Mad Science: Tri-X @ 12,500

polyglot said:

Man, you need to scale your images.

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Yes, sorry. Reduced.

Lee L said:

There's fairly obvious bromide drag or other stand effects from the film sprocket holes along the left side of the rose stem image.

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I see a bad crop and a water streak, but it could be a little drag. Had I had grander plans for the image I would have taken more care in the drying, developing and crop. It's nothing more than a proof of concept; intentionally left nakid. The images perposly had infocus/out of focus parts to reveal as many aspects of the push as possible. I am pleased it came out as well as it did.

I don't understand why neg scans matter, especially here at APUG.

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I kind of agree. I don't care how well negatives scan, only how they print.

BetterSense said:

I kind of agree. I don't care how well negatives scan, only how they print.

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It's a fair point, but if you're trying to show something about the negative itself, a scan might be more revealing than a print. Neither one *is* the original negative, of course, and both can be manipulated---I kind of assume that someone posting to say "I want to show you something about this neg" is unlikely to be doing that in either case, though.

-NT

ntenny said:

It's a fair point, but if you're trying to show something about the negative itself, a scan might be more revealing than a print. Neither one *is* the original negative, of course, and both can be manipulated---I kind of assume that someone posting to say "I want to show you something about this neg" is unlikely to be doing that in either case, though.

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I use the scan to measure the density of a grey card. This let's me know if my dev times are right or not. Makes strip tests go much quicker, especially when you don't need a hard result. Useful when finding dev times in pushing film.

mrred said:

I see a bad crop and a water streak, but it could be a little drag.

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I'm talking about the density variations along the long edge that match sprocket hole spacing.

Lee

It is SO easy to see what any degree of pushing will accomplish - just do the same Photo 101 film test you probably did with Tri X and D76 and thought the instructor was a pain in the ass because you wanted to go make art.

Find a shadowed, daylight scene that meters for middle gray at f/5.6, using a speed between 1/250 ~ 1/60.

Using your push speed, and your developing formula, shoot the range from f/2 to f/16. Normal development and box speed will make a neg that contact prints middle gray, with 3 distinct shades of gray darker, before falling into paper black. If you have the right development time for the push speed, your middle gray frame will BE middle gray. If it is lighter than gray, use a higher speed. If it is darker than middle gray, develop longer.

My first teacher, who learned his craft in 1914 and taught me in 1968, and who used Rodinal the first day he went into the darkroom,and eberyday thereafter, told me the only thing to remember about Rodinal is that "there is a useful development time for any exposure". Why that is true is beyond the scope of an Internet Forum, but it is enough to say that if you get your exposure and development to agree, you can aim your camera and make something that you want middle gray exactly right, whether it is a 3 stop pull, or a 5 stop push.

The thing that you MUST find out for yourself is what your palette will be at any speed. That's easy, and it will let you get the pictures you want to get, and make the most of your 'mad science'.

Or, you can just fart around. :munch:

I love your images, I have to remember the formula to use!

Jeff

Leighgion, I absolutely love the cat and the dress photos in particular. I bet the prints would look amazing, with grain and all. Thanks for sharing your images.