Dodging Eyeballs

bill spears · Dec 2, 2013

RalphLambrecht said:
two lumps of clay stuck to a thin wire will help in dodging the eyes during exposure

Yes I would second this. You need extremely thin wire, and I used two tiny blobs of blu tack. Helps if you stop down the enlarger lens to give you more time to do the work. Trouble is with stopping down it will exaggerate the shadow from the wire, especially if it's held close to the printing paper. To get round this.... dodge from one side of the image for half the time then switch to the other side so as not to cause a light streak from the wire.

Mark_S · Dec 3, 2013

RalphLambrecht said:
two lumps of clay stuck to a thin wire will help in dodging the eyes during exposure

I also use this method, but rather than clay I use plasticene since it remains workable for a longer time.

Also, assuming that the dodge is less than half the total exposure time, I dodge the eyeballs one at a time - using the wire (or fishing line) with a lump of plasticene on it.

David A. Goldfarb · Dec 3, 2013

I'm also a fan of local bleaching on the print with potassium ferricyanide to bring up the whites of the eyes. Very dilute solution, miniature brush, and have a small hoże with running water handy to stop drips and rinse the bleach solution as soon as you start to get close to the desired value.

bvy · Dec 3, 2013

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I should clarify that I wasn't so concerned about the whites of the eyes, as about the eyes themselves (eyeballs). As I mentioned elsewhere, the kid has bright blue eyes, and while I can't expect those to show in a black and white print, I would like to make them look not brown. So that, more than anything, is what I was trying to achieve. Will bleaching the print still help to that end?

lloyd · Dec 3, 2013

Try a small dodging tool made from a roscoe blue filter or any #5 filter if you're printing on vc paper; lightens but helps to maintain the blacks.......it's worked for me in the past.

sly · Dec 3, 2013

Yes, bleaching can work for very small areas - with a fine brush and practise. Be sure not to skip the practise.

lxdude · Dec 3, 2013

bvy said:
Thanks for the tips, everyone. I should clarify that I wasn't so concerned about the whites of the eyes, as about the eyes themselves (eyeballs). As I mentioned elsewhere, the kid has bright blue eyes, and while I can't expect those to show in a black and white print, I would like to make them look not brown. So that, more than anything, is what I was trying to achieve. Will bleaching the print still help to that end?

So you are trying to lighten the irises, is that correct?

bvy · Dec 4, 2013

lxdude said:
So you are trying to lighten the irises, is that correct?

Correct. I'm uploading the image here so non-subscribers can see it also (it's also in the APUG Gallery).

You can see the whole print, especially around the eyes (where I dodged up high for softness) looks washed out. The scan accentuates this; the print itself doesn't look so flat. Still, I want to push the esposure a bit more while holding back the hair and especially the eyes (irises).

The print above is at grade 5. This is Pan F Plus on Ilford MGIV RC paper (8x10 matte).

Dodging Eyeballs

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