Faint image, advice needed…

[jgmotamedi]

I need a bit of help here. Since moving my plates have been “faint.” I can’t really think of a better way of describing them. The image detail is all there–so they don’t seem to be underexposed–but the tones are never strong and it takes a bit of shifting to see the images at all. I have attached my most recent plate. It looks pretty good with a nice neutral tone although perhaps a bit flat. However, the image is weak and difficult to see. Unfortunately the scan does not capture its faintness.

 

Here are some technical details:

Iodine for 50 seconds, gold-yellow

Bromine for 12 seconds, light magenta

Iodine for 20 seconds

Exposed using strobes, 9600w/s at f2.8

Developed over Mercury 2:15 at 80C

 

My first thought would be development, but my development time seems right to me. Currently at 2:15 I don’t have much frosting, but any longer than 2:30 and I get serious frosting. Less time and I see a color cast. The iodine and bromine colors are more or less what I have used before, and are certainly within the scope of normalcy. What else could be going on here? The polish is decent, nothing fantastic but I have gotten good mercury and becquerel plates with lesser polishes. Dirty mercury? I will clean it next weekend, as well as drop my development temperature to 70C and extend my development time to 3:00. What else should I try?

 

Also, although these are exposed using studio strobes, I have had the same issues with natural light.

 

Advice is greatly appreciated!

 

jason

 

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[photolytic]

Has the temperature in your darkroom gone up?

The fuming boxes may be warmer, which increases halogen fumes concentration.

Try cutting back on the fuming especially the 2nd iodine, for more contrast.

Plate color of yellow magenta after part of the 2nd iodine will give highest sensitivity.

Also the lower mercury temp, even down to 50C, should give you more control with less mist.

You mentioned that you used 9600ws strobes (your plural).

How many and at what distance?

[jgmotamedi]

John,

The temperature in the fuming area is in my basement and is pretty consistent through the year, about 66F/19C. In my previous darkroom there was a lot more variation. My developing area (in a converted garage) is not consistent, although my mercury pot is electronically controlled, and keeps the temperature very accurate, usually within .5 degrees Celsius.

I will certainly take my 2nd iodine time down to increase the contrast and reduce my mercury temperature to increase control, however I don’t understand the second part. Yellow-magenta after the 1st iodine or the bromine yields the highest sensitivity?

Sorry for the typo earlier; I am using one strobe head with 9600w/s at about 32″/81cm from the subject.

jason

[photolytic]

I said above “a yellow magenta after part of the 2nd iodine will give highest sensitivity”.

I suggest you conduct the major portion (say 3/4) of the 2nd iodine fuming under white light.

That way you can see the “final” color of the plate to which I am referring above.

Then to finsh off the fuming, do the final 2 to 5 seconds of the 2nd iodine fuming under a safelight. This will eliminate all fogging caused by white light exposure during fuming.

[jgmotamedi]

Interesting, I never thought of that, thanks for the suggestion John. I will give it a try.

I have had one off-forum suggestion that high humidity, using sterling rather than pure silver, or extended time between exposure and development (more than 20 minutes) might be causes. I am almost positive that my plates are pure silver and not sterling, so I am looking into ways of reducing humidity (this is the pacific northwest!) and will ensure that my development takes place within 20 minutes.

Any other suggestions?

[photolytic]

My basement fuming area is now about 15C/60F and my fisrt iodine fuming time is only 20-24 seconds. I suggest that you may be using too thick a coating although the light golden yellow color is good. By looking at your plates after a partial 2nd iodine fuming you may be surprised at how much more the color has changed after the bromine fuming. You may want to reduce the bromine too.

Are you heating your plates with a blow dryer to warm them up before fuming?

It gets rid of any moisture on the plates as well.

Placing your plates in a Ziploc bag with silica gel before and after exposure is good in humid weather. After only 20 minutes at 19C you should not be experiencing any latent image loss.

[jgmotamedi]

After many experiments and lots of suggestions, I have resolved my problem; too much bromine. Against all advice I had been using color rather than time as a guide to bromine. I cut my bromine time down by a quarter (!) and everything looks great, for the moment…

Thanks for all the advice and help

[Author]

Posts