Paper developers amidol

BW Pyro is a film developer, Amidol is for paper. Amidol makes the fingernails black. Pyro stains too, but you don t get your hands in it as much, it s a different kind of stain. Pyro is a dirty developer but it s very crisp and sharp. I stopped using pyro for about ten years, but I ve decided to start using it again. I just can t get the same results with other film developers. 

Method 1. The classic developing agent for creating cold tones on bromide papers is amidol. However, PQ developers using organic antifoggant, such as benzotriazole, will also increase the amount of cold image tone in a print (Formulas Paper Developers, Blue-Black Developer). In either case the results are usually very subtle. 

All three of the famous Westons—Edward, Brett, and Cole—used amidol paper-developing formulae. All three were famous for their rich blacks and full-scale print tones. All three used different amidol formulae. There is some confusion as to the formula each one used, and more than one has surfaced for Brett and Edward. It may be possible that they used different formulae during the course of their long careers. 

All three of the famous Weston s—Edward, Brett, and Cole—used amidol paper developer formulae. Each had his own variation. All four of the following formulae are used undiluted and should be followed by running water or a citric acid stop bath. 

The best papers to use with amidol developer are old-style, soft emulsion papers, such as those with minimal hardener, silver-rich papers (papers without excessive dye sensitization), graded bromide papers, long-scale chloride papers, or specially coated papers such as David Lewis Bromoil Paper (see Resources). With any other paper, which is to say most modern chlorobromide papers, amidol works just as well, though not necessarily better than most other developing agents, or combination of developing agents—thus the controversy. 

Much has been written about amidol s tendency to both oxidize rapidly and to stain paper. My own experience using amidol is that it does not oxidize any fester than most other developers. According to Michael A. Smith, an expert on amidol, and David Lewis, a leading expert on the Bromoil process who uses amidol extensively, neither has experienced the rapid oxidation reported by some users. If anything, amidol should only be used for one session and then tossed. 

Notes Amidol is one of the finest developing agents for blue-black tones on soft-emulsion bromide paper. It is also capable of creating neutral-blacks with a fine scale and transparency in the shadows. 

Use a 3 minute standard development time for amidol developers with bromide papers. 

BB solution was a proprietary liquid restrainer marketed by DuPont, once a leader in the manufacture of film and paper. When added to a developer it will create cooler tones on enlarging paper. It was reputedly used by Edward Weston in his amidol formula. According to Dody Thompson, Edward s former assistant and Brett s second wife, Edward may have tried it at one time but did not use it as he preferred warm tone images. Brett, on the other hand, preferred cooler tones and may well have used BB while it was available. 

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