Negative Intenisfication

Silverpixels5 · Dec 14, 2004

I seem to have a bit of a problem with a roll of FP4+ that I (under)developed. I developed it in d-76H 1:1 with a little KBr thrown in. Well it seems I had a bit too much KBr b/c my developement time was way off by the looks of my negatives. They are extremely thin, underdeveloped, or whatever term you'd like to use. The negatives were properly exposed, but I'm not sure if that matters now that i've developed and fixed them. Anyway, I was going through 'The Darkroom Cookbook' and was thinking of using the Kodak In-5 Silver Intensifier formula. Does anyone have experience with this intensifier? Is there another one that I could use that will work just as well? The negatives are pretty faint, but I can see an image in each frame (35mm). Can I save this roll, or am I just s.o.l? Thanks!

lee · Dec 14, 2004

Ron,
are they something you cannot shoot again? If not, throw them away and redo the shoot. If you just want to play then go ahead but I don't think you will gain much more than a stop. good luck

lee\c

Silverpixels5 · Dec 14, 2004

Well I can and can't if that makes any sense. They weren't terribly important pictures (just some snapshots of me and my dogs, and my girlfriend and my dogs). So I can always shoot more, but of course I want those, since I guess they capture that particular moment. A full stop or so may give me something thats printable. Anything less than a stop probably won't do much good.

Woolliscroft · Dec 14, 2004

Try printing at hard constrast.

David.

Poco · Dec 14, 2004

I've used the silver intensifier, and it pulled up the shadows much better than Selenium. But it's expensive, slow, and very dirty working. I'd definitely try it out on some trash film first to get a feel for it. Also make VERY sure there are no contaminants on the film or the intensification will be uneven and you can even end up with brown splotchiness. In fact, wash the living crap out of any film you want to try it on before using it.

All that said, the stuff really works.

lee · Dec 14, 2004

Ron,

The selenium dilution is about 1+4 for as long as it works. Poco gives good info also. Good Luck.

lee\c

clay · Dec 14, 2004

Ron:

I tried out that formula as an experiment on a thin negative recently, and it does work fairly well. The only downside is that it involves 4 separate solutions, silver nitrate (wear gloves!) and there is also a timing element involved since it supposedly starts going 'off' once it is mixed. Another thought is to bleach/redevelop in a staining non-sulfite developer and hope that you get some boost from the stain density.

Clay

Silverpixels5 · Dec 14, 2004

Is it possible to bleach and re-develop in a staining developer, and if that isn't sufficient, then run it through a negative intensifier?

clay · Dec 14, 2004

I can't say from direct experience, but i believe that the stain is affecting only the gelatin and the silver intensifier actually deposits some additional silver on the negative (i.e. physical development like you do in wet plate processes) so my guess is that yes, you could do both. But I would definitely experiment on a loser shot from the roll first and make sure your process variables are tight.

Robert Hall · Dec 14, 2004

I would give that a try. Do the bleach and re-develop a few times. Make sure you rinse the bleach completely each time. (I use a potassium dichromate then redevelop in PMK.)

After that is done, if you still don't have enough you may try (this is a one shot deal) to bleach and redevelop in a sulfide (sepia) toner. They don't look much more dense but they certainly print that way. I seem to remember reading about this in Photo Techniques quite a while ago.

But remember that Sepia or selenium are the final chances. Once you've done it, it's done.

Ole · Dec 14, 2004

I would certainly try a staining developer first. I have used 1 tsp pyro, 2tsp potassium carbonate in 500ml water with good results. No sulfite at all, so the developer died as I was working. But that didn't matter at all, nor did the (very) high base fog: A slightly thin negative was suitable for POP printing after this treatment!

Silverpixels5 · Jan 11, 2005

Well tried the intensification today with In-5, and while it worked, I observed the craziest things. One, the negative has an almost unicolor appearance to it. I see colors of yellow, amber, brown, and black. Second, and this is the kicker, if i look at the negative in front of a black or dark background, I see a positive image. I won't get a chance to print it until this evening. Has anyone observed anything like this before?

clay · Jan 11, 2005

The IN-5 behaves as a physical developer, meaning that it actually deposits additional silver onto the negative. Ideally, this deposit is in proportion to the original image forming silver. You have in effect used a process similar to that used to create ambrotypes in wet plate collodion, which is also a physical development process - the usual wet plate ambrotype developer is actually an acidic mixture of iron sulfate, everclear and acetic acid, and not the typical high pH developers we normally use (except for MAS amidol, which is acidic).

The ambrotype is an underexposed overdeveloped negative that appears to be positive when placed on a black background because the silver in the highlights reflects light and the clear areas just let the black background come through, and thus appear black. I guess you could use your process to make faux film based ambrotypes if you wanted!

Silverpixels5 said:
Well tried the intensification today with In-5, and while it worked, I observed the craziest things. One, the negative has an almost unicolor appearance to it. I see colors of yellow, amber, brown, and black. Second, and this is the kicker, if i look at the negative in front of a black or dark background, I see a positive image. I won't get a chance to print it until this evening. Has anyone observed anything like this before?

gainer · Jan 12, 2005

Ole said:
I would certainly try a staining developer first. I have used 1 tsp pyro, 2tsp potassium carbonate in 500ml water with good results. No sulfite at all, so the developer died as I was working. But that didn't matter at all, nor did the (very) high base fog: A slightly thin negative was suitable for POP printing after this treatment!

Speaking of base fog. The silver part of the base fog can't be any greater than the original unless, perchance, the original fixation was incomplete. The pyro adds stain to that base fog, but so will any other staining developer. You could as well use hydroquinone in carbonate solution, or catechol, as long as you leave out the sulfite. The dye colors are somewhat different, but all will bump up the contrast, especially on graded papers.

Ole · Jan 12, 2005

gainer said:
... The silver part of the base fog can't be any greater than the original unless, perchance, the original fixation was incomplete. The pyro adds stain to that base fog, but so will any other staining developer. ...

Absolutely correct. I should have written base stain instead. The whole negative is brown, but contrast is greatly enhanced.

Claire Senft · Jan 12, 2005

bleach and redevelop

If you give a couple of cycles of bleach and redevelopment in a staining developer and use a graded not a VC paper you will gain considerable contrast
far beyond what selenium is likely to do.

Negative Intenisfication

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