.

[@michaellong9526]

Nice video and final print. How are you mounting your FB paper. I had a homemade dry mount press I had to leave behind last time I moved because it was ridiculously heavy movers wouldn’t deliver it. Now I’m getting ready to start my darkroom up again and would like to buy a dry mount press but they are very expensive. Have thought about the pressure based adhesive sheets. Do not like the waviness in FB prints using more archival methods. Your thoughts appreciated. Thanks for the efforts in your videos.

[@AdamWelch]

Hey Michael, this is/was always an ongoing problem for me especially now that I've moved onto the road full time. In short, I was never able to get a FB print to reach the level of flatness I wanted. On prints I framed myself I would use archival tape to adhere all the edges of the print to the matte backing and even then the central areas of the print would have slight undulations. I feel the only way to total flatten an FB print for longterm mount is through the dry mount process as you mentioned. I had debated getting my own t-shirt heat press but never did. I'm about to start contact printing again with my 8x10 negs and will be taking my prints to Hobby Lobby (or wherever) to have them all dry mounted. I wasn't familiar with the adhesive sheets you mentioned so I looked them up and they do indeed look promising. I'm just not sure I could cut them precisely enough with the tools I have on hand now.

[@nathaneverett4977]

Beautiful prints! Probably a silly question - why did you dry the prints before toning?

[@AdamWelch]

Hey Nathan, thank you and I really appreciate the kind words. That's not a silly question at all. Personally, the reason why I dry the prints first is so I can have a full measure of the untoned tonality before I put the selenium on the prints. A wet print always looks much different in terms of contrast and overall luminance as opposed to a dry one. Unless I've printed a negative quite a bit and have it 100% dialed in I always dry at least one of the prints first so I know exactly what I'm working with.

[@nathaneverett4977]

@@AdamWelch Makes a lot of sense! Thanks Adam :)