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RE: Farmer's Reducer Information.
Over the years I have also used Farmer's Reducing agent and there is no
question that it removes silver halogen rather uniformly, so that the
negative or print areas with the least silver will be the first effected. On
very rare occasions the method has saved a blocked negative, but more
commonly it has diminished its quality, if not destroyed it entirely. In the
pre-digital days we had little choice, but now a good scan and some decent
curves will be more reliable and predictable, albeit costlier. Joachim
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sarah Van Keuren [mailto:svk@steuber.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 9:30 AM
> To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: Re: Farmer's Reducer Information.
>
>
> >>>When I reduce a print I always got a more contrasty print. When I
> > reduce a
> >>>film
> >>>I always got a more softy film. Why? Is it possible to invert the
> > terms?
> >
> > One idea might be that when you reduce a print, the shadow details
> > disappear first, because there is less silver in those areas. This would
> > explain the higher print contrast. When you reduce a negative, and
> > depending on the reducer, overall contrast is reduced so you have a
> > softer negative.
> >
> > NOW, it is homemade paper, lots of other things can be
> happening. I doubt
> > you will get constant results from batch to batch. I will assume we are
> > discussing negatives, here, however.
> >
> > B.
> Bob, what you wrote above confuses me. I read it late last night
> and didn't
> reply because I might have been too tired to grasp what you were
> saying but
> this morning my confusion remains. For years I have shown students how to
> reduce negatives. It is my understanding and experience that
> reduction shows
> up first where there is the least amount of silver. This would be the
> highlights in a print and the shadow details in a negative. If either the
> print or the negative is flat to begin with, reduction will not increase
> contrast; but if the shadow areas in a print or the highlights in
> a negative
> are robust and what needs to be reduced in thin areas of either
> negative or
> print is not excessive, contrast should increase since removal of a small
> amount of silver will be quite evident in areas with little
> silver and will
> not make much difference in dense areas. Set me straight if I'm
> wrong about
> this.
>
> Sarah
>