Salvaging Underdeveloped Negs

charlemagne · Jun 28, 2017

How exactly does "bleach to completion" look? I associate bleach with something that looks white. Whill it look white? Or will it look like a blank, transparent film?

Rudeofus · Jun 29, 2017

Thanks, Doremus, I may end up trying this once with some underdeveloped negs, but probably with some Catechol based developer. Can you give some numbers from experience, how many paper grades you gain from this kind of post treatment?

@charlemagne : "bleach to completion" typically leaves behind a faint to medium brown image, especially in the darker sections of your image. My impression is that this brown image is stronger if the paper is bleached a long time after initial processing, so it may be due to some buildup of Silver Sulfide.

charlemagne · Jun 29, 2017

Rudeofus: thanks for the explanation.

OP: have you tried the chromium intensifier and/or the sepia toner yet? I am curious to hear how your negatives came out.

Doremus Scudder · Jun 30, 2017

Rudeofus said:
Thanks, Doremus, I may end up trying this once with some underdeveloped negs, but probably with some Catechol based developer. Can you give some numbers from experience, how many paper grades you gain from this kind of post treatment?

@charlemagne : "bleach to completion" typically leaves behind a faint to medium brown image, especially in the darker sections of your image. My impression is that this brown image is stronger if the paper is bleached a long time after initial processing, so it may be due to some buildup of Silver Sulfide.

Hi Rudi,

I typically get a contrast grade more contrast or maybe a bit more with bleach/redevelop. What builds the extra contrast is the additional stain from the staining developer, so it really depends on the range of densities in the original negative. I imagine you could try this procedure more than once before the emulsion started getting too brittle... never done it though.

Charlemagne,

Don't confuse photographic "bleach" with laundry bleach! Potassium ferricyanide attacks the silver in a photographic image, dissolving it away one way or the other. Chlorine bleach will destroy a photographic emulsion. Rudeofus gave you info about bleaching a print. I use bleach/redevelopment on negatives too.

When bleaching a negative with a rehalogenating bleach like I use, the silver is turned into invisible silver bromide. As you bleach, the image fades to almost nothing. When there's no image left, or only a faint, light brown image and no more change is observable, then the process is "complete."

Best,

Doremus

removedacct1 · Jun 30, 2017

BetterSense said:
It looks like you found out that Rodinal isn't really immortal. I also found out the hard way, after listening to people on the internet claim it never goes bad. BTDT. If it's dark brown and the last bit of the bottle, it could well be bad. It does last forever in individual small glass bottles though, but oxygen will kill it, and that includes being the dregs in the bottom of a mostly empty bottle.

HC110 pretty much does last forever, but not Rodinal.

Three years ago a friend of mine gave me an ancient bottle of Agfa Rodinal, which he says he bought in the mid-1980s. It had been opened and some of it used around the time of purchase, so the bottle had been opened for decades. It was 7/8 full when I received it and I have used it many times since, and continue to use it. As far as I can tell it performs the same as brand new Rodinal. YMMV, of course.

silvergelatin · Jul 1, 2017

charlemagne said:
Rudeofus: thanks for the explanation.

OP: have you tried the chromium intensifier and/or the sepia toner yet? I am curious to hear how your negatives came out.

The Chromium just arrived at my door a few minutes ago. I probably won't be able to try it until next week, though.

silvergelatin · Jul 1, 2017

I've not done much with print bleaching, but, as another option, is it possible/easy to raise print contrast with bleaching redeveloping as well? I love the work of photographers like Bassman and Turbeville, and I think I read they used such techniques. I'm having a hard time finding examples of specific techniques and the results. As I said before, creative image destruction is very interesting to me, so the more tools the better.

charlemagne · Jul 7, 2017

Doremus: thanks for pointing out that I should not use laundry bleach. I was aware of that

About the bleach-and-redevelop-proces:
I think I will order the chromium intensifier from Fotospeed.
The information on the bottle tells me that I should use a PRINT developer, they don't mention a staining developer. At the moment I have Eukobrom in my darkroom, will this be good?
Otherwise, I could also make Dektol.

In the meantime I made a test with selenium toning, because that's what I have in my darkroom. I couldn't resist to experiment with this first. Have look here: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

charlemagne · Jul 11, 2019

Chromium intensifier has come in handy a few times. I must say it hasn't worked very well with Tmax films, but it really did improve other films like Adox or Ilford.

But what about the archival quality of negatives that are bleached and redeveloped (with chromium intensifier)? Will they be just as good as "normal" processed films, or do I need to treat them with something like selenium toner?

charlemagne · Jul 13, 2019

Is there somebody who can give some information about the archival quality or permanence of (chromium) intensified negatives?

M Carter · Jul 13, 2019

charlemagne said:
Is there somebody who can give some information about the archival quality or permanence of (chromium) intensified negatives?

I'd like to know myself -

And, for those interested, chromium works on prints as well - much more density, and a cool-toned sort of "charcoal" color that can be very attractive. To the point I'd consider it a "toner" and learn to underprint when I want that look. But archival-ness concerns me as well.

Salvaging Underdeveloped Negs

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency