Over the last five years, I have begun holding ONE on ONE workshops as well as weekly online Mentorship Subscriptions with analog photographers all over the world.  Early on I found myself skipping over things that seem so second nature to me and some would not make the connection that I intended.  So, the challenge for me was to find the language and visual comparisons I use for sharing my process and philosophy in a way that all levels of film and darkroom photographers understand. What further makes my process difficult to grasp is my methods and beliefs are constantly compared and measured against the standards of the “Zone System”.  Ansel Adams, arguably the most famous photographer of the modern era devised the Zone System along with the help of Fred Archer back in 1939-40.  Adam’s system of exposure & development has been used with great success by serious Black and White photographers ever since. There are over 500 receiving these monthly emails, many non-photographers, family, friends, mid-level photographers and B&W photographers who are my equal.  Should you choose to read on, I would welcome any comments, yay or nay, on my explanation of Why and How I expose Film and Design my negatives for silver gelatin printing with materials commonly available today.

   I’ll begin by explaining the traditional manner and wisdom made popular by Adams’s Zone System. It’s important to note, Adam’s zone system was designed to produce negatives for silver gelatin enlarging paper which is the most common form of black and white photographs seen today.  Prior to the last turn of the century (pre-2000), high-quality B&W printers used what was known as single graded silver gelatin enlarging papers.  Single graded papers typically offered specific contrast ranges identified numerically from 0 thru 5.  0 being of the lowest contrast, grade 2 being “normal contrast” and grades 3 – 5 intended for higher contrast renderings of a scene. Each of these 6 grades of paper enabled photographers to render a particular scene in a creative manner and also allowed for correcting mistakes made in exposure and development. However, each grade of paper could produce only one contrast grade across the entire sheet of paper.  That limitation of only one contrast grade from a particular graded paper is paramount to why my negative design has changed because of the silver gelatin papers now being manufactured.  Multi-Contrast (MC) silver gelatin papers are a game-changer to my way of thinking as we will learn by reading on.

   The underlying premise of all Black & White film photography is found in a general rule of thumb, “expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights”.  Very basically, what that means is the photographer must give enough exposure to the darker areas of a photograph to record information and establish adequate negative density. The brand or length of time in the developer has little impact on the final density of the darker areas of the photograph. Develop for the highlights means the brighter parts of the photograph can be manipulated very significantly through the length of time, developer strength and the agitation intervals during the processing of the film.  This rule of thumb translates to proper exposure is key to recording dark value information and detail. The development of the film would target a highlight density compatible with a grade 2 normal contrast paper, hence the contrast was built into the negative by design.

   Ansel Adams’s Zone System suggests there are 10 separate shades of Grey when using silver gelatin enlarging paper.  Adams’s zone system further explains that Zone 3 is the first Zone that will show some detail in the darker values.  Zone 8 is the last zone that will show detail in the high-values.  Adams goes on to say Zone 9 shows no detail but shows a hint of grey before the pure white paper base of the enlarging paper. Adams’s zone scale shows a Zone 10 which he labeled as pure paper base white. The zone scale I show below depicts 9 zones rather than 10 zones Adams originally suggested. Personally, I don’t ever show a pure white without detail in my finished prints and I don’t believe AA or any other serious B&W printer would either. The numeric densities of Adams’s zone system and mine are shown above as measured by a densitometer for the traditionally designed negative where contrast is built into the negative by development choice.  In the photo below we learn that ordinary panchromatic black and white film can “see” or separate about twice the number Zones that traditional black and white silver gelatin papers can reproduce.  By in large I only make silver gelatin prints from my B&W negatives. What each photographer does with the information that B&W film is capable of capturing becomes a photographer’s hallmark or style.  My hope is that the following two negatives will illustrate exactly my point about traditionally designed Zone System negatives where contrast is built into the negative. 

   Consider the way my 1990ish negatives were exposed and processed.  When all things remain constant such as film and subject matter, there are only three variables with any B&W negative. Light, Exposure and Development, in that order by the way.  By that I mean, the selection of film drives all other decisions. 1st, measure the light within your composition, 2nd, determine the exposure to coincide with your vision of the final photograph, 3rd, develop the film to produce the appropriate contrast range for the “single grade” enlarging paper used.  The print on the upper left resulted from the negative shown immediately below that photograph.  When any one of these variables changes then an adjustment to another variable much take place to produce a final B&W silver gelatin print.  Notice the Red arrows pointing to the different densities of each negative, left side more exposure, right side less exposure = less density will render darker in the final print as seen in the final print.  Notice the Blue arrows in each photograph, left and right side arrows point to approximately the same high-value density, a direct result of the development of the film.  However, the two resulting photographs are decidedly different in their final rendering. The actual literal scene did not look like either of these photographs, yet with careful exposure, development and printing a creative rendering in line with the photographer’s vision is accomplished.  It’s important to take note of the term “mid-tone” contrast” at this point. When compressing or reducing huge amounts of contrast as seen in the light-toned photograph, mid-tone separation and contrast are diminished considerably.  There are more advanced ways to offset that diminished separation that I may go into in future blog posts.  As an FYI, the negative on the right received 2 seconds of exposure and was developed N + 1, while the negative on the left received 7 minutes 30 seconds of exposure and was developed C – 1, which is a significantly altered development scheme to compress highlight density.  

   Up to this point in this month’s blog Story, I have detailed how most serious B&W photographers designed their negatives for contrast to be built into the negative through careful exposure and development designed for single graded paper.  Multi-Contrast (MC) papers had been designed and manufactured well before the turn of the new Millenium, i.e. 2000.  However, their quality could not rival that of single graded papers until approximately 20 years ago. Today, MC papers are essentially the only type of silver gelatin enlarging paper available for B&W photography.  Yes, there are still hold outs who can find or have a supply of single graded papers.  In fact, I am one who has a considerable supply of Agfa Portriga Rapid single contrast grade paper.  The Portriga, in my opinion, and the opinion of many fine printers is Portriga is the finest silver gelatin enlarging paper made since the 1950s.  That said, the potential for not only flexibility but also creatively altering a silver gelatin B&W print is incredibly powerful when using Multi-Contrast papers and a technique called Split Contrast printing.  There is a much more detailed article I wrote for an online magazine on how MC papers are designed and how I Split Contrast Print with them using only the extreme grades of 0 & 5 linked to the Unblinkingeye site. 

   Because of the power of a single sheet of paper producing all grades of contrast, i.e. contrast grades 0 through 5 is the reason I design my negatives in a significantly different manner than the traditionally accepted way made popular by Ansel Adams. Multi-Contrast papers are a result of advancements made in emulsion coating technology where multiple light-sensitive layers are incorporated into a single sheet of silver gelatin paper stock.  Essentially, there are two different emulsions (light-sensitive) layers incorporated into a single sheet of silver gelatin. See the illustration of Hippies Use Side Door where a single sheet of MC paper is exposed to Blue-light on the left side and the right side only received Green-light exposure.  One emulsion layer is overly sensitive to Green-light and produces very light and low in contrast tonalities from all negative densities.  The second emulsion layer is overly sensitive to Blue-light and very quickly produces deep dark tones in the print before producing any light grey values from any negative densities.  There is a short video of the actual making of this illustrative YouTube video.

   To conclude, the WHY part of this month’s Story, the goal of each of my 5 Power of Process components is to create greater Mid-Tone separation. To that end, the reason I’ve changed my negative design is simply that Multi-Contrast silver gelatin papers can create better separation than building contrast into the negative. So, that is why I now subscribe to Expose for the Shadows and Print for Contrast rather than the age-old adage, Expose for the Shadows and Develop for the Highlights.  For those quick to defend building negative density to affect final print contrast one must remember Adam’s Zone System was designed when the film’s emulsions were known as “thick” emulsion films. Today’s “thin” emulsion films do not share those same characteristics nor benefit as much by increasing negative density. In fact, increased development time and density are actually detractors to overall acutance and subtle gradations in the final negative.  It’s those subtleties in film that will always reign supreme when compared to a digital sensor’s light-gathering characteristics, that’s a flame war for another time !!

   I’ll share the HOW in a non-technical manner as possible below.  Listed below in bullet form are the positives of my negative design over that of traditionally held wisdom of building contrast into the negative by means of increased development and negative highlight density.

• I expose shadow detail on Zones 4 or 5 where separation is better than Zone 3
• I reduce negative highlight density from 1.25 down to .95 – 1.00
• Less highlight density requires less green light exposure to affect highlight detail
• Less green-light exposure allows greater blue-light exposure producing greater mid-tone vibrancy
• Less negative development and density produces a sharper negative
• Pyro based developers harden the film’s emulsion leading to less grain and sharper negatives
• Pyro based developers produce superior mid-tone separation than non-Pyro developers
• PyroCatechol formulated developers (PyroCat) produce superior highlight separation with MC Silver Gelatin papers
• Pyro based developers, once in solution are no more toxic than other developers commonly used in analog photography.

  Take for instance the below photographs from inside Hartford City Hall.  These two prints are shown here directly out of the fixer tray in my darkroom. Both prints were made from the same negative using what I call different Contrast Formulas to arrive at decidedly different end results.  A contrast formula at this stage is nothing more than the combination of Green-light and Blue-light together yielding a certain single grade of contrast across the entire sheet of paper.  Remember back to the photograph Hippies Use Side Door where one side of the print was exposed to only 12 seconds of Green-light while the other side of the print received only 12 seconds of Blue-light.  In the Hartford City Hall illustration (YouTube video here), the print on the left received 4 seconds of Green-light and 5 seconds of Blue-light, which would equate to approximately a # 2 single grade contrast paper.  The print on the right received only 2.5 seconds of Green-light and 20 seconds of Blue-light, approximately a single grade contrast of 4 or higher.  The reason these Contrast Formula numbers do not equal the same total exposure is due to the Green-light is much brighter than the Blue-light, hence a slightly faster printing time when more Green-light exposure is used.

   For those quick to say, the subtleties of the prints do not match, they clearly do not !!  However, it’s my belief that the “most difficult part” of the print will dictate the Contrast Formula I choose. The remaining areas of the print will be easier to control to the makers’ final vision.  I chose this particular photo of City Hall for a very specific reason. If using traditional single grade papers in order to produce an almost jet black background it would be impossible to preserve the white luminosity seen in the foreground railing design. Using MC paper and the reduced highlight density of my negatives that is accomplished without any print manipulations whatsoever !!  To conclude this example, with the most difficult part of the print controlled by way of the Contrast Formula the printer can now go in and selectively add or subtract ( burn or dodge ) areas with a very specific contrast in mind.  For instance, if I wanted to show more detail or contrast in the surrounding archway I would simply “burn” just that arch and side pillars with grade # 5 contrast.  That would not alter lighter tones but would add in darker tonalities in between each block, effectively raising the contrast in just that specific area.  Only when separate portions of the overall print have received less or more exposure with different filtration can one identify the print as having been “Split Contrast” printed. 

    In closing, I would add based on my years of teaching workshops and mentoring photographers over the internet. The tried and true Zone System made famous by arguably the most famous photographer of the 20th century is a very tall order for a little known photographer such as myself to overcome.  It has become very obvious to me, the very bright and the very dark values in a B&W print provide the overall relationships but it is the mid-tone contrast that creates the most interest for the viewer.  When one understands that mid-tone relationships (separation) are the single hardest trait to “create” in a B&W photograph, it becomes clear any means to create greater mid-tone separation provides greater potential and the flexibility to be more creative.  Years of negative making and silver printmaking have illustrated to me that MC papers will provide greater mid-tone separation than building contrast into the negative via design and chemical development, not by a little, by a large degree.  There are other techniques I use to exaggerate mid-tone relationships I may go into in future blog posts, however, none so powerful as MC papers and reduced highlight density negatives.  The following bullet points are drawn from near 40 years of processing B&W negatives and printing to Silver Gelatin prints.

•   There are several, but not numerous paths to world-class silver prints from analog wet-processed negatives.
•   Mid-tone contrast relationships are the most difficult look to achieve in a Silver Gelatin print.
•   The more green light needed to produce a light grey tone will progressively diminish mid-tone contrast.
  • Therefore, higher density shadows and reduced highlight density negatives produce greater separation yielding higher mid-tone contrast in the final print.

   Lastly, advanced photographers with knowledge and application of the Zone System who I’ve taught and mentored would continually say, “what if I don’t want as much mid-tone separation as you do Steve ?”  The answer is always the same, “simply use more Green-light exposure in your Contrast Formula” which will reduce separation and contrast in the mid-tones and high values where it is more easily seen. 

   Over the course of time, I will write in-depth articles on the Why and How of my 5 Power of Process components.  Each of these 5 components is detailed in my Premium Video series which is available in affordable Hi-Definition videos ranging in length of 60 – 90 minutes on my Gumroad site here.   Please offer your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this page.