What am I doing wrong?

purenvdesign

purenvdesign

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Joe
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Hey guys,

I'm pretty new at this Darkroom lark. What on earth am I doing wrong? What is this odd foggy effect?

MGIV FB Paper
Multigrade Dev (1+9) = 23 Seconds (This seems a little short?)
Ilfostop (1+19) = 10 Seconds
Ilford Rapid Fixer (1+9) = 60 Seconds
Wash = 60 Minutes

10775655196_4621e28d1c_c.jpg
 
Personally, I don't think 23 seconds in dev is enough, you should be doing at least double that IMO.
 
Sorry, forgot to add, it's a bad scan, those borders are black, as is the top right. Or would it still need more time?

I've updated the image:
10776297836_db48f6c40e_c.jpg
 
Way to short a time in developer. It's obviously temperature dependent, but the developer I use requires 1 min 30 secs in developer. I'm sure when I use multigrade it's still a minute in the developer.
 
Possibly. it takes a while for the blacks to develop in a print. If you snatch it too quickly, you can find odd marks from unenven development. So try developing for one minute and make sure the tray is agitated the entire time.
 
It's been a long time since I did my own prints but I'm pretty sure I only ever used times as a guide and used to pull stuff out of the dev when I thought it looked right.
 
RaglanSurf said:
It's been a long time since I did my own prints but I'm pretty sure I only ever used times as a guide and used to pull stuff out of the dev when I thought it looked right.
Click to expand...

Thats what I've been doing, it just seemed to get 'too' dark if I left it in any longer, but I guess I could be wrong.

If it wasn't the timing, is it likely to be anything else?
 
purenvdesign said:
Thats what I've been doing, it just seemed to get 'too' dark if I left it in any longer, but I guess I could be wrong.

If it wasn't the timing, is it likely to be anything else?
Click to expand...

It could be depleted developer or insufficient agitation.
 
If it's getting too dark then you're probably overexposing when printing. Next time you make a test strip for exposure, give it longer in the tray - say 60 or 90sec - so that your final print doesn't need to be pulled so soon. Also make sure the developer (and all chems) are completely mixed and the paper is wet evenly and more-or-less instantly when you pop it in and like Rob says, keep it moving gently in the tray.
 
One more thing - I notice there's a lot of marks on the image that look like dust and damage to the neg. Do check that this isn't actually a damaged neg & what you're seeing is really how it is.
 
i dont like having to pull the print when it looks right ,,,i try and get the exposure right ,so that i can leave the paper in the dev and it will get to a certain level of black and then go no more ,,the other thing to remember is that it will always look a lot darker under a red light ,,,when i first started out ,i got fed up with the times i used to think the print looked about right and then when i got it in normal light it was way too light ,,,thats why it pays to do a couple of test strips ,get the general base exposure right ,,then burn in where you feel it needs it.
so leave the print in the dev for quite a long time , if it goes too black re-expose with a shorter time or smaller aperture /mix of both even ,,
if the dev is kernakered the print will be very dull ,,,but ive never noticed that sort of pattern when ive used naffdeveloper before tho
 
The only time I snatch a print from the developer when it looks ready is when using something like lith developer.
 
What safelight are you using? Are you sure it's dim enough and far enough away from your dev trays? If not it could be causing fogging patterns. I concur with the ithers on dev times - I never pull a print when it "looks right" as you can't tell properly in a darkroom!
 
Your exposure time is way too much if the print is getting as dark as the second image after only 23sec in dev. Ilford's recommended time for multigrade 1+9 dev with FB paper at 20°C is 2 minutes. On correctly exposed prints with that dev, the image will begin to appear after about 35 seconds.

Steve said:
and make sure the tray is agitated the entire time.
Click to expand...

Nope, it should be intermittent agitation: with fresh dev for about 10-15sec as you put the print in and then a couple rocks of the dish every 30 secs or so. The reason being that developer works faster where it is moving (This is why film dev instructions are usually very specific about the agitation times such as 10 secs every minute) . As the developer gets exhausted you'll need to increase the agitation to counteract it.

Your first image shows the problem quite well. To the right of his head you can see where the paper was grabbed (tongs or your thumb) and from there, as the developer runs down and drains off, you're getting streaks of greater development and areas being left underdeveloped. If you look carefully you can see the drip run from the bottom of the "thumb". After 23s the blacks haven't fully developed so you're getting uneven development across the paper.

If you are going to pull paper out before time then you need to plunge it into stop bath as quick as possible to stop this.

You haven't mentioned what grade filter you're using so at a guess both your exposure time/f stop and filter grade need adjusting.

Incidently, if you're new to darkroom work how come you're using fibrebase? Multigrade RC paper is easier to work with, a lot cheaper to buy and only needs a 2 min wash as opposed to 60 mins. If you're carrying on with fibrebase it might be worth using Galerie Washaid to waste less water (5min wash, 10min rinse in washaid, 5 min wash).
 
Darkroom said:
Your exposure time is way too much if the print is getting as dark as the second image after only 23sec in dev. Ilford's recommended time for multigrade 1+9 dev with FB paper at 20°C is 2 minutes. On correctly exposed prints with that dev, the image will begin to appear after about 35 seconds.



Nope, it should be intermittent agitation: with fresh dev for about 10-15sec as you put the print in and then a couple rocks of the dish every 30 secs or so. The reason being that developer works faster where it is moving (This is why film dev instructions are usually very specific about the agitation times such as 10 secs every minute) . As the developer gets exhausted you'll need to increase the agitation to counteract it.
Click to expand...

Good point. I was taught to rock the tray gently for the entire time so have always done that, but just checked my developer instructions and it indeed says intermittent agitiation. I guess it's worked for me as I apply consistency of agitation to developing test strips and the final print so any timing error is accounted for in the final print.

Not sure what to do now....I'm so used to rocking the tray it's almost an automatic action. Can an old dog learn new tricks? :)
 
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