> While the exposure is being made, soak the Final Support paper in
>120-140 degree F distilled water for 5 minutes. Move the Final Support
>paper from the hot soak to a tray of room-temp (68 F) distilled water
>for 5 minutes. (Total soak = 10 minutes)
This is a very critical step and varies with the thickness of the paper,
tempertue and humidty. With fixed out photographic papers a soak of 5
minutes at 68F is the maximum I find necessary, and if the humidty is
higher than 60%, you should reduce the soak time to as little as 1-2
minutes, otherwise the gelatin will absorb too much water and the image
will loose its adhesion to the final support during development.
>
> When the papers are separated, remove the tissue and continue to
>agitate the Final Support paper to remove the excess gelatin emulsion.
>5 minutes or more may be needed to clear the image.
If five minutes is taken as a standard time, it is possible to reduce the
density by about minus .20 in the shadows, perhaps .10 in the highlights,
by extending the warm water wash to 10-15 minutes. In fact, density will
continue to be lost by extending developing times to 20-30 minutes. Also,
some control can be exercised by directing a gentle flow of hot water
(110-120F) over the areas of the image that need to be reduced. This must
be done with considerable caution and if any indication is noted that the
image is separating from the paper support, stop immediately.
Sandy King
>