Topic: Paper Reversal

[SLVR]

Hello Everyone!

Stopping by to say hi and happy holidays and new year and all that jazz. Also a friend of mine is proposing doing a summer project in 2021 where we shoot some large format pinholes or perhaps see if we can adapt my 4x5 lenses to shoot some large prints direct to paper.

Direct positive paper only comes in 20x16 and I think we would want something larger than that or a way to get some cheaper way of getting direct positive. I was looking at a video about bleaching and inverting the paper. Left me with some questions like multigrade vs graded, dilutions, times. I think I've seen some of this talk before so I can do a deep dive later when I have some time but if anyone was to do it would you spend the cash on direct positive and make it an easy process or is it worth it to reverse? Any pros or cons?

[John Robison]

My problem with direct positive (perhaps more physiological than real) is that it is a mirror image. Any writing that appears in the image would be backwards. Even without any telltales that it is a reversed image, the fact that I know that it is.....

Not sure why that bothers me, maybe I should just go sit down with my blue blanket and think about it for a while.

[Francois]

I've tried the hydrogen peroxide and citric acid reversal process and I must say I'm in some way impressed.
It's cheap and works very well. It gives a print with some definitively dense blacks. And seeing the image appear and the tones dance on the paper is quite fantastic. Also, the print doesn't require any fixing. I've had one on my desk for about 2 years now and it still looks the same as it did on the first day.
But there are a few down sides to consider. Since you have to overexpose some already slow paper, exposure times can get pretty long (I rate my Ilford RC paper at 3 ISO for normal camera use... with this process I was exposing it at something like 1...)
Also, you get that brown blotchy stain in the whites. I heard that using some Iron-Out cleaner would get rid of it, but I just never went to get some.
The peroxide doesn't last long. That could be due to the fact that I can only find some 20 volume solution at local drugstores. As the chemicals get mixed, the peroxide slowly dies.

But it definitely is a lot less picky than the Ilford Direct Positive when it comes to exposure. Also, the paper is relatively inexpensive when compared to DP...

As you see, pros and cons.

[SLVR]

What kind of paper were you using? Multigrade or Graded?

[Francois]

I used multigrade simply because it's all I have in rc.
But many say that single grade is a lot better when it comes to in camera use.

[SLVR]

I figure graded would be better. I'll give it a shot when I get my darkroom set up

[Francois]

Thing with RC is that there are 2 emulsion with different speeds and contrast. This makes things a bit harder to predict the results.
You can do a small test in a medium format camera to see.
It's pretty strange because on the first development your print turns completely black because of the overexposure. Then it bleaches to an almost white. But when you re-expose it and develop it for the last time, everything is OK.

[jharr]

I did a couple of blog posts about my adventures in reversal processing.
https://jamesharrphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/reversal%20processing

I used Grade 2 Arista paper. I shot it directly in an old postcard (122) format camera and it came out pretty good. There are some filmwasters that got those in a postcard print exchange a few years back.


Old Point Loma Lighthouse by James Harr, on Flickr