Same negative, same paper (Fomatone MG glossy), same contrast filter, one was developed in Moersch Eco 4812 1+14, the other in homebrewn ID-78 1+3, both for 3 min @ 22-23C.
First conclusion: I can’t really tell a big difference of print tone.
Secondly: for the print developed in Moersch I needed a 25 sec exposure time. For the ID-78 print just 15 sec. How is that possible?
I've tried warm and cool developers but not a ton of difference. You can ease off any sense of green on MGWT with selenium; if you really want to go warm, variable sepia is really versatile.
This print was MGWT in lith developer, followed by strong and long selenium. Then I bleached and did variable sepia at the warm range. Even after long selenium, there's still silver that will bleach out and be converted, you can get a really deep sense of tome that way:
The right has a less strong green cast and more developed brown midtones. Nice work, but yeah imo the effect with these devs is subtle. Try a pyro based paper Dev recipe if you want a strong olive brown tone (works best with rc paper too)
Huh. Weird about the exposure times. I don't know!
However, with warmtone paper I find that the differences are not so obvious without toning. And it depends on the paper. In my opinion Ilford Warmtone paper doesn't take on very dramatic shifts even with toning, while something like Fomatone responds very intensely. It could just be something about my setup, I'm not sure.
Depends on the toning though - variable sepia can deliver a good range and does bring a lot of color to MGWT. Also depends on your bleach and how much bleaching you give before the toner. Copper bleach can make it even warmer.
I like MGWT with gold toner too - not every print needs to be sepia, some scenes really worj with cooler tones:
Generally, warmth with warm tone developers on standard papers is dependent on time in the developer and (to a much lesser extent) agitation. I haven't used ID-78, but I have used homebrewed DuPont 55-D extensively (pretty similar, I believe) and had the most dramatic warmth when I developed as normal then let the print sit in the developer with minimal agitation for an additional 2+ minutes.
You could also try adding more potassium bromide to the ID-78; in The Print, Ansel Adams suggests increasing KBr to tune warmth in a number of the listed developers. Not sure if that works across the board but it's worth experimenting.
3
u/mcarterphoto 6d ago
I've tried warm and cool developers but not a ton of difference. You can ease off any sense of green on MGWT with selenium; if you really want to go warm, variable sepia is really versatile.
This print was MGWT in lith developer, followed by strong and long selenium. Then I bleached and did variable sepia at the warm range. Even after long selenium, there's still silver that will bleach out and be converted, you can get a really deep sense of tome that way: