Split contrast printing

Wisner · May 24, 2019

I once saw a book dedicated to split grade/contrast printing. I found the book on Amazon but now can't find it. Does anyone know the name of this book or the author. I am aware of Way Beyond Monochrome and the Variable Contrast book. I don't think either of those books were what I saw. I have gone to camerabooks.com and can't find it there either.

Just attempting to get better at split contrast printing.

Thanks to all.

brian steinberger · May 24, 2019

I just checked my library. Les McLean has a great book titled “creative black and white photography.” It has a great section on split grade printing. As far as an entire book on the subject I am not aware of any, and I have a lot of traditional photography books.

Wisner · May 24, 2019

Thank you for your input. I will look at your suggested book.

jimjm · May 25, 2019

Also look out for Tim Rudman's "The Photographer's Master Printing Course" and Eddie Ephraums' "Gradient Light". Both are excellent resources for advanced printing techniques, including split grade.
If you come across Steve MacLeod's "The Master Printer's Workbook", grab it. It may be less commonly seen, but it's been the biggest inspiration for me to try new printing techniques. Incredible illustrations and examples.

mshchem · May 25, 2019

Google Darkroom Dave, he's a former Ilford Master Printer. Dave Butcher, He teaches, he also has great videos on how he practiced the technique at Ilford. Very straightforward videos that will get you started now. Steve Anchell has a variable contrast book. I have a couple books by Rudman, great books.

Go to Ilfordphoto.com, they have a great website. I got started watching "Darkroom Dave" it is an extraordinary technique.

David Brown · May 25, 2019

brian steinberger said:
I just checked my library. Les McLean has a great book titled “creative black and white photography.” It has a great section on split grade printing. As far as an entire book on the subject I am not aware of any, and I have a lot of traditional photography books.

https://www.hpb.com/products/creative-black-white-photography-9780715314487

I also recommend Les’ book and method. His approach to split grade is straight forward and easy to implement.

Tom Kershaw · May 25, 2019

I used to do split grade printing but haven't done so in years.

mshchem · May 25, 2019

Tom Kershaw said:
I used to do split grade printing but haven't done so in years.

I don't fiddle with it unless I need to, but it's a powerful technique.

logan2z · May 25, 2019

Tom Kershaw said:
I used to do split grade printing but haven't done so in years.

Curious why you stopped. I did it for a while as well but didn't like the results I was getting so I stopped. Perhaps I didn't give myself enough time to get good at it.

bernard_L · May 25, 2019

it's a powerful technique

but didn't like the results I was getting

It is my understanding that any print result that can be obtained by split grade can be obtained by an intermediate filter and vice versa. Assuming we leave out local split grade, and are not interested in quarter-grades or... (too subtle for me). Possibly, the split grade method allows to reach that result faster, or more intuitively. Yet these two quotes seem to imply that there is something special about the results of split grade.
Did I get something wrong about split grade printing? Or did I misinterpret the quoted posts?

Tom Kershaw · May 25, 2019

I simply found I could get good results with a single 'grade' exposure. May be worth mentioning that I'm often working with a MG500 system which makes contrast changes very straightforward.

Wisner · May 25, 2019

Yes Tom I do agree with you, the problem is my Beseler 45 enlarger and Ilford 500 system was just stolen from a college I did a demo at. So, I purchased the Beseler 45a head as I could not find an Iflord to replace mine. The 45a can print as the Ilford does, it will flash the correct filters for a given grade, that is where I started. Splint contrast printing will be very easy with this head, just enter 0 for Green and 255 for Blue. Push one button twice and the image will be created, no fumbling with filters.

It has been my experience that for difficult images split contrast printing gets me to a correct print much easier and faster than attempting to print with one main filter and then use other filters to do burning with. I have an image of the Rhyolite, Ca. Bank building with early morning sun on it, the face is rock and concrete. The concrete reflected light much greater then what I metered and exposed for. Burning with low contrast filters only creates a nice textureless gray. With split contrast printing I am able to control the highlight on the concrete so it remains detailed. That I did with the Ilford 500 system. Just used 0 and 5 in two separate exposures.

Thank you for your input.

logan2z · May 25, 2019

Wisner said:
It has been my experience that for difficult images split contrast printing gets me to a correct print much easier and faster than attempting to print with one main filter and then use other filters to do burning with. I have an image of the Rhyolite, Ca. Bank building with early morning sun on it, the face is rock and concrete. The concrete reflected light much greater then what I metered and exposed for. Burning with low contrast filters only creates a nice textureless gray. With split contrast printing I am able to control the highlight on the concrete so it remains detailed. That I did with the Ilford 500 system. Just used 0 and 5 in two separate exposures.

Thank you for your input.

I'm actually working on a high contrast print now that might be helped along with split grade printing. Perhaps I should give it another try.

Tom Kershaw · May 25, 2019

Wisner said:
Yes Tom I do agree with you, the problem is my Beseler 45 enlarger and Ilford 500 system was just stolen from a college I did a demo at. So, I purchased the Beseler 45a head as I could not find an Iflord to replace mine. The 45a can print as the Ilford does, it will flash the correct filters for a given grade, that is where I started. Splint contrast printing will be very easy with this head, just enter 0 for Green and 255 for Blue. Push one button twice and the image will be created, no fumbling with filters.

It has been my experience that for difficult images split contrast printing gets me to a correct print much easier and faster than attempting to print with one main filter and then use other filters to do burning with. I have an image of the Rhyolite, Ca. Bank building with early morning sun on it, the face is rock and concrete. The concrete reflected light much greater then what I metered and exposed for. Burning with low contrast filters only creates a nice textureless gray. With split contrast printing I am able to control the highlight on the concrete so it remains detailed. That I did with the Ilford 500 system. Just used 0 and 5 in two separate exposures.

Thank you for your input.

Sorry to read about your enlarger; seems like a very large and conspicuous machine to get stolen. In terms of printing, I tend to do very little dodging and burning, possibly due to not often dealing with very high contrast scenes.

Frank53 · May 25, 2019

There are many ways to reach the result you like. My problem with traditional ways of printing is, that it is like an equation with two unknowns. Grade and time. You can only solve it by trial an error. Some people are good at that. I’m not.
Split grade solves that problem. The equation has only one unknown: time. Time to reach maximum black and time to get detail in the highlights. I use the Heiland system, which makes printing even easier, but also without that investment, split grade imo makes printing a lot easier.
Regards,
Frank

jimjm · May 25, 2019

logan2z said:
I'm actually working on a high contrast print now that might be helped along with split grade printing. Perhaps I should give it another try.

I've had a few negatives that just wouldn't have been possible to print to my satisfaction without using split-grade burning and dodging.
One advantage of most B/W films is that you can often recover detail from seemingly overexposed areas of the negative.
This is one that took awhile to determine the right contrast settings for the different areas of the print. This is a scan of the "straight" test print at grade #2, and a scan of the final print.

MattKing · May 26, 2019

To my mind, the biggest advantage of using split grade techniques is that they make it relatively easy to address the contrast requirements of different parts of the negative in different ways.
And that leads to a mind set where I naturally address each part of the negative separately, according to what that part needs.
Which in the end gives me a print that I find more satisfying.

pentaxuser · May 26, 2019

jimjm said:
I've had a few negatives that just wouldn't have been possible to print to my satisfaction without using split-grade burning and dodging.
One advantage of most B/W films is that you can often recover detail from seemingly overexposed areas of the negative.
This is one that took awhile to determine the right contrast settings for the different areas of the print. This is a scan of the "straight" test print at grade #2, and a scan of the final print.

View attachment 224214 View attachment 224215

A massive improvement. Can you say how you went about achieving this? This could be a good learning example for all of us with difficult negs. Thanks

pentaxuser

Bob Carnie · May 26, 2019

I split print every single negative , and have been doing so for over 25 years.. I cannot imagine single filter printing anymore.

jimjm · May 27, 2019

pentaxuser said:
A massive improvement. Can you say how you went about achieving this? This could be a good learning example for all of us with difficult negs. Thanks

pentaxuser

Sure! One thing I make sure to do is keep notes about about times, contrast settings and any burning/dodging I do to a print. That way it's easier to replicate (or modify) if I want to reprint the image later on.
An 11x14 print of this one was approached as follows:
1. Base exposure of 22 sec at f:8, grade 4.5. This transformed the overall image and emphasized the texture of the stone walls and door. I'm using a dichroic enlarger head, so it would probably equal grade 4 with a condenser enlarger.
2. During the base exposure, dodged the center of the upper half of the door for 6 sec.
3. At grade 3, burned in the floor for 10 sec, the upper left corner for 10 sec and the upper right corner for 12 sec. Then burned the left 1/3 of the image (except the floor) for 10 sec.
4. At grade 0, burned the sunlight area on the floor and the door for 60 sec, using a cardboard mask cut to match the shape of this area. It's important not to overdo the exposure, as dark halos will start to appear.
5. Also grade 0, burned-in the window at top for 45 sec using another mask cut to shape. Just to give some density to the window frame and surround, as it was just a clear sky outside with no detail to be seen.

I always keep in mind that the lower grade filters will affect the lighter tones, and the higher grades will affect the darker tones. This one took a bit of time to finally get right, but I'd rather start with a well-exposed "flat" print than with one that's too thin, or has highlights that are completely blown. Next time I print this I'll possibly make some changes, as there's always more than one way to get to a satisfactory print.

pentaxuser · May 27, 2019

Thanks jimjm. No telltale signs of burning or dodging which I always find difficult to hide completely. Actually the original print at grade 2 isn'tl at all bad until you see the finished print and realised that in such a scene the eye would not seen it as in the straight grade 2 print

pentaxuser

markbau · May 28, 2019

The late, great David Vestal used to be a stickler for terminology, for example, he hated the term "overdeveloped" if all you were doing was developing for longer than the manufacturer recommended. So it is with "split grade printing" There are two scenarios. One is where the entire print is exposed to a very hard and a very soft filter, no burning or dodging. Vestal, Howard Bond and others have tested and concluded that there is no difference between a print made this way and a print made by a single filter. I agree with this. The second scenario is where one filter is used for the main exposure and then a different filter is used for the sky or foreground. This has obvious benefits and produces results not able to be obtained with a single filter. So, in the interests of clarity, I would like to see different words used to describe the two scenarios. I've seen a lot of posts over the years that suggest that unless you are using scenario one you are producing second rate prints. The whole thing reminds me of the endless drivel that people used to write about the alleged magical benefits of cold light enlargers many years ago.

semi-ambivalent · May 28, 2019

Wisner said:
camerabooks.com

Thank you!

Tom Kershaw · May 28, 2019

markbau said:
I've seen a lot of posts over the years that suggest that unless you are using scenario one you are producing second rate prints. The whole thing reminds me of the endless drivel that people used to write about the alleged magical benefits of cold light enlargers many years ago.

This is intriguing, as I've only used standard tungsten or halogen lamp enlargers, what were / are the supposed benefits?

MattKing · May 28, 2019

Tom Kershaw said:
This is intriguing, as I've only used standard tungsten or halogen lamp enlargers, what were / are the supposed benefits?

They ran cool, so created less problem with negative popping.
And when they were introduced, there were a lot fewer diffusion light sources in use, so for many people they added the benefits (dust minimization for example) of a diffusion source for those used to condenser illumination.
The other benefits are more debatable.

Split contrast printing

Wisner

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Wisner

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logan2z

Tom Kershaw

Frank53

jimjm

MattKing

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pentaxuser

Bob Carnie

jimjm

pentaxuser

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semi-ambivalent

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MattKing

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Split contrast printing

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