Fotospeed lith dev + paper.

[Jarvman]

I'm trying out Fotospeeds lith dev and paper. The reason being I thought the 'infectious development' would really boost the contrast of some slightly flat negs, pictures of graffiti along the Berlin wall. I was expecting the blacks to come up very fast and dark, blocking up before the highlights but the whole print just comes up at the same time very murky, muddy brown. This is using it fresh 1+9. Where's the contrast? What am I doing wrong here? Was I expecting the wrong thing from this dev/paper?

 

[Jarvman]

Hmm ok, I think I'm actually exposing it too long, just tried a test strip then and then and although it took alot longer to develop the blacks came up darker first. Confusing when it states to overexpose the paper. Any pointers still welcome.

 

[Mark Fisher]

OK, here are a few thoughts: If the contrast is too low, reduce the exposure (and visa versa). Constant, gentle agitation is needed. Don't poke at the print or you will get marks on the print (particularly if you tone). Good darkroom technique is required. Be careful with safelighting since it is under the safelight so long......and most imoortantly.........if you end up liking, get Tim Rudman's book!

 

[mikeg]

You should be exposing the paper for about 2 - 3 stops more than with a normal developer.

It depends on the look you are trying to obtain, but I would dilute the developer more than 1+9. I tend to use LD20 at 1+1+40 with 1 of old brown. I'd also recommend getting Tim Rudman's first book. Although most of the papers he talks about are no longer available, the information is priceless. Just the troubleshooting table at the back is worth the cost of the book.

Mike

 

[Jarvman]

yeah I think I will get the book. I'm getting some nice results now at 1+9 by just exposing less and developing longer. I've never rocked a test strip for 15 mins before! I'm gonna end up rocking back and fore in the dark at this rate. Some nice olive colours which I never expected at this dilution because I was told to expect colder tones developed neat and pinky tones when near exhausted. This is great fun though and these negs look much better printed than I could at grade 5 with standard dev. I'm hooked! Can't wait to try it out with my first few rolls of Rollei infrared which i'll no doubt be asking for advice on how to use here.

 

[Travis Nunn]

Personally I think developing test strips in lith developer are a complete waste of time. I just make a regular test strip in Dektol and adjust the lith development time from there, anywhere from 2-4 stops over depending on the negative and the desired look I'm going for. You don't need to spend 15 minutes on a test strip.

 

[paxette]

Personally I think developing test strips in lith developer are a complete waste of time.

I kinda agree. If your giving a strip of paper a series of exposures say 20, 30, 40, 50 seconds and you pull the print when you get the blacks where you want then, the times above and below the one you've picked will either be over or under developed. For arguments sake, say you've determined 40 seconds was the "right" time but, it may be that the 30 second exposure was the better one to pick but that area will have been overdeveloped.

It's better to do a few strips at different exposure times and pull them individually when you get the blacks where you want them.

Jarvman, save your spent developer (old brown) and add some to the fresh batch of developer next time. The very first time I used the fotospeed kit I found the development times (following their instructions) were really loooong and, things improved after I added 1 part old brown. And/or increase the dilution of parts A and B.

 

[Mark Fisher]

I agree that test strips are a waste of time. As Travis said, it is "usually" 2-4X the normal exposure. I don't bother with a standard print or a test strip. I take my best guess and print. I usually get it right by the third print. I can't do much better with a test strip so I figure why not get a view of the whole print? I used to be cheap with paper, but life is too short

Other papers you might try if you are interested are Kentmere Fineprint warm tone and Emaks. They are different enough to be interesting.

 

[Jarvman]

I made a real beauty of a church door and wall all covered in vines tonight and it was only exposed at 8 seconds, having made a test strip in increments of 5 seconds. Making a test strip just seems to help in terms of figuring out the contrast I want to get. Will try and get the scanner sorted and post it up. So nowhere near the length of exposures I was preparing to expect. Probably because I'm only printing 6 inches by 6 inches with the head fairly far down. I'll be saving some old brown for tomorrow but won't be adding very much, was thinking 200ml on top of a litre of fresh dev when making the first few 12x16" prints. I'm going for high contrast images but am still getting a nice yellow colour.

 

[Jarvman]

Cheers for the reccomendations Mark, It'd be nice to look at some other papers.

 

[tim rudman]

Personally I think developing test strips in lith developer are a complete waste of time. I just make a regular test strip in Dektol and adjust the lith development time from there, anywhere from 2-4 stops over depending on the negative and the desired look I'm going for. You don't need to spend 15 minutes on a test strip.

Jarvman,
I would agree with Travis here. It's quicker and easier to do a test strip in regular developer and then add 2 or 3 stops exposure (each stop increase doubles the previous time remember - not the original time).
If you want to do test strips in lith dev, the shadow details keeps moving up the strip until you snatch it, so you have to judge it on the highlights as they don't move much (until over developed).
Tim

 

[Jarvman]

Ok Tim thanks, I'm going to have to get a copy of your book to fully get my head around it. Your introductory article is good stuff, looking forward to dunking a few in some gold toner now. I was going for very contrasty images which are achievable best with fresh dev right? In making a test strip I was looking for where the highlights looked good and then further developing to get the blacks. When making more subtle prints from better negs using the dev at higher dilutions I'll make sure to use standard dev for test strips. I don't know what I'm doing, just playing around really, it's good fun though.

 

[tim rudman]

Ok Tim thanks, I'm going to have to get a copy of your book to fully get my head around it. Your introductory article is good stuff, looking forward to dunking a few in some gold toner now. I was going for very contrasty images which are achievable best with fresh dev right? In making a test strip I was looking for where the highlights looked good and then further developing to get the blacks. When making more subtle prints from better negs using the dev at higher dilutions I'll make sure to use standard dev for test strips. I don't know what I'm doing, just playing around really, it's good fun though.

It's not too difficult, just a few basic points to understand. It was always made out to be more mystery than science but it's pretty easy really.
For conrasty prints you will want less exposure. You may also prefer both stronger and fresher developer, depending on your taste and the paper.
Tim

 

[Jarvman]

For conrasty prints you will want less exposure. You may also prefer both stronger and fresher developer, depending on your taste and the paper.
Tim

Aye this is what I've been doing and it's working pretty well. I need to take into account how much the paper darkens down when dry though. My prints haven't got quite the edge they appeared to have when glistening wet.

 

[matti]

To save paper, I make test pieces that I expose one at a time. Then I can pick each one up from the dev by inspection as usual.

/matti

 

[Jarvman]

Just made the same print 12x16" then, a 6 second exposure and a 18 minute ish development! :-| That was with 1 litre fresh and 200ml old brown. Looks pretty nice though. Very stark but there are still some subtleties in the highlights and those should come through more when it dries. Would prefer it to look warmer but that'd be at expense of the contrast eh? This is mega lolz