Changing Contrast on Graded Papers

There are several ways to change contrast grades by as much as a full grade on graded papers. Since changing filters is not an option on graded papers it is a little more complex than changing the contrast on a variable contrast paper. Changing paper grades is the easiest method. However, the paper grade you need is not always available. The methods below will help you cope when the print needs more finesse than a paper grade alone can provide. These methods will also work with variable contrast papers. 1. The contrast can be controlled by shortening the development time of the negative to lower contrast or developing the negative longer to increase contrast. 2. Contrast may also be heightened by pushing the realms of reciprocity failure with the film. If the light is dim the film is already close to reciprocity failure and therefore increases contrast. If the light is too bright then adding neutral density filters can help lengthen exposures. You may need to experiment with the exposure and development times to get the desired results. 3. Changing developers. Softer, lower contrast developers include GAF 120, Kodak SelectolSoft, Agfa Neutol (warm tone) and Zonal Pro HQ Warm Tone. Higher contrast developers include Agfa 108, Kodak Dektol, Sprint Quicksilver, GAF 130, etc. There is a chart included in the notebook with more developers, their contrast level and the tonal range they produce (warm or cold). There are a couple of variable contrast and/or variable tone developers available on the market. The most notable variable contrast developer is one that you make yourself called Dr. Beers. Another popular variable contrast/variable tone developer is Edwal LPD which is available over the counter in most larger reatil photography stores. Recipes for Dr. Beers can be found in Ansel Adams book The Print or in Stephen Anchells The Darkroom Cookbook . 4. Changing Light Sources. A condenser enlarger and a point light source are considered to be higher contrast light sources. Diffusion enlargers are lower contrast light sources. Included in the diffusion category are cold light heads and color (dichroic) heads. A cold light head is a lower contrast light source closely matched to the light sensitivity of photographic enlarging papers. 5. Selective dodging and burning of the print can both increase and decrease the contrast. Decreasing the density of the highlight areas and/or increasing the density of the shadow areas increases contrast. Increasing the density of the highlight areas and/or decreasing the density of the shadow areas decreases contrast. 6. Selenium toning (or chromium intensifying) the print and/or the negative will increase contrast. 7. Bleaching the print with potassium ferricyanide (or other reducing bleaches) will increase contrast by removing some silver (tone) from the highlights. 8. Bleaching the negative with Farmers Reducer or another cutting reducer will decrease contrast. There are several other negative bleaches to choose from, but consider this as last resort.

9. Flashing the paper before printing will reduce contrast. 10. Masking the negative with a positive of itself will decrease contrast. Masking the negative with a negative of itself will increase contrast. It is advisable to use a densitometer to find out how dense your mask is before using it and coming up with unexpected results. A .30 reading on the densitometer is a full stop, .60 is two stops, .90 is three stops and so on and so forth. Masks need to be a little out of focus or fuzzy to work properly to keep the edges from bleeding into one another. This technique is called an unsharp mask and is used extensively in Photoshop, because it is easy to do digitally. The original way of making an unsharp mask in the darkroom takes time and skill, not to be tried unless you are serious about traditional silver based printing.