Processing Paper Positives

[Kloppervok]

Hello, all.

I'm having some issues with processing frames that I've shot in camera all the way to positives.

I'm using this process:

First Developer 60-90 seconds
Rinse 30 seconds
Bleach R-9 30-60 seconds
Rinse 30 seconds
Clear CB-1 30 seconds
Rinse 30 seconds
Expose to light 40 W bulb for 5-10 seconds at 12 inches
Second Developer30-60 seconds
Fix 30-60 seconds
WashNormal paper washing time
Dry

After the clearing bath, my paper looks just like a perfectly exposed negative. Great, right?

However, after the re-exposure and the re-developing, my frames don't look very good.
Here's an example.

What am I doing wrong? This looks like a solarized image. Is there problem with my clearing step?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

At a guess I would say you aren't exposing enough and that's why the image is black, just like a very underexposed slide.

As a 'negative' the print should look horribly over exposed - almost dead black, sort of like your 'positive' above.

 

[Kloppervok]

So you're saying that I should overexpose in camera, correct?
I'm shooting adoc mcp and I was rating it at iso 2. Any idea how many more stops I should overxpose by?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

So you're saying that I should overexpose in camera, correct?
I'm shooting adoc mcp and I was rating it at iso 2. Any idea how many more stops I should overxpose by?

Overexposure is the name of the game - the final positive image is formed by the silver that is left over after all the developed silver has been bleached away. What will be the highlights will be way over at the extreme of the shoulder on the negative's HD curve.

Try another 3-6 stops and see what happens. You can make an in-camera test strip by making multiple exposures and moving the darkslide in a bit after each exposure - just like one would make a test print in the enlarger.

Photographic paper and standard print developer are not designed for reversal processing - so things get a bit wacky when trying to coax a positive image out of the materials. You might try adding a bit of thiosulfate or thiocyanate to the first developer.