[pure-silver] Re: Shoulder and highlight

Acros exposed at EI 32 or 40 with pull processed can give you softer
highlights.

One thing that tends to be forgotten in toe-shoulder discussion is
midtone.  Due to a fundamental principle of calculus of continuous
functions, films with vigorous highlight contrast results in darker
midtones if you try to print on the same paper with the same average
gradient and density range. Similarly, films with shoulder can render
midtones a little lighter. I think the question is whether you want to
burn/dodge highlights or midtones to get the final desired image. This
is hard to generalize, but in my shooting and printing style, I would
rather print midtone straight and manipulate highlights. Plus-X,
Neopan 400, 400TX and Delta 400 have gentle shoulder.

On the other hand, TMX has straight line, which can be good if you
want to record very bright highlight with crisp contrast. With
extended burining in, a lot of details can be easily retrieved.
However, this requires camera optics of very low flare and internal
reflection. (TMX having short toe is a plus here, but still, this is a
real challange.) I've never had a problem with flare of enlarger lens,
but darkroom safelight is a problem in visualizing the highlight
areas. I have separate safelight system in the enlarger zone, which
gets shut off during exposure (which I think is fairly standard).

TMY and Acros have very vigorous highlight contrast. I hate TMY.  One
major reason I keep Acros is because it is a great film for
nightscape. In daylight I shoot it at EI 32 or 40 and pull a bit in
dilute DS-10 or DS-12.

By the way, I realized that B&H sells Fuji Neopan SS. It's a very old
emulsion, I think it was the first Fuji film with ASA 100 speed. There
must be minor improvements since then, but it's a fairly grainy
film. Not a bad film but not the same as Acros, so it shouldn't be
confused.

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"Keep a good head and always carry a light camera."
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