When do you deal with contrast?

[Alex Benjamin]

Been pondering the subject lately. It's highly subjective, of course: some like a lot, some very little, others adjust according to the scene, etc. Taste about contrast can change many times in the course of a lifetime.

I used to deal with it essentially in the darkroom but have worked my way backwards, so to speak, and try now to work it out both at the time of shooting and during film development.

So, out of curiosity, how, or when, do you deal with contrast, and why mostly at that moment?

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

There aren't any hard-and-fast rules but I generally expose for the shadows and pull 2 stops when developing B&W negatives to be printed on VC paper. Fairly low contrast negatives with shadow detail and non-blown highlights are the goal for 'normal' photographs. One can tailor negatives for other processes (iron, pd/pt, gum) to match that inherent contrast needed for a given printing material.

Shooting B&W positives are a different story since dmax, dmin, and contrast are already determined after 1st development. The 'actual' contrast in the scene matters more and things like B&W color filters provide more utility due to the lack of a secondary printing step.

Color films I process as per specifications unless I'm experimenting, at which point anything goes

 

[Doremus Scudder]

I work in black-and-white only. I start dealing with "contrast" before exposure, mainly choosing filters and determining the luminance range of my subject weighed against my vision of the distribution of tones in the final print, which determines how I expose (more exposure if I want the shadows up off the toe, etc.), develop, and my target paper grade. Much of the planning for dealing with contrast is done before I trip the shutter.

I'll develop using my modified Zone System schemes. However, I don't like to develop more than N+1, so for things that need large expansions, I'll use other means of getting the extra contrast I need, like printing at a higher contrast grade, print developer choice, etc. For really weak negatives, I use bleach-redevelop techniques to boost contrast and shadow separation.

Conversely, with large contractions, I'll use SLIMT techniques to tame the overall contrast while holding most of the film speed as opposed to developing for significantly shorter times. This in conjunction with lower contrast paper grade and/or softer working print developer. I don't like the way many VC papers tone at the lower contrast settings, so try to use them as little as possible.

When printing, I, of course, take advantage of the continuous contrast control afforded by my color head and VC papers (although I really like printing on graded papers as well and still have some Slavich left for those special negs...). And, I use split-contrast printing techniques for things that need it. Of course, dodging, burning, bleaching and toning are all in the contrast-control toolbox as well, both for overall and local contrast control. Bleaching is a really good tool for dealing with local contrast issues that aren't able to be addressed other ways.

Best,

Doremus

 

[Alex Benjamin]

determining the luminance range of my subject weighed against my vision of the distribution of tones in the final print, which determines how I expose

Thanks for the detailed description of your process, Doremus. Reading it, I realized that this, "determining the luminance range of my subject...", is not something I do enough when metering.

 

[Paul Howell]

Like Doremus I start black and white with contrast filters, with landscapes I normally used a light yellow or green moving up to orange or even red if I really want a drama effect. For color a polarizer for clouds. B&W roll, film I meter zone III develop for zone VII or shoot with matrix and develop normal, then adjust in the darkroom with VC or changing paper grades. With sheet film I either meter with a 35mm film or full frame DSLR using matrix metering or use a spot meter and shoot traditional zone, I do shoot up to +2 expanded contrast, not often - development, here in the desert southwest we have very bright days, but with so much reflected light contrast is often SBR of 3 or 4.

 

[JerseyDoug]

I deal with contrast by selecting combinations of subjects and lighting that work with my standard exposing, developing and inkjet printing workflow. To the first order, I simply select subjects with a good range of brightness and avoid photographing any subject or scene that is partly in sun and partly in shade. If any of the frames of my digital contact sheet appear too dark, too light, too contrasty or too flat I have made a bad choice of subject and/or lighting and I do nothing more with that image.

 

[gone]

I've started to think the process out from start to finish (usually), so film and paper choices are big factors. The quality and type of light are important too. I prefer the contrasty stuff for RC papers, the FB seem more suitable for softer images, but it always depends on the individual image. It seems easier, for me, to print contrasty negs and dial the contrast down w/ enlarger exposure, vs adding contrast w/ filters in the enlarger.

There's always a K2 filter on my lens, so it's easy to get contrast, and it helps w/ skies too.

 

[Pat Erson]

This week I shot a bunch of films under a very dull light. Yesterday in the darkroom I etended the dev time by 10%. The negs look OK.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I don;t have a darkroom and print only a little. My film (color and BW) are developed in a lab. I don't bother with push and pull although labs will do that for me. I like to scan and post photos on the web and make slide shows for my 75" TV and computer monitors. So contrast comes down to only if I can get all of the range in the shot or not. If I can't, such as with a bright sky and dark foreground, then I have to consider a graduated ND filter. With BW I might consider red or orange to darken the sky or a polarizer for either BW or color.

I don't feel threatened by darker shadow areas. In fact, I rather like contrast as it often makes photos "pop", which I find appealing.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

It's all inter-connected, right from choice of film, all the way to the finished print (and how it's displayed if it makes it that far!).

 

[Stephen Benskin]

With B&W, it's pretty much completely about contrast. From the subject luminance range and fitting it on the paper's log Exposure Range by way of the negative's gradient. To the viewing conditions and how the eye responds to various display conditions and how tones are distributed within and surrounding the print.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I start with the subject and determine the composition [view point, framing, perspective [point of view, focal length], sky contrast, level of shadow detail, emphasis of specific detail to lighten or darken with filter. All of this relates to what I will want the final print to look like with an emphasis of doing the most I can before taking the photograph, thus reducing the work in the darkroom.

 

[MattKing]

So contrast comes down to only if I can get all of the range in the shot or not.

For me, that isn't contrast, it is Subject Luminance Range (SLR), referred to by many as Subject Brightness Range (SBR).
Plus of course how that SLR/SBR translates into dynamic range on the medium I'm exposing.
Which in turn translates on to the medium I am presenting.
For me, contrast is how the image ends up appearing - how adjacent but slightly differing tones look - which relates to the slope of the curve of the film/paper, and depends on:
1) the subject's tones;
2) the character and quantity of the light;
3) the contrast characteristics of the film, combined with the development processes, including any adjustments available; and
4) the contrast behavior of the presentation medium, including available adjustments.
There are a lot of opportunities in that process to take steps to control contrast. Sometimes I wait until the end before I make any adjustments - variable contrast paper is great for that - and other times I tweak things as I go.
I don't really think of the use of camera filters as being for contrast control per se, although haze/UV filters and polarizing filters can help eliminate contrast reducing effects.
To me, something like a green filter is more a tool for adjusting the tonal relationships in a black and white negative, not for adjusting the contrast within those relationships.
I will adjust developing time if a roll was exposed in low contrast conditions or high contrast conditions.
I'll also (rarely) use a push development to squeak out a bit more image when light levels are low, but generally only if the conditions aren't particularly contrasty to start with.
I do use a lot of localised contrast control when I darkroom print.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I guess none of us can escape considering contrast at the three stages, if we use B&W negative.
It's the heart of all technical aspects IMO.

 

[MattKing]

I was out for a walk today with my Mamiya C330 loaded with T-Max 400. I also had my cel phone.
Here is a scene that I photographed - note the quality of the light.

With this sort of low contrast light, I'll probably increase film development, in order to increase the contrast of the negative.

 

[ic-racer]

Every step of the process.