Hi everybody! A few weeks ago, I shot some Delta 3200 on the boardwalk at the shore. I am a Delta 3200 rookie. Some shots were in brightly lit areas, some are with empty night sky in the background. I've developed my negs with SPRINT chems (think ID11/D76) and they appear to be fine. They are a little thin but I expected them to be with Delta 3200.

I went to print them and my contact sheets seem to a little disappointing. It appears to be really dark (which is expect in the shadow areas) yet the mids and highs are not snappy (rather really muddy). I'm using a Beseler 23C, Ilford Multigrade filters (grade 2) and Ilford RC paper. My settings are like f/8 @ 10 seconds. I'm exposing long enough so that the sprocket holes almost reach maximum black. Is this normal with 3200? Any ways to improve my contact prints?

While I have the microphone, I went and printed a negative. I'm having a problem controlling contrast. The scene is a fellow drawing a caricature of a boy. The easel is lit with a spotlight overhead. I'm trying to keep the paper on the easel white and make the black parts of the photo pretty much maximum black. On the right side of the photo, the boy is seated and you can barely see him.

What I want out of the print is to keep the paper on the easel white, the boy in the shadows barely noticable and the empty areas maximum black (I'm not asking for a lot, am I? *smirk* ). I've played around with exposure times and filter contrast but I'm not exactly getting what I'm looking for. I'm employing the usual method of exposing for the highs and then adjust filters for the contrast. It is just that when I get near maximum black, the rest of the print is ultra contrasty (not that using 3200 with lots of empty shadows isn't contrasty enough!). Am I chasing the wrong thing (filter contrast) and should be dodging and burning instead?

Hints, tips, and tricks needed!

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown@att.net), September 28, 2001

Answers

While Ilford may indicate that it's ok to use a D-76-type (MQ/Borax) developer with Delta 3200, the reality is that even if the film is developed to a higher-than-normal contrast the highest "real" speed based on shadow density is about EI 800. So who wants an EI 800 really grainy neg?

And that's what you have; rather underexposed, underdeveloped negs.

The facts: Delta 3200 is an EI 800-1000 film that's designed to not gain excessively high contrast when pushed for exposure at higher speeds, and a speed-increasing developer is needed.

Ilford recommends DD-X or Microphen; I agree with that. With "normal" development in one of those (or another PQ developer) the real speed increases to about EI 1250. That's a gain of 2/3 stop shadow density for "free" just by using an appropriate developer.

That's just the starting point. The curve shape of Delta 3200 allows extended development, or pushing, which will increase contrast to compensate for moderate underexposure but won't make highlights unprintably dense.

But you can't just shoot it and push it willy-nilly. If you have a contrasty scene such as you describe, you must give enough exposure for the shadow areas and that may mean exposing the film at a much lower speed than EI 3200. And since you have a contrasty scene, you'll also need to reduce development so it's printable.

I think the scene you described would be easily printable if exposed at EI 1000-1250 and the film's given "normal" development in Microphen or DD-X.

Here's what I'd suggest to rescue the negs you have: print with a high-contrast filter so that the blacks and dark tones are as you want them. Then carefully burn in the light areas using a low-contrast filter.

Pushing film is something that's learned by experience and it's done "to taste." It really can't be quantified how much shadow density is "enough" or how much you can afford to lose, and the same with highlights.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), September 28, 2001.

The answer given by John Hicks is excellent, and describes things quite well. It sounds to me as if you may have been working in such extreme conditions that no film is going to yield an easily printable negative. Night photography is always tricky, because you have areas of rather low contrast punctuated by areas of extremely high contrast. Try shooting some scenes that are a little less extreme (perhaps only shortly after sunset, so that there is still a little bit of sky glow). After printing some of these, go back to the one that is giving you the problems. As John recommended, you will probably need a lot of burning and dodging to get it the way you want it.

David Carper ILFORD Technical Service

-- David Carper (david.carper@ilford.com), September 28, 2001.

Thank you for your answers! I now have a better plan of attack when I use Delta 3200!

Johnny

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown@att.net), October 01, 2001.