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Pyrocat - "Interesting" edge effects.

rwboyer

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Location
MD USA
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Medium Format
I found 8 rolls of TX that I exposed 9 years ago and processed them about a month ago. I just got around to really looking at some of the negatives. On some of the rolls I ended up fooling around with some development things that I have not done before with Pyrocat HD (which I use for just about everything - It's cheap and good).

I used semi-stand development with this roll and guess what - The edge effects are so strong and wide spread that they are probably too much for a neg that must be enlarged. This is just a random crappy frame off that roll but check out the effect where the mask/hat meet lighter tones. It's almost like those "halos" that yo-yo's get in PS when they go a bit to far.






RB
 
It's amazing how different films and developers behave in semi-stand development. The degree of enlargement also makes a big difference. I found that PanF+ exaggerates edge effects in TFX-2 semi-stand. Thanks for posting this, now I can avoid a similar problem.

Peter Gomena
 
That's often called a mackey line, among other names, and many people prefer this effect as it gives the appearance of better sharpness.
 
Mike1234 said:
That's often called a mackey line, among other names, and many people prefer this effect as it gives the appearance of better sharpness.
Click to expand...

Yep - no crap but... based on my experiences with a lot of film dev combos "edge" on TX in pyrocat with semi-stand is a lot wider than other film and dev combos I have seen over the last couple decades. Just thought that would be interesting to a few people out there that try to create edge effects.

RB
 
Usagi said:
I have similar edge effects/mackey lines with Pyrocat-HD 1:1:100, Neopan 400 and "partial stand" (first minute continuous agitation, then 10s every 3th minute).

On 13x18cm print they are way too visible...
Click to expand...

Interesting - I wonder why the edge is SO much wider physically than other developers of similar activity? Not that I need to know but it is curious. I wonder if anyone uses this wide edge effect for something useful with smaller format film?

RB
 
I've gotten something similar eons ago when I used xtol (I use HC-110 exclusively). I've always toyed with the idea of doing some nudes printed down with a light gray background to enhance the look. It's good to know of a way of making it happen on command.
 
If you want a thinner mackey line (line of definition) then use finer grain film.
 
Mike1234 said:
If you want a thinner mackey line (line of definition) then use finer grain film.
Click to expand...

Actually I do not think that has much to do with the width of the edge effects. The diffusion of development byproducts probably is not that affected by how big or small the film grain is and as you can clearly see the width of the effect in this case is a couple orders of magnitude the size of the grain.


RB
 
RB... I respectfully disagree but I'm happy to be proved wrong which is a common occurrence.
 
I'm not sure but it seems to me that the benefits or problems with aggressive edge affect is most closely related to which light source you intend to use ... contact printing, diffusion and point light sources printing may exploit this processing effect differently ....
 
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