DEALING WITH DRY DOWN by Les McLean

[Sean]

Les has contributed another great article to APUG. Thanks Les! Everyone can discuss the article in this thread.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[chrisl]

Very nicely done article Les! Thanks for sharing your experience with dry down. I personally haven't been at a level of competence to even consider dry down I've felt in the past. But I'll def. give my paper a test and see for myself finally firsthand. The photo's you posted were quite impressive in showing off the phenomena. Amazing!

Thanks again for the great article!

Chris

 

[fhovie]

Great Article Les. I have three on my wall that were spectacular in the soup and only remind me of what I saw now while dry. I will certainly be using this good technique for future fiber printing.

 

[Brett]

Yes, good article, and excellent technique!

With experience, dry-down is easy to guestimate, but some years ago (’98 ) I got caught-out in the worst way. I was producing a shot for an Arts festival, which quite obviously had a deadline of: 5pm, Friday (the whatever). It was off in the distance, I had a very specific concept in mind, and I started some months in advance. I was running a large studio at the time (¼ mil $ turnover), and we were approaching our busiest time of the year. I wasn’t happy with the first shoot, the make–up artist didn’t show for the second shoot, had to change models for the third shoot, and got the shots I was after, at the fourth shoot. Excellent! But by now, I was almost out of time, and working 14 – 18 hour days.

To keep it short, due to availability, I had purchased a ‘roll’ of FB paper (Kodak) that I was not particularly accustomed to, and had no time to test. The evening before the deadline, I was to be found, locally bleaching some unwanted image areas from the negs with a very fine brush, and at 2am, my wife was helping me expose and process the 1m x 1.2m (3’4” x 4’) FB prints by hand. I tried to allow for dry-down, and produced two final prints, one I thought would be perfect, and one just a little more detail in the highlights. In the soup, I thought either would pass, and it would just give me an option. My wife went home to bed, and I fixed, washed, toned, washed, and hung the prints in the studio to dry. I put heaters and fans on them, and grabbed two hours sleep on a pile of blankets in the corner. When I woke, they were still very, very wet, and I was getting very worried about the mounting, spotting, finishing, and framing. No . . . really, I was probably only worried about the deadline.

Now . . . for the punch line . . . ‘neither print was right’. One was too dark, and one too light. One dried down too much, and was a little flat. The other didn’t develop sufficient detail in some of the lighter skin tones (to close to base white). To use Les’s vernacular, they did not ‘sing’, or, they were a little off key.

Les’s advice is sound. Test your papers if ‘YOU’ don’t want to come SECOND.

Brett.

 

[ianaldc]

I regret to say I 'cheat' when it comes to dry-down - by using a microwave oven to dry test strips of the critical area(s) before making a final print.

 

[Ed Sukach]

I regret to say I 'cheat' when it comes to dry-down - by using a microwave oven to dry test strips of the critical area(s) before making a final print.

So did Ansel Adams.

 

[Annemarieke]

Thanks for a very interesting article, Les! I mainly print in fibre, and often have the disappointing drying-down problems when I "guessed" wrong. I am certainly going to do the test you describe!

 

[bmac]

I regret to say I 'cheat' when it comes to dry-down - by using a microwave oven to dry test strips of the critical area(s) before making a final print.

You are not alone!

 

[clogz]

Les, a question. In your article on the dry down effect (written in your usual clear manner) you said that the RH Stopclock takes this effect into account. Does that go for the Analyser Pro as well?

Hans

 

[Les McLean]

Les, a question. In your article on the dry down effect (written in your usual clear manner) you said that the RH Stopclock takes this effect into account. Does that go for the Analyser Pro as well?

Hans

The dry down compensation is available only on the Stop Clock Pro.

 

[clogz]

Les, thanks for your quick reply. Now I am going to peruse your article and do some testing.

Hans

 

[Jeremy]

this question is just trivia, but how does dry down on RC paper compare to that of fiber? I've yet to use fiber and I was just curious.

 

[bmac]

Typically, Drydown with Fiber is much more dramatic.

 

[J.Leslie]

I have had a similar struggle recently, but not with fiber paper. Is this dry down only a problem with fiber media?

I think I have narrowed my problem down to the temperature of the light box. When it is warmer/hotter as it is after I have been setting up before a test; the light is dimmer. Like ianaldc, I generally let my prints dry completely before final printing, but I don't use a dryer so by the time I take the final print; the light box is much cooler and the light is brighter. This phenomenon also is visible both in exposure and color with color prints. Cooler = prints more lavender while warmer = prints more chartruese. I know these aren't "photographic" colors, but they are the correct visual description.

I wonder though if maybe the prints I am having problems with might be ones I rushed the test drying a bit and maybe my light box theory is all wet...pardon the pun. Back to testing.

 

[Les McLean]

this question is just trivia, but how does dry down on RC paper compare to that of fiber? I've yet to use fiber and I was just curious.

Jeremy

Fibre paper dries darker because the paper base shrinks as it dries causing the grain of the emulasion to close thus the image darkens. RC paper is on a plastic base which does not shrink as it dries.

 

[Jeremy]

thank you, Les. I was just wondering as I did your test and had a very negligible In my own non-scientific way I just subtract half of a second from my print times (my times are usually consistent from one print to the next) and everything works out great. This subtraction I've discover is not due to dry down, but to the lights that I look at my prints under when wet compared to those it would be displayed in.

 

[lee]

thank you, Les. I was just wondering as I did your test and had a very negligible In my own non-scientific way I just subtract half of a second from my print times (my times are usually consistent from one print to the next) and everything works out great. This subtraction I've discover is not due to dry down, but to the lights that I look at my prints under when wet compared to those it would be displayed in.

Jeremy,
I don't think I could see a one half second difference.


lee\c

 

[inthedark]

Jeremy,
I don't think I could see a one half second difference.

Uhm, on a three second shot you sure can, on a ten second shot you mostly can, but after about 30 second shot. . .well then no, probably not. Depending on lights and aperatures a three second shot is not unusual in my shop.

 

[lee]

Most of my exposures are not in the 3 second range. Thirty or more is more like it for me.

lee\c

 

[Jeremy]

my prints are usually made in the 8-12 second range... sorry, i mistyped though... it shoud be one to one and a half

 

[Donald Miller]

One and one half seconds allowance for drydown is 16% on a 8 second exposure and 12.5 % on a 12 second exposure. Both of those will probably, depending on paper used, give a dried print with lighter values then those a wet print would lead you to want.

Jeremy, are you evaluating the light values of the print when you are making your assessments? The dark values would probably be more difficult to judge then the high values. The reason for a percentage evaluation for drydown is that as exposure times increase or decrease the percentage will give an actual transferable value to assign to your exposure times.

 

[Jeremy]

you're right, when I print I usually look at the dark values and when the "final" print is dry the darks look "right" so I assume I have what I want. I'm hoping to print on sunday as I cleaned my enlarger today before a july 4th party. When I print I'll take a closer look at what I'm doing and make sure to evaluate my prints in the same light that they'll be viewed under... I'll also dry a couple in the microwave to make sure I'm happy with them.