two bath (positive)

Gast · 2003-11-15T15:04:27+00:00

Moin, wer von Euch hat denn Erfahrung mit Zweibadentwicklung. Print, nicht Negativ. Und wer teilt dieselben? Grüße Martin

Gast

Hi there, Who among you has experience with two-bath development? For prints, not negatives. And who else has had the same experience? Best regards, Martin

Gast

Martin, What exactly isn’t clear to you? The principle is very simple: instead of leaving the print in the developer for 120 seconds, you remove it from the first developer after 60 seconds and, after letting it drain briefly, place it in the second developer. After a further 60 seconds, drain it thoroughly and stop/fix it. Opinions differ as to whether the ‘hard-working’ developer should be the first or the second developer. That’s it for the explanation. You’ll have to judge the advantage in terms of the image for yourself after your first attempt – it’s difficult to describe. Regards, Mirko

Gast

Hi Mirko, Exactly. The hard one first, or the soft one??? Half and half, actually? Any tips on which paper works best? Maybe someone has a few starting points from which to build a useful test series. I’ll have to see and try out the differences for myself anyway; scans online don’t really show much, unfortunately. Best regards Martin

Gast

Hello Two-bath development generally allows for fine-tuning of the upper (highlights) and lower (shadows) limits of a photographic paper’s tonal range. This also applies to contrast-reversal paper, by the way. The softer developer MUST be applied before the hardener, as if the order were reversed (i.e. hardener before soft), carry-over would cause the softer developer to become increasingly harder. The two-bath method would quickly lose its effectiveness. Regards, Rolf

Gast

Hi Rolf, That’s an interesting thought. But in terms of exposure, the shadows always come first and then the highlights. So I’m not quite sure how the hard developer is supposed to bring out the highlights in 60 to 90 seconds, whilst the soft one is supposed to tone down the shadows in 30 to 60 seconds??? Best regards, Mirko

Gast

Hi Rolf, That’s an interesting thought. But in terms of the exposure curve, the shadows always come first and then the highlights. So I’m not entirely sure how the hard developer is supposed to bring out the highlights in 60 to 90 seconds, whilst the soft developer is supposed to darken the shadows in 30 to 60 seconds??? Best regards, Mirko

Hello Mirko The softer developer doesn’t fully develop the shadows. You definitely need to conduct development for as long as it takes until the highlights have the desired detail. The hard developer then deepens the darker areas further. You’ll have to experiment with the development time in each developer; I’d estimate that the soft developer requires at least 90 seconds, whilst the hard one needs less, perhaps 30 to 60 seconds. There is, of course, some carry-over of chemicals here too, but if the hard developer becomes slightly less harsh, this is still better than if the soft developer is no longer soft. Regards, Rolf

Gast

Hi Rolf, That makes sense, thanks. What are you aiming for during exposure? "Good in the shadows, but without enough detail in the highlights" or "Good in the highlights, but without detail in the shadows"? Generally speaking, a bit darker or lighter? For a start, it’s probably best to use paper that’s neutral to cool-toned, isn’t it? I reckon that’ll save me a few duds when I’m testing. Regards Martin

Gast

Hi Rolf, That makes sense, thanks. What are you aiming for during exposure? "Good in the shadows, but without enough detail in the highlights" or "Good in the highlights, but without detail in the shadows"? Generally speaking, a bit darker or lighter? For a start, it’s probably best to use paper with a neutral to cool tone, isn’t it? I reckon that’ll save me a few duds when I’m testing. Regards, Martin

Hi Martin You’ll just have to try it out; basically, you need to develop it fully. The image will eventually ‘stabilise’ in the soft bath, then you can move it to the hard bath. It might be better to switch from the soft bath to the hard bath just before finishing the development. There’s one point I must mention, though: the difference in how the image looks between the wet print and the one that’s dried later is enormous. I usually make a slightly lighter print, meaning that in the water there’s little or no detail visible in the highlights; after drying, however, there’s suddenly clear detail there. In most cases, the lighter print has turned out to be the right one after drying. Personally, I prefer warm-black image tones; they suit almost everything. My special tip is to use warm-tone paper with a cold-tone developer – it produces beautiful image tones. Best regards, Rolf

Gast

Thanks, Rolf, The initial tests with Centrabrom/Dokumol on Polykaltton confirm your suggestion. A print that has lovely highlights and mid-tones in Centra, but would otherwise be a bit flat, really comes to life in Dokumol. Best regards, Martin