Cutting emulsion with additional gelatin.

[wirral_matt]

Ive seen an emulsion recipe where if you want to sensitise it further you also need to cut the emulsion with more gelatin. ie 60 mins sulphur sensitisation and then add x grams of 10% gelatin. Im wondering why you need to do this? does it prevent the dmax from getting bulletproof too fast?
Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Photo Engineer]

As long as the gelatin in the final melted emulsion is between 5 and 10%, you should have no problem unless the contrast is too high. The addition of gelatin (and the water with it) will soften the gradation of any emulsion. This is just a dilution effect though.

PE

 

[wirral_matt]

Thanks PE, I do tend to find I have a slightly higher contrast than I would like. When pouring plates by hand I guess the thickness of emulsion would play a part too, I tend to be slightly on the thicker coating side.