DWRPhotos - In the Darkroom

In the Darkroom

Soft (Yellow) Light Test Strip: Two unit increments at f/22	Hard (Purple) Light Test Strip: One unit increments at f/22	Straight print: S-5, H-2.5

	Final B&W print: S-5 overall, H-2 while dodging the center, and a S-6, H-1 burn along bottom third of print.
This image started on a beautiful, sunny day in the Oregon Cascades. The light was harsh and a literal interpretation of the scene would not have conveyed what I was feeling. I was carrying a Wisner 5x7 Technical Field camera with a Nikkor-SW 90mm lens. I used Tmax 100 with normal development in Rollo & PMK Pyro developer (from Bostick and Sullivan). I printed with a Zone VI enlarger and compensating timer on Ilford Multigrade IV, FB, neutral, glossy paper. I use a split exposure technique. This requires two separate sets of test strips, one for “hard” light and another for “soft” light. The hard light prints out maximum black and the soft light prints out highlights, but the potential of the paper goes far beyond “six paper grades in-one-box”. The straight print is comparable to about a grade 2 ½.
I established that as a starting place by picking the soft strip exposure that first showed all the highlights and the shortest hard strip exposure that showed maximum black. The resulting photograph is of a sunny trail disappearing into a shadowed forest. Of course, I had exactly the opposite in mind! I let the S-5 exposure stand. I didn’t want blocked highlights. The vegetation at the bottom left has glossy, highly reflective leaves. I decided to back off a bit on the hard light exposure. I didn’t want an ominous feeling to creep into the image. I dodged the center for the entire hard light exposure, then went back and added more exposure to the foreground. I use a plain hypo (Sodium thiosulphate, no hardener) 2-bath fix followed by hypoclear and a light selenium toning. The final print was cropped in Photoshop for composition and clarity.