Wye Forest no1 Print

Another in this short series on printing some images shot in the Wye valley. A foggy day and a wide open lens led to some very soft images that have a different look than I am accustomed to. 

This image is one where what I visualized was not what ended up on the negative. I saw this glimpse of light in the depth of the forest and the outline of some trees there. However as is often the case in forests there is a strong light from the bright, though foggy, sky. This lit up some of the red cedar boughs in the upper right and the ferns in the foreground. 

In order to recover what I was seeing at the time from the negative I must do some creative burning to keep the eye focused on the central subject. These prints I made on RC paper Ilford MGIV RC. I didn't think the image was very promising and I have a small stack of the RC paper I haven't touched in some while.

Here is the first print after test strips.  

Print 1 f11 #5 23 seconds #00 8 seconds

The intense diffuse light from the sky is apparent and I am not sure I like it. The brightness in the upper right and lower center distracts from the center of the image. 

I proceed to make a series of attempts to burn these areas.  The bright patch at the top is particularly stubborn as shown below...

Print 2 f11 #5 23 seconds #00 4 seconds burn top 23 seconds #00

The arc of the burn pattern is apparent but even a full stop of burn is not enough. I also opted to reduce the soft filter to try and improve the local contrast in the center of the image. The negative is very thin and lacks contrast so there is only so much to be done with filtration. 

The next is better but the burn arc is too apparent. 

Print 3 f11#5 23 seconds #00 4 seconds burn top 23 seconds #00 at f8

Note too that the bright section is still problematic despite burning at f8 thus adding another stop of burn! 

Finally I increase overall #5 exposure and remove #00 filtration. add additional burn to the brightest section, then burn the arc and foreground. 

Burn plan. All burns f8.

Print 6 (Final) f11 #5 32 seconds #00 0 seconds burn according to plan. 

This is the final print selenium toned (1+19) and about the best I could do this round. I was tempted to break out the Moersch VGT two-part developer as a means to enhance the brightness at the center of the image. There is a difficult trade off between the softness the image demands and enough local contrast to maintain interest.

Printing Notes 

Final Print 

• Ilford MGIV RC Deluxe
• 7x9” on 8x10
• 150W
• 1xND
• F11
• #5 32 seconds
• #00 0 Seconds
• #00 f8 burn to plan above