Sheet Film Processing

The time has come for me to develop my own 4x5 sheet film, lately I have been getting varying results back from the lab I use and I can't be sure whether its me or them that's producing them so if I keep everything in house I should be able exact some control over the process.

I have acquired a Paterson orbital processor that I have modified to process the film in. I have seen some articles on the net about doing this and some seem to be of the opinion that you need to scuff the bottom of the processor to stop the film sticking to it or you need to apply some resin to lift the film slightly of the bottom, I have gone for both methods, erring on the side that maybe there is merit in both techniques and a mix of the two will be the best option.

 The Above image shows the complete unit and base

As you can see from this image I have scuffed up the bottom using a Dremel multi tool then added resin in the base to slightly lift the film off the surface, I went for a combination of spots and lines to see if either was better than the other and have found out that either work as long as the film is supported all the way round IE the top r/h one in the image needs some additional blobs of resin added to it to support the outside of the film and the one below it could do with a blob in the middle.

The advantage of this system is that you use far less chemical stock than the traditional tanks and it can be loaded in a changing bag and processed in daylight. I am using 200ml of solution which I think is plenty although I have heard of people using 150ml or less. I am still in the testing stage at the moment but so far I am impressed with the results, the tank just needs a few tweaks and it will be there.

Rudman Bleach and Redevelopment

Really good instructional piece from the master Lith printer Tim Rudman

Cyanotypes part1

A fellow student, Julie and myself have been making up the solution and coating paper to make Cyanotype prints this morning.


The Ingredient's required are :

• Ferric ammonium citrate (green)
• Potassium ferricyanide
• Water (distilled but I think they call it ionised now)

Plus the following equipment:

• set of scales
• 3 x  containers for mixing ingredients
• Syringe to measure out water
• Plastic spoons
• Face mask
• Goggles
• Rubber gloves
• Cleaning cloth
• Brush or something to coat paper.

Method: First take 100ml of distilled water and place in one of the mixing containers, then weigh out 25 grams of Ferric ammonium citrate and mix them together, Measure out another 100ml of distilled water and weigh out 10 grams of pottasium ferrycyanide and mix these together. When you have done that you have to mix the two components together in the third mixing jar, this does not need to be carried out under safe light conditions but can be done under a low level tungsten bulb.
Once you have the two solutions it is then just a matter of applying it to your chosen media, for this project I have chosen some linen paper I got from an art store; then store in a dark place to dry.

Glen Ogle Viaduct

Glen Ogle Viaduct : Captured with a 4x5 Arca swiss model B on Fuji Provia 100.
I took this on the way back from Glencoe where I was shooting an assignment for an environmental unit at he beginning of 2011.

Beginnings

My intention is to use this blog to share my photographic journey. I aim to post at least twice a month a mixture of my work and technical articles that I hope will be of use to fellow photographers and also use the blog as a diary for my own purposes, it will be nice to collate all my info in one place rather than all over the house. Please feel free to comment both good and bad but please keep it constructive and if you have any links you would like to share please send them to me and I will add them to the site.

TTFN
Barrie