Darkroom paper exposed in 4x5

[Camerashy]

Has anyone here exposed darkroom paper in their camera, developed it then scanned the print to reverse the image into a positive? What is the procedure please, how do you find the asa of the paper and does it need pre-flashing under an enlarger?

 

[Ian-Barber]

I have done this several times. For ASA (ISO) start at around ISO 3 - 6 for RC Paper. When developing the paper negative, I fond that a weak solution of developer worked best and pull it from the developer when you think it looks tight under the safe light

 

[Tony Miller]

A good read is Mark Tweedie on paper negatives. He uses for pinhole but applicable to ‘normal‘ use.

Paper negative – the underestimated medium

www.marktweedie.co.uk

 

[Bill Martindale]

There is also a book by Andrew Sanderson on just this subject. There is also a chapter in Way Beyond Monochrome by Lambrecht and Woodhouse. I have tried it and as Ian says rate the paper at 3 - 6 ISO for RC paper.

 

[Camerashy]

Thank you for your responses.

 

[cariadus]

As Ian says, a weak solution of paper developer works well - about half strength of normal. Rodinal 1:50 (or even 1:100) also works well. Although the strength of developer in my experience doesn't really matter too much, you'll end up with similar looking negatives. It's just that a weaker solution takes longer and gives you more control over when to pull the paper from the tray.

One of the things about paper negatives is that they are inherently very contrasty. There are various ways to try to tame the contrast, including:
Pre-flashing
Filtration - using a yellow filter over the lens to reduce contrast.
David Kachel's SLIMT technique - pre-soaking the paper in a weak solution of potassium ferricyanide prior to putting it in developer
http://davidkachel.com/wpNewDK/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SLIMTs_Practical_Application.pdf

I've also found that using old, past its best, paper works quite well. And some people prefer graded paper rather than multigrade. I've just bought some Ilfospeed Grade 2 so I'll be trying this myself soon.

My experience is with using paper negatives for contact printing (either for silver gelatin prints or salt prints) rather than scanning though. And I'm still in the early stages so very much still experimenting.

There's a series of articles on Emulsive on this subject:
https://emulsive.org/articles/working-with-paper-negatives-part-one-a-story-of-thrift-and-magic

Here's a recent one taken on expired Ilford RC Gloss and contact printed on RC Pearl.

 

[Camerashy]

As Ian says, a weak solution of paper developer works well - about half strength of normal. Rodinal 1:50 (or even 1:100) also works well. Although the strength of developer in my experience doesn't really matter too much, you'll end up with similar looking negatives. It's just that a weaker solution takes longer and gives you more control over when to pull the paper from the tray.

One of the things about paper negatives is that they are inherently very contrasty. There are various ways to try to tame the contrast, including:
Pre-flashing
Filtration - using a yellow filter over the lens to reduce contrast.
David Kachel's SLIMT technique - pre-soaking the paper in a weak solution of potassium ferricyanide prior to putting it in developer
http://davidkachel.com/wpNewDK/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SLIMTs_Practical_Application.pdf

I've also found that using old, past its best, paper works quite well. And some people prefer graded paper rather than multigrade. I've just bought some Ilfospeed Grade 2 so I'll be trying this myself soon.

My experience is with using paper negatives for contact printing (either for silver gelatin prints or salt prints) rather than scanning though. And I'm still in the early stages so very much still experimenting.

There's a series of articles on Emulsive on this subject:
https://emulsive.org/articles/working-with-paper-negatives-part-one-a-story-of-thrift-and-magic

Here's a recent one taken on expired Ilford RC Gloss and contact printed on RC Pearl.

View attachment 2388

Very good links, thank you.

 

[Ian-Barber]

@cariadus I like that as a paper negative.

 

[cariadus]

@cariadus I like that as a paper negative.

Thanks Ian

 

[Nas]

I've experimented with paper negatives and found my best results were from rating the paper at ISO 3-6 and developing in ID11/D76 1+2 for 2 mins. Using a green filter will tame contrast as well. Using old uncoated lenses will also help with the contrast.

It's a lot of fun experimenting especially as you don't have to work in complete darkness, development times are much shorter and the cost compared to film allows you to create more shots without burning a hole in your wallet. Give the Harman direct positive paper a try for a different result. I've found pre-flashing essential to tame the contrast and usually do that in-camera with folded white paper in front of the lens.

 

[Peter B]

I tried the paper negative route a year or so ago, and found contrast an issue as mentioned above. My first attempt with fresh MGV paper was at iso 3 and Multigrade developer at 1:14, but then tweaked that to iso 8 in Multigrade developer at 1:28 for reduced contrast. This was developed by inspection and took 2 minutes, rather than the 1 minute at the earlier 1:14.

 

[Nas]

Nice result.