Tone separation / Shade

Hello - I tried to do a search on same topic, but came up empty. Feel free to simply point me to previous post if applicable.

I'm doing ok 'placing' my values for B&W film when sufficient range of contrast exists. Even starting to learn how to handle situations where range exceedw 5 stops etc.

Now this may be the dumbest question of all, but what have you done to try and increase contrast / tone separation when subjects are in shade and you really can't do much to improve lighting conditions? What are my options?

A specific example: Elderly father came to visit. Went to park and sat under pavilion out of sun/heat. Didn't really have time/ability to alter lighting, and he was wearing tan pants, 'matching' shirt about same as his skin tones. Exposed correctly for skin vs. background in sun, but obviously he is pretty monochromatic.

Is there more that I could have done? Or just accept fact that we are in fact capturing light and if it isn't there; it ain't there. Thanks for reading and suggestions. Cheers. Steve

Sharris,

See if this helps (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Part of getting what you want is deciding what the "important range of exposure" is and knowing how your film reacts. In the shot you describe the highlight detail sounds like it might be unimportant, what's left is a very low contrast scene. You can sacrifice the "unimportant highlights" and use n+1 or n+2 development to match the film to the scene better.

Burn the pants or dodge the father?

Thanks for the link and suggestion. The thought about changing development to compensate for the curve makes sense. Good link. Cheers

I remember reading how Ansel Adams enhanced the local tonal separations in his "Moonrise Hernandez" shot. He used a selenium toning solution (remember this was on a 8x10 neg), and used a 'dipping' method to increase local contrast in the bushes on the bottom of the frame.

Try selenium toning the print. It has helped me a lot when I print. Right now since I'm printing in the school's darkroom, its a little harder, but when I can get access to it, I use it as much as I can. Just don't overdo it, some papers color shift if you tone them too much.

-Dan

also, do some reading on split-grade printing. I've been doing it for about a year now, and my prints have been looking quite a bit better.