Topic: Another found image

[Terry]

So I have this old Fotokor camera that I bought years ago when Russian gear was very cheap.  It had half a dozen film holders in the case with it and some had film in them.  This afternoon, prepping the camera to sell on the 'bay, I decided to soup them and see what came up.  There were five sheets of film; I stand developed them in Rodinal 1+100 for an hour and they all seemed to be blank.  But on close inspection and holding it up to the sun I saw a faint image on one.  Scanned it, and here are the results.

Anyone have ideas about ways to improve it?

Original scan:

Found in a Fotokor 1 par Terry B, on ipernity

Slightly darker and higher contrast:

Found in a Fotokor 2 par Terry B, on ipernity

And darker still with better definition on her face:

Found in a Fotokor 3 par Terry B, on ipernity

[hookstrapped]

Cool.  I love found images.  They make you wonder...

[Francois]

using an intensifier bath?

[Terry]

Francois--I assume that now it's fixed I can't do anything more, chemically, to enhance it.  Is that incorrect?  (I was thinking of scanning tricks that might pull up more info)

Peter, this one's a real puzzle.  I don't even remember what country I bought it from!  Some part of the former Soviet Union.  It's a portrait I like--she's got kind of a sweet face.  Guessing by the clothing 1950s or thereabouts, allowing for Soviet fashion etc.

Tinkering with it, I crushed the blacks on the lightstruck part and I get some more detail behind her there.  Looks like maybe a small table (with perhaps a marble top?) on the right and probably a window up there in the middle where the bright patch is.  Underneath the window I think I see a baseboard.  Over there on the left looks like it could be a bookcase or secretary of some kind. 
She's clearly sitting on a bed.


Background Fotokor par Terry B, on ipernity

[Francois]

Francois--I assume that now it's fixed I can't do anything more, chemically, to enhance it.  Is that incorrect?  (I was thinking of scanning tricks that might pull up more info)

Actually, intensifier baths are made for recovering developed and fixed negatives. There are a few types that react differently. There's the classic chromium intensifier which proportionally increases the density of the image. There's a Silver intensifier which adds silver to the grains present in the emulsion in a proportional way. There used to be a mercury based intensifier but you can't find it anymore (though I have a few formulas). The process is carried out in broad daylight so that you can stop the processing when you're happy with the negative. You can find the stuff relatively cheap at Photo Formulary. They probably also carry it at B&H.

[Terry]

Thanks Francois!  This is good news. 

[Francois]

You're welcome!
The fun thing is that you also can apply the process in steps: try a bit, then a bit more.

The only drawback is that these processes make the grain literally explode in size.