This is the final print in the series that starts here (yes strangely at no2 print).
This is yet another soft image from a foggy day which provided a challenge to print. Because the negatives are so thin in this series being HP5+ pushed to ISO 800 I opted to intensify this one by soaking it in Selenium 1+3 toner for about 5 minutes. This usually helps bring up density and particularly increases contrast. (I first did this here and Andrew Sanderson has a good blogpost on intensification here.) Never-the-less the better prints were made with little to no soft filter.
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| Original negative left Intensified right (slightly darker) |
These small trees were on the edge of a road cut about eye level. The light streamlining through the gap in the trees on the left lit them with a soft light. The short depth of field was forced because of the low light and being handheld. Most of the images I took that day were in the range of 1/30 to 1/60 second and f4 to f8. In the end the print works well despite the lack of contrast and latitude in the negative.
I started with a #00 soft print after making test strips.
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| Print 1 #00 8 seconds only |
This helps determine the low end of the range had helps map out the print generally. Next, I over lay hard filter exposures in half stop intervals.
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| Print 2 #00 8 seconds #5 0, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64 seconds |
From here I have a starting guess about filter choices. I also note lots of dust so remove the negative and give it a good clean. (I also bump the enlarger mask hence the cutoff in the next print.
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| Print 3 #00 4 seconds #5 16 seconds |
The decisions here show the inherent difficulty of printing thin negatives. I liked the blacks at the 16-22 second hard filter range of the prior test print but could also see the loss of highlights. Thin negatives mean more coupling (less independence or orthogonality) between soft and hard filters. I opted to reduce the soft #00 filter to 4 seconds and try #5 at 16 seconds. This resulted in better highlights but lacks dark enough blacks. Also, the lower dark band shows a good amount of detail, and I don't want to lose that in the chase for more contrast elsewhere. Time for some burn...
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| Simple burn plan |
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| Print 4 #00 4 seconds #5 16 seconds #5 burn 8 seconds |
This is much better. I retain the bright sunlight in the upper left and detail in the bottom foreground. Still I want to push the contrast further if I can. The negative is soft enough to try and pull out all the stops.
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| Print 5 #00 0 seconds #5 16 seconds #5 burn 8 seconds |
This shows how much even 4 seconds of the soft #00 filter can darken this print. Too much!
Let's try more #5 filter to compensate.
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| Print 6 #00 0 seconds #5 22 seconds #5 burn 8 seconds |
Too dark! Adding a half stop of #5 was too much. Let's drop it back 1/4 stop.
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| Print 7 (Final) #00 0 seconds #5 19 seconds #5 burn 8 seconds. |
This is about right. In some sense it is full circle back to print 4. The only discernable difference is that the are where the sun shines through the trees shows less detail and is consequently brighter in print 7.
Print Details
- Ilford MG FB Classic
- 11x7" on 8x12" paper
- 150W
- 1xND
- f11
Print 4
- #00 4 seconds
- #5 16 seconds
- #5 burn 8 seconds according to plan above
Print 7
- #00 0 seconds
- #5 19 seconds
- #5 burn 8 seconds according to plan above
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