Darkroom: Testing Developers

So why did I just run though a whole roll of fresh FP4+ on the scene above? The answer is mastery! Well maybe that’s a bit grand – let me explain my thoughts…

Chapter One: The Film

One of the many joy’s I’ve had in the last few years, accelerated by starting this blog, has been trying new films. I’m not about to give that up, but at the same time photography is making pictures, not forever testing. Put another way, what’s the point of endlessly testing things if no conclusion is made? The more films I “test” or try would be a better word, the more I seem to end up thinking to myself either “that would have been better on FP4”, or “that would have been just as good on FP4”, usually when I’ve tried a film that costs much more! I’ve got to the point where I really want to master a film, and for my type of photography FP4+ fits the bill perfectly. So I’ve decided to really “dial down” and try my best to master that film.

Chapter Two: Developing

In order to “master” a film, I believe that must include the development of it. That must be standardised in order to know exactly what the film will do. I’ve often read the phrase “..with repeatable results” applied at this point. I think that’s a bit nefarious as, if I’m travelling about making photo’s, the light is never the same for a start, but I get the point! As I see it, choosing one film almost necessitates choosing one developer… and that’s why I shot a whole test film. I’ve chosen three developers to start, Ilfosol (my usual), ID11 (in Kodak speak D76), and Rodinal. I may buy another bottle of DDX in the future we’ll see. I’m going to make “clip tests” in the different developer’s, different dilutions, with a standard process, and choose the one I like the best, and stick with it.

Chapter Three: The First Test

So as you see above, I laid out, on an almost mid-grey blanket, an assortment of photo test things that I’ve accrued over the years, I took a camera reading, an ambient reading on the meter, and a reflected light reading form the grey card, averaged them out and ran off the entire film. I chopped a bit off the film in the dark bag, and processed it – somehow I managed to cut exactly through the gap between frames! First test done. So above you see the result for Ilfosol 3 1+9.

All of the developers I try, I will use the same method: Recommended time, 21°c, Ilford agitation.

When I have used the developers I’ve shortlisted I’ll scan them all at the same time, with all the settings locked. Then compare. Choose one, and then, with that done, try a few tests with the film. Of course I’ll post the results here!

Time for an FP4+ Image!!