film negative darkness to paper contrast

Is there an actual method to the madness of figuring out a contrast grade for a paper like ilford multigrade 4 rc deluxe or any other one?

I have negatives that were somewhat darker, but when shot at 2 came out ok, others that were same darkness or slight darker, came out as solid black or "only faint bits of portions that were silver or solid white in the negative" when done at 3 or 4.
on those slightly darker/just darker, i have to actual take my time to see the image on the negative strip when held up, but on the ones that printed ok, i could see a "photo" when looking at them in plain light.

is it better to aim for a film negative with LESS huge swings between black and white? or is it choosing a lower contrast number for darker negatives

Which lens filter you need when making prints in the darkroom comes with practice, but as you say, yes, choosing a lower number of filter for a darker negative is generally the way to go. The opposite also applies, in that a very thin negative, generally requires a more contrasty filter, like number 4 or 5.

The way to find the correct exposure for any negative,but especially when starting out, is to do a test strip of various exposures.

One of the main things to remember, is even if your prints or test-strips come out as 'solid black' or with 'only faint bits', ALWAYS leave the test-strip or print in the developer for the WHOLE time given on the bottle, which is generally 1 minute for RC papers and longer for FB. Following this you get consistency and you can then increase or decrease the exposure time or open up or close down the lens aperture a stop or so.

If you are continually getting VERY dark negatives, it may be you are over-exposing or over-developing the film, and on the other side, if your negatives are too light and thin, then you are under-exposing or under-developing them.

Take it slowly and you will soon be producing prints that you are happy with.

Terry S

Wow, Terry, yours is the only reply in over a month- most unusual for Photrio and what might be worse is that a few days after tballphoto's inquiry he hasn't been seen so it may have been a waste of your time? Its all a little strange, I feel

pentaxuser

Not clear if your negatives are too dense (overexposed)

somewhat darker, but when shot at 2 came out ok, others that were same darkness or slight darker

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or too contrasty (over developed)

figuring out a contrast grade for a paper (...)

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a film negative with LESS huge swings between black and white

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Difficult to figure out from your write-up. Could you post a digi-pic of representative negatives against a white background such as a computer screen displaying a uniform white image, or a piece of white paper taped to a window.

As bernard_L says, you need to distinguish between negs that are too dense (overexposure) or too contrasty (overdevelopment).
Highlights can suffer in both cases, but density (placement) of shadow detail will tell you about exposure - they need to be at proper density before you can go after development time, in my experience.
One can influence or affect the other, but your filter choice when printing is based on contrast, not density of the negative.

I hope that #4 and 5 help others as the OP may have left us - see my #3

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

I hope that #4 and 5 help others as the OP may have left us - see my #3

pentaxuser

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The OP previously made a good number of posts (over 200) but as you say hasn't been seen since December 2021, just a couple of days after making this post..

People disappear from this site and others for many reasons. Let's hope the OP comes back to read the advice given.

Terry S