Mt. Shuksan - North Cascades National Park, WA 2017

[N. Riley]

1978 Deardorf V8 with a 305mm Schneider Claron-G and no. 15 filter.
8x10 FP4 in PMK on MG Classic with Ansco 103 and Se toning.



N. Riley

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[thronobulax]

Lovely. Why a yellow filter rather than deep red ... not criticising, just curious.

Also did you mean to say Ansco 130 rather than 103?

 

[N. Riley]

Thank you for your compliment and great questions. I went with yellow rather than red because a red filter would have darkened the blue sky considerably more, causing it to assume an unnatural and needlessly dramatic appearance in this instance, and no, I did indeed mean to say "103." It's a straight MQ developer I've made it up so many times now I could probably do it in my sleep.

N. Riley

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[thronobulax]

How would you compare 103 to dektol?

 

[N. Riley]

Dektol (D-72) is a very good paper developer. Having used the Kodak preparation many years ago and having tried it again just recently, I can say it is certainly more convenient than Ansco 103 or any other do-it-yourself formulation I've ever tried. Insofar as the results go, I judge Dektol and Ansco 103 to be about the same on MG Classic (this is not surprising because the two are about the same formula-wise). I can offer no legitimate opinion with respect to other papers because I don't use other papers for 99% of my printing and have not tried Dektol with either of the papers I use for my pictorials images, namely MG Art and Matt, both Ilford products - but I would not expect them to be vastly different. I use Ansco 103 because I am able to dilute the stock solution by 25% which gives me an ample volume of developer for bigger prints, and because I am then able to extend development out to 3 minutes for good color and contrast without fog on MG Classic, Art, or Matt. Ansco 103 is far more economical to use than Dektol or other prepackaged developers, but this economy obviously is not free: there is considerably is more time and effort involved in mixing up your own solutions than there is in using ready-made powders. That said, my advice to anyone torn between Ansco 103 and Dektol would be to use Dektol for as long as it remains available, and to then switch over to D-72 or Ansco 103 if and when the Kodak/Alaris chemical division goes under, or you can no longer afford the luxury of the pre-packaged developer.

N. Riley

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Home page for normanrileyphotography.com. Traditional large fomat art photography by Norman E. Riley. Includes site menu and introductory image.

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[thronobulax]

Yes, I mix most of my own film developer already (Pyrocat-HD and D-23) and stocked up heavily on Dektol a few years ago to prepare for the inevitable.

I print almost entirely on non-Ilford papers (though I do use their films). Lately I have fallen deeply in like with Fomabrom Variant 111 VC.

I am contemplating trying Ansco 130 at some point.

You can see some scans of my prints (and a neg or two) temporarily at: https://ozzie.tundraware.com/Silver

P.S. Your link above does not resolve to the correct URL - I had to cut and paste it. The images are really strong.

 

[N. Riley]

Thank you very much for the link to your interesting images and also for alerting me to the problem with my URL. I think I have straightened it out in my posts so far and I will try to get it right in future postings. Thanks again.

N. Riley

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Home page for normanrileyphotography.com. Traditional large fomat art photography by Norman E. Riley. Includes site menu and introductory image.

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[Alan Klein]

Very dramatic. You didn't a red filter.

 

[N. Riley]

Agreed, and thank you. I neglected to mention that a red filter also would have darkened the foliage more, thereby making the contrast between the snow-covered mountain and foliage harder to manage.

N. Riley

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Home page for normanrileyphotography.com. Traditional large fomat art photography by Norman E. Riley. Includes site menu and introductory image.

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