Topic: bleach bypass

[hookstrapped]

Has anyone tried this in their home C41 processing?  Seems pretty simple -- underexpose a stop or two to compensate for increased neg density, then don't mix the bleach and fix (mix up the fix without the bleach) or just use black & white fix.

[Ed Wenn]

Nope, I've never tried that. Should I? Does it add something, or are you just out of bleach?

[Francois]

I know it makes the negatives hard to scan since Digital ICE won't work.
It also increases the density in the dark areas. It also increases contrast making the highlights a lot more pale.

Just switching the blix for regular B&W rapid fix should pretty much do the job since the pigments don't need fixing.

[hookstrapped]

Nope, I've never tried that. Should I? Does it add something, or are you just out of bleach?

It's a fairly common cinematic practice, e.g. 1984, Saving Private Ryan -- de-saturated colors, shadows of certain colors going to black, graininess, greater contrast.  Skipping the bleach leaves the unexposed silver in the emulsion.

[Francois]

That's right.
Also, in Private Ryan, they had the coating removed from the lenses to reduce contrast.

[Alan]

hmm now that its clear that its so simple to acheive - i think id like to try it!

it would be nice to shoot some cinematic scenes and process like this . . .

[hookstrapped]

hmm now that its clear that its so simple to acheive - i think id like to try it!

it would be nice to shoot some cinematic scenes and process like this . . .

I was doing some reading up on Ektachrome and discovered that the DP on "Three Kings" used bleach bypass for the first act and cross-processed Ektachrome for the second act -- actually, he was responsible for Kodak subsequently offering Ektachrome in 1000 foot rolls with cinematic perfs because he had to talk them into doing it as a custom order.  And I LOVE the look of Three Kings.

[hookstrapped]

Hmm, I didn't like how my test turned out.  Maybe I'll try again with Portra in the sun.

[Francois]

Came out too dense or too contrasty?

[hookstrapped]

Came out too dense or too contrasty?

Underexposing 2 stops gave me a usable negative but it was just ugly muddy and grainy.  I was using Fuji 400H which I don't like so thought I could put it to use, but I'm going to try again with Portra 160 in bright sunlight.

[Francois]

Actually, all color negatives turn muddy when underexposed. This probably accentuated it. I personally would expose the film at its nominal speed and deal with the added density at the scanning process. A dense negatives doesn't mean it doesn't have a nice range of tones.

[Terry]

Peter,
I've never tried skip-bleach but I'd go for advice to some lab people who have to make it work.  Try talking to Phil Limeri over at Deluxe labs on Hudson Street.  If he or Tony Landano don't know the answer, then nobody does.