Shooting 8x10 for Van Dyke Brown Negatives, Part 2

Last week I spent some time experimenting with a NuArc exposure unit in our printmaking lab and was able to make a couple of decent Van Dyke Brown prints.

I discovered that the shadow density on my negatives was a little high. I think the film I was using, being expired, had a bit more base fog than anticipated. That's okay as I was able to push through it for the most part. I also intensified the prints with some potassium dichromate.

Here are some digital images of the prints:

Shooting 8x10 for Van Dyke Brown Negatives, Part 1

I have on and off again experimented with alternative photographic processes, without a lot of success. I either didn't have the right negative density, or the UV exposure from the sun wasn't right, etc. However recently I found out we have a nice UV exposure unit for printmaking at the university I work for that I can use, which means I could eliminate some variables and hopefully make some decent prints.

In an effort to make good negatives first, I shot some this past weekend with my 8x10 and experimented with pyro developer. Staining developers such as Pyrocat are overwhelmingly suggested for alt processes due to their unique properties. I've given up Pyrocat as unreliable for my own uses years ago but I had been using Tanol recently, mostly out of curiosity and since it was relatively cheap.

I couldn't find any good film development recipes so I just experimented with 8 negatives to find the best development time and dilution, which I will document here.

I shot 8 negatives of ERA film, which from what I understand is either rebadged Ilford FP4+ or so close as to be indistinguishable. I shot it at an ISO of 64. I developed the negatives in Tanol diluted 2:2:100, which is a double-strength dilution, mostly in an effort to keep the development times down. I developed 2 negatives at a time in BTZS rotary tubes for 8 minutes, then 10 minutes, and finally 12 minutes. The 12 minute negatives were the most dense and looked good for typical printing. The 12 minute negatives looked nice for the needs of alt processes.

Pyro-developed negatives supposedly are good for making images that can be printed with various alt processes as well as typical silver printing and scanning. All of my negatives did indeed scan well, even one that was overexposed a little bit. The best negative I measured on a densitometer and the UV setting showed a density range of about 0.5 to 2.2, which I believe is just right for Van Dyke Browns.

I coated some paper and tried some test prints on the UV exposure unit and dialed in an exposure. Tomorrow I am printing a couple more that should be just right!

For now, here are some scans of the negatives (one was cropped slightly). All were either shot with my 210mm f/9 Graphic Kowa or Nikkor 120mm f/8:

 

 

Rainy Days of March

Last weekend I just had to get out of the house so I grabbed some Contax cameras (a IIIa and a Super Ikonta) and went out into the woods. But it started raining. I still shot some anyway. It's been a really rainy March. Here's some images from the IIIa:

 

Here's two from the Super Ikonta:

These two Contax cameras are part of a little estate sale. I bought them really for one of the lenses in the package but that'll be a topic for another day.

The next day was sunny so I tried a little color film:

 

Spring @ Reed Bingham

I hiked around the southern part of Reed Bingham on Saturday. It was really hot and the first mosquitoes of the season were out in force, but it was still pretty fun. The whole area near the old railroad path was flooded out the last few times I've been to the park but it was back down to normal. I made a bunch of images under the bridge that goes over the Little River and near the railroad with my 4x5.

I was also testing something new - a couple of Grafmatics. I never really thought I would use them, but I ended up getting one for free. After trying it out I actually liked it and decided I might look for some more, especially for travel. Not even a day later I found three of them for really cheap so I scooped them up. It turns out they had some film already loaded so I gambled it was in decent condition and shot these b&w images with the Delta 100 film that was loaded:

 

These turned out well but I screwed up most of the sheets in the other holder because when I got them, I opened them up to test and the film was exposed. I took out the first sheet but that was a mistake since it exposed the top of the rest of the sheets. Oh well. But at least I got some free shots still. Now I have to reload them...

I also shot a half dozen sheets of Kodak EPP 100:

 

I also threw my little Bessa II in my bag to finish up a roll of Plus-X I had been shooting. I shot this image that I had been trying to get for a while. Occasionally you'll find these huge masses of gnats flying in a big ball (reminds me of bird flocks flying in unison). If the light is just right it glints off of them and is a very interesting sight. In this instance if I moved even a few feet either direction to get the tree out of my shot you couldn't see them (they also need to be in front of a dark background). This isn't a perfect representation but it's close. It was really hard to focus with an RF. They move very fast so a fast shutter speed is essential:

Overall it was a pretty nice day to be outside.

Spring is Here

I can't believe it's already springtime. These last few months have really flown by.

I went hiking today - still scanning images but here is a nice springtime image that I thought I would post. I never remember what these flowers are but I found this one patch way back in the woods today. Early bloomers I guess.

Taken with my Chamonix 45n1 and Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5, on some expired Kodak Ektachrome Plus 100 Readyloak film: