Soup? (i.e. as in Rodinal)

focus_on_infinity · Nov 10, 2020

What do people mean when they say they 'soup' a film (often, in Rodinal, at high dilutions)? Is that just slang for stand developing?

I Googled it, but got a bunch of weird pages about people doing strange things with their unexposed 35mm film, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with my example here.

Pieter12 · Nov 10, 2020

Slang for developing.

focus_on_infinity · Nov 10, 2020

Pieter12 said:
Slang for developing.

No more than that, not, any particular technique? Thanks.

bdial · Nov 10, 2020

^^What he said.
I’ve never heard it associated with any particular chemistry or technique.

focus_on_infinity · Nov 10, 2020

bdial said:
^^What he said.
I’ve never heard it associated with any particular chemistry or technique.

Cool. Thanks.

MattKing · Nov 10, 2020

To say it with conviction, you should be wearing street photographer's garb, not a lab coat .
It is an example of jargon, not technical accuracy.
I've always wondered where it came from, and always supposed it came from New York, but definitely not Rochester.

AgX · Nov 11, 2020

focus_on_infinity, I first came across this term at Apug... I am relieved to learn that even an assummed native-speaker did not know it.

Wait until someday you come across here the term "trannies"...

Donald Qualls · Nov 11, 2020

AgX said:
Wait until someday you come across here the term "trannies"...

For that one, always check your context... Means a different thing on Photrio, at the race track, or various other places...

Pieter12 · Nov 11, 2020

MattKing said:
To say it with conviction, you should be wearing street photographer's garb, not a lab coat

My guess is it originated with news photographers.

Sirius Glass · Nov 11, 2020

Sloppy slang from someone who want to act kewl and does not have a clue how to be such.

MattKing · Nov 11, 2020

Pieter12 said:
My guess is it originated with news photographers.

You are probably right. Although when I worked around news photographers (pre-digital), for a lot of them soup wasn't the liquid that they were most likely to be consuming.

Donald Qualls · Nov 11, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
Sloppy slang from someone who want to act kewl and does not have a clue how to be such.

Might be, but it predates "kewl" by decades. I first saw this word used to describe developer before 1970; I suspect it's significantly older than that.

Donald Qualls · Nov 11, 2020

MattKing said:
You are probably right. Although when I worked around news photographers (pre-digital), for a lot of them soup wasn't the liquid that they were most likely to be consuming.

A little soup, a little sauce, as long as they make deadline.

MattKing · Nov 11, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
A little soup, a little sauce, as long as they make deadline.

Don't forget the cigarettes.
The summer I worked as a darkroom technician for the Vancouver Sun, one of our two big city dailies, they had just recently changed the rules and were now prohibiting smoking in the darkrooms.
Some of the old time photographers on staff were really struggling!

Anon Ymous · Nov 11, 2020

MattKing said:
Don't forget the cigarettes...

Ah, you mean fags.

takilmaboxer · Nov 11, 2020

Rodinal sucks. That's why they call it soup. It's like the awful stuff Grandma tried to feed you a long time ago.

KenS · Nov 11, 2020

MattKing said:
To say it with conviction, you should be wearing street photographer's garb, not a lab coat .
It is an example of jargon, not technical accuracy.
I've always wondered where it came from, and always supposed it came from New York, but definitely not Rochester.

"Souping" (when it comes to the physical act of 'developing is just as 'bad' as the word "shooting" when using a film camera in which the film is being exposed).

To a certain percentage of photographers (using film to 'record the exposure') it is used to (perhaps) 'imply' that he/she might be regarded as a 'long-time' (or perhaps a 'good..or..professional') photographer.
My mentor (some 60-odd years ago) insisted that when actually exposing the film was but the first of a number of steps of 'making' a photograph.

To this day, I still have an extreme dislike for both 'shooting' and 'souping' when so used.

Ken

Pieter12 · Nov 11, 2020

takilmaboxer said:
Rodinal sucks. That's why they call it soup. It's like the awful stuff Grandma tried to feed you a long time ago.

More soup for me, please.

focus_on_infinity · Nov 11, 2020

KenS said:
"Souping" (when it comes to the physical act of 'developing is just as 'bad' as the word "shooting" when using a film camera in which the film is being exposed).

To a certain percentage of photographers (using film to 'record the exposure') it is used to (perhaps) 'imply' that he/she might be regarded as a 'long-time' (or perhaps a 'good..or..professional') photographer.
My mentor (some 60-odd years ago) insisted that when actually exposing the film was but the first of a number of steps of 'making' a photograph.

To this day, I still have an extreme dislike for both 'shooting' and 'souping' when so used.

Ken

Well, if you don't like that, then you're really not gonna like this: https://shootitwithfilm.com/7-awesome-film-soup-recipes/

And then there's this one, where the advise that you check with the lab first to see if they'll accept 'souped' film for processing, because some might not want Pepto Bismol or bath salts in their chemistry (whereas I suppose some might be good with it?):

https://shootitwithfilm.com/black-and-white-film-soup-experiment-an-art-or-a-science/

MattKing · Nov 11, 2020

Pieter12 said:
More soup for me, please.

No soup for you!

albireo · Nov 12, 2020

takilmaboxer said:
Rodinal sucks. That's why they call it soup. It's like the awful stuff Grandma tried to feed you a long time ago.

Hate soup, love Rodinal!

Sirius Glass · Nov 12, 2020

When someone has trouble developing film and they post that they "souped it" I tend to pass over the thread and not want to pitch in with help or advice. I find it offensive as I noted above just move on. If one wants help they should use the proper terms and not baby words.

Donald Qualls · Nov 12, 2020

So, Sirius, would you be happy if your doctor refused to treat, say, a goiter, because you call it a "lump on your throat"? Or wouldn't prescribe Rogaine (back when that was needed) because you told him you were "going bald" rather than "suffering from alopecia?"

Not everyone knows the "proper" technical terms for things. Many who post looking for help are just starting with film, unlike some of us who learned this stuff for the first time fifty years ago (and may have relearned some or all of it once or twice since). They may be using terminology they've read here, from those who learned it fifty years ago -- or who aren't trying to feel superior because they know a word the other guy doesn't.

focus_on_infinity · Nov 12, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
So, Sirius, would you be happy if your doctor refused to treat, say, a goiter, because you call it a "lump on your throat"? Or wouldn't prescribe Rogaine (back when that was needed) because you told him you were "going bald" rather than "suffering from alopecia?"

Not everyone knows the "proper" technical terms for things. Many who post looking for help are just starting with film, unlike some of us who learned this stuff for the first time fifty years ago (and may have relearned some or all of it once or twice since). They may be using terminology they've read here, from those who learned it fifty years ago -- or who aren't trying to feel superior because they know a word the other guy doesn't.

I don't think I've seen it in a question at all, actually. Maybe someone has. I just know a lot of people, including many on this site, say they 'souped' their film in something or other.

Sirius Glass · Nov 12, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
So, Sirius, would you be happy if your doctor refused to treat, say, a goiter, because you call it a "lump on your throat"? Or wouldn't prescribe Rogaine (back when that was needed) because you told him you were "going bald" rather than "suffering from alopecia?"

Not everyone knows the "proper" technical terms for things. Many who post looking for help are just starting with film, unlike some of us who learned this stuff for the first time fifty years ago (and may have relearned some or all of it once or twice since). They may be using terminology they've read here, from those who learned it fifty years ago -- or who aren't trying to feel superior because they know a word the other guy doesn't.

I'll ignore the first time and use the correct term, but after they have been told the correct terms and persist in using "soup" I quickly lose interest in the thread. After all how long would you tolerate listening so an adult talk about his "peepee"?

Soup? (i.e. as in Rodinal)

focus_on_infinity

Pieter12

focus_on_infinity

bdial

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MattKing

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AgX

Donald Qualls

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Sirius Glass

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Donald Qualls

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Anon Ymous

takilmaboxer

KenS

Pieter12

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albireo

Sirius Glass

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Sirius Glass

Soup? (i.e. as in Rodinal)

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