new darkroom prints; c&c please

[white]

 

[ann]

on my monitor they are too flat, what filter did you use, what development times?

 

[white]

Both of them were shot on Tri-X 400, developed for 9 minutes @ 69 degrees. The top one was printed 18 sec. @ f/16 with a #2 Fotokemika Varycon contrast filter. The second one was a #2 filter, printed 15 sec. @ f/16. The paper was Ilford MGIV RC Pearl.

The negatives were pretty gray overall; I initially thought I didn't develop it long enough. My teacher said they were good negatives, though. The light in the first picture was rather flat.

I've been having trouble getting prints with rich tones, though. I don't know why really.

 

[ann]

i would try a higher contrast filter.

what does your instructor say about the prints, that would be the best thing to do as they prints will be in hand and not influenced by a scan and color monitor issues.

 

[white]

I think one of these might be with a #3 filter; I don't have my notes with me at the moment. If not, I may try again. I don't think a #4 would be any good.

I don't know. I think the lighting was such that I may not get anything better than this. Do you think these flat tones could be attributed to an in-camera mistake, like not exposing properly? Maybe it's worth pointing out that I shot the second one with a $10 lens; and the 50 mm prime I used for the first is a Rokkor-X, but not taken care of very well by the previous owner.

 

[white]

Well, I printed them again with a #3 contrast filter. The first one looks great at #3, but the second is too dark, I think. And there is a lot of dust on the negative that really pops.

 

[reznap]

I think the re-prints look great actually, #1 and #2.

 

[white]

Thanks. The right side of #1 bugs me. I should've burned that for a couple seconds. It's a lot more noticeable on screen than in real life.

 

[Sbuxo]

Well, I printed them again with a #3 contrast filter. The first one looks great at #3, but the second is too dark, I think. And there is a lot of dust on the negative that really pops.

In #1 you should burn that right side of the image.
And in #2 maybe burn a tiny bit of the lower left.

 

[ann]

burning in white usually takes more than a few seconds,

again, why not discuss this with your insturctor in person.

one of the issues with black and white is photography images that are basically middle gray to begin with, your going to end up with middle gray values that are hard to extend into more contrast after the fact.

what you have in these photos, gray concrete, building and street. that is why boosting the contrast filter will help.