PMK Pyro target density

[Paddy]

Gordon Hutchings, in his book, recommends exposing and developing for a Zone VII net density of 1.6 for VC paper. When I first read his book, I must have glossed over this info, and as a result, my negs were coming out pretty flat. I was having to dial in a whole whack of magenta, before things began to appear more "normal". That's because I had performed my exp./dev. test using non-stained film density targets. i.e. Zone VIII net density of 1.25-1.35 for diffusion light source printing.

He doesn't elaborate on the reason for needing this much higher Zone VII net density, compared to a non-stained image, but I've come to assume that it's due to the added image stain/density which tends to lower the (highlights)vcontrast when using VC paper.

I'd appreciate having this confirmed/clarified by y'all. Well maybe not y'all, just "from whom it concerns" ;~)

Paddy

 

[Donald Miller]

PMK, especially with the earlier processing recommendations, builds a lot of general stain. This general stain acts as neutral density and effectively lowers the density range of the negative. I imagine that Gordon had not totally thought through the whole process to the point that he had determined that what we are wanting is a negative wherin the density range of the negative matches the exposure scale of the paper. Coupled with that is the stain color of PMK (yellow green) which acts as a contrast reduction factor to the color of light that is projecting the negative onto the paper.

Gordon Hutchings, in his book, recommends exposing and developing for a Zone VII net density of 1.6 for VC paper. When I first read his book, I must have glossed over this info, and as a result, my negs were coming out pretty flat. I was having to dial in a whole whack of magenta, before things began to appear more "normal". That's because I had performed my exp./dev. test using non-stained film density targets. i.e. Zone VIII net density of 1.25-1.35 for diffusion light source printing.

He doesn't elaborate on the reason for needing this much higher Zone VII net density, compared to a non-stained image, but I've come to assume that it's due to the added image stain/density which tends to lower the (highlights)vcontrast when using VC paper.

I'd appreciate having this confirmed/clarified by y'all. Well maybe not y'all, just "from whom it concerns" ;~)

Paddy