Failed Efforts:Orwo Lith and the Story of the Hot Pool Print

I recently bought some cheap unopened Orwo photo paper. Readers (I know not many) of this blog will note a number of entries dedicated to attempting to use old paper. I am sure many find this a waste of time and money, which it probably is, but I learned a bit of history of photography along the way and maybe something of techniques. Some results have been quite good while others a complete failure. Sometimes I can rescue papers using different developers.

Orwo was an East German brand of paper which was part of a breakup of the original company after WWII. The paper is graded double weight Fiber with a smooth (not gloss) surface and 'normal' contrast. 

I ran an initial test strip, and it didn't look favorable.

f8 Test strip

This allowed me to run a full-size print at 8 seconds. This confirmed my suspicions. The paper had extremely limited contrast. This was probably less than the original normal contrast and most likely due to the age of the paper.

f8 at 8 sec Universal PQ Developer

Next I tried using Lith developer to increase the contrast. Infectious development of the shadows might deepen them while leaving the highlights alone. If this worked I might use a second conventional developer to improve the highlights. 

With Lith the paper is overexposed to enhance the shadows while the snatch point (when it is removed from the developer) determines much of the highlights. I tried exposures of 32, 64, and 256 seconds corresponding to 2, 3, and 5 stops more than the normal exposure. 

With Lith the paper is overexposed to enhance the shadows while the snatch point (when it is removed from the developer) determines much of the highlights. I tried exposures of 32, 64, and 256 seconds corresponding to 2, 3, and 5 stops more than the normal exposure. 

Lith is slow and so I once again accelerated it by heating the developer to 50 degrees C in the microwave (see Lake Pend Oreille Tugboat Lith posting) combined with a hot water bath. 
The results were disappointing. The Lith developer was infectious but also seems to suffer from peppercorning. The contrast and detail are still lost. The effect is interesting but without the subject detail it quickly loses ones interest.

EasyLith f8 at 32 seconds exposure

EasyLith f8 at 64 seconds exposure

EasyLith f8 at 256 seconds exposure

The results were disappointing. The Lith developer was infectious but also seems to suffer from peppercorning. The contrast and detail are still lost. The effect is interesting but without the subject detail it quickly loses ones interest.

EasyLith f8 at 32 seconds exposure

EasyLith f8 at 64 seconds exposure

EasyLith f8 at 256 seconds exposure

Since I have never attempted to print this negative conventionally the next step is to makes the best print possible using split filter printing. Also it may be instructive to try and use a single low contrast filter to get a measure of the paper's comparable contrast. Perhaps a grade 1 or 2 filter.

I make one last attempt to improve the Orwo print. I decide to see if I develop longer in the Universal PQ I might pick up some of the contrast. So I expose 1 stop lighter at f11 for 8 seconds rather than f8 at 8 seconds reasoning that I wanted the highlights bright and hope overdeveloping would darken the shadows. Alas even with 10 minutes developing I did not manage even a stop more darkening, it was not enough to materially affect the contrast.

f11 8 sec with 10 minutes Universal PQ developer

Hot Pool

The photo in question was taken in Yellowstone near Old Faithful looking across a hot pool and up the valley. A thunderstorm was boiling up on the horizon. I took the photo with a Mamiya C220 on Kodak TMX-100 film using a deep yellow filter. Normally on this trip the filter created high (almost too high) contrast. In this case however the lack of the blue sky seemed limit its effect to the trees in the distance and the dark blue underbellies of the clouds.

First a print on Ilford MGIV to mimic the contrast of the Orwo paper.

Orwo f8 8 sec

Ilford MGIV RC f11 #0 8 sec

So the paper is very similar to variable contrast paper at or near the lowest contrast filtration. So next is to try and get the best print I can. I typically start with a scan and some simple Photoshop work to model how the print should appear. I usually limit myself to just levels and curves for contrast. No burning or dodging. The Photoshop version came out well.

Scan of negative adjusted in photoshop

Starting with test strips.

f8 #00 test strip

f8 #5 test strip

It looked to me like I needed very high contrast given how low contrast the negative was turning out to be. My first print was all #5 filter.

f8 #5 16 sec

The contrast was good any many areas but the whites needed some more detail and punching up. Here I struggled. Looking at the test strip clearly #00 at 8 seconds was much too gray and as we saw earlier would give a print very close to the Orwo paper in the highlights. I thought next to run a test strip on #3 filter as a means of filling the highlights yet retaining the contrast.

f8 #3 filter test strip

I decided that even 8 seconds would darken the print too much in combination with the #5 filter given they overlap in the spectrum they excite in the emulsion. I opted for 4 seconds instead.

f8 #5 16 sec #3 4 sec

Too dark in some shadows. I then tried to add #0 filter instead...

f8 #5 16 sec #0 4 sec

A little lighter but still not what I am looking for. I now decided the result I was looking for probably lay in the #5 filter. My experience is that this filter is hard to fine tune. Looking at the test strip in half stop times there is a huge jump in exposure. The curve is very steep for this filter. So I made a test print starting at my 16 second mark and ran intervals of +2 seconds to judge slightly more #5 filter exposure. I also at this juncture moved from the print size determined by the Orwo paper and instead printed the entire negative. (I did not change the enlarger head height only the masking of the printing frame so that my exposures would remain the same as before.)

f8 #5 test strip 16 seconds at +2 second intervals

A couple of observations here. The right exposure is between 18 and 20 seconds. Additionally the sky in the upper portion especially the upper right will need burning to bring out the detail there. So the next print is a straight 18 second on #5 filter. This allows me to see the whole print and judge other areas to be burned.

f8 #5 18 seconds

Much improved especially in the water in the foreground and some of the cloud detail. Time to burn. I also opted to move the overall exposure from 18 seconds to 19 seconds. The burn I decided to be 6 seconds based on the above test.

f8 #5 19 sec burn sky 6 secs gradually top to tree-tops

Photoshop target

The comparison in close. The color temperature is different with the print being much warmer. The Photoshop version as blacker blacks and brighter whites so better overall contrast. I may have to revisit this to see how I can improve the print. For now however I am satisfied.