Soup? (i.e. as in Rodinal)

[focus_on_infinity]

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]

Slang for developing.

 

[focus_on_infinity]

Slang for developing.

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

 

[bdial]

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

 

[focus_on_infinity]

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

Cool. Thanks.

 

[MattKing]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[MattKing]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Don't forget the cigarettes...

Ah, you mean fags.

 

[takilmaboxer]

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]

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]

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]

"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]

More soup for me, please.

No soup for you!

 

[albireo]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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"?