Print developers

They say my print quality is bad. Darling, they should see my negatives. 

Print developers are far more forgiving than negative developers. When formulating and mixing print developers it is possible to be off a certain percentage and still obtain pleasing results indeed, you might like the results better  

While there are many similarities a print developer differs from a film developer in the following ways  

There is no rule for how long a print developer will last as this depends largely on the formulation, as noted above with Ansco 130, which has an exceptionally long life in working solution. As a rough guide, however, 15 to 20 8 X 10 inch prints per liter is not unusual for most print developers. 

The fact that print developers are not consistent over their working life is not usually a problem as small adjustments in density or contrast can be made by inspection. The exception is 

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CD-3 4-amino-3-methyl-fV-ethyl-fV(beta-methane sulfonamidoethyl)aniline in print developing solution (Kodak RA-4)... 

A print developer must be sufficiently active and concentrated so that development does not take an inconveniently long time. 

The composition of the print developer affects the image tone of the paper. 

Print developers can affect the inherent grain structure of the paper which can, in turn, affect the tone of the paper, especially when the paper is subjected to further toning processes. 

Developing agents. The most common print developing agents in use today are metol or Phenidone, plus hydroquinone. In recent years glycin has regained some popularity. 

There are a number of differences between Phenidone/Hydroquinone (PQ) and Metol/ Hydroquinone (MQ) print developers, but none of them are significant enough to cause one to be preferred to the other. Perhaps the most important difference is the longer and more consistent working life of a PQ developer. This is because Phenidone is less sensitive to bromide so the build-up of bromide in solution has little effect on its activity. However, it should be noted that the organic restrainers found in high pH PQ developers are carried off by the print. While this will not affect the activity of the developer it will have some affect on the overall contrast of succeeding prints. 

Another difference is that it is not easy to formulate a higher-than-normal contrast developer using Phenidone. At the same time, it is relatively easy to adjust the contrast, high or low, of a MQ developer, making the MQ combination easier to work with when using or formulating a print developer. 

PQ developers often produce a colder image tone on prints. This is not caused by the Phenidone per se but is the natural effect of the organic restrainers necessary in high pH Phenidone print developers. 

To increase the flexibility of MQ and PQ print-developing formulas, keep a bottle of carbonate solution and a bottle of 10% bromide on your darkroom shelf. I learned this trick from photographer Edna Bullock, who learned it from her husband, Wynn Bullock. Wynn used this technique with Ethol LPD paper developer. 

Color-Dye Sensitization In Chapter 4, Film Development, I mentioned the use of color-dye sensitization to replace silver particles in him. Color-dye sensitization when applied to him is of questionable beneht to the photographer. However, when applied to paper it is not necessarily a bad thing. Color dyes enable the manufacturer to create papers with a fast printing speed and increased tonal scale. On the other hand, dye-rich papers do not respond as well to bleaching, toning processes, or direct image color manipulation through the use of print developers. This is doubly true of dye-rich papers with over-hardened emulsions which are discussed next. 

Not all papers tone equally well, and color effects can be harder to achieve with some paper/toner combinations than with others. Others may respond well to one toner and not another. Also, the color of a toned print depends on the formula of the toner and its dilution the paper type, surface, and paper base tint and not least of all the processing method. This last includes not only the print developer used but often the choice of fixer. 

Dilute stock 1 5 with water. For less dramatic cool tones, dilute 1 10 or 1 15. The image will appear almost immediately after the print is put into the tray. Do not prematurely pull the print develop for the full 2 minutes. 

Add BB solution 10.0 to 15.0ml at a time to neutral or cold tone print developers until the... 

Prints developed by this technique are comparable to those obtained with microcapsules. Using color density vs. exposure characteristic curves, sensitometric properties of the different formulations can be evaluated and compared. 

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