The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

Developing time and procedures are identical to those given for DK-15.
NOTE: When working above 95F/35C use Kodak SH-5 Prehardener.
PAPER DEVELOPERS
Paper-Developing Agents
Formulas 243
The primary developing agents often have a major effect on print color and gradation.
Pyrocatechin is often used for warm tones. Glycin is favored for neutral tones and subtle gradations.
Amidol is often used in cold-tone formulas. However, as can be seen from the following
formulas, there are no hard and fast rules. Agfa 108 is compounded with pyrocatechin,
yet the addition of bromide, usually for warmer tones, causes it to become neutral to cold.
Amidol is found in many neutral-tone formulas, and glycin is often used for warm tones.
Development Time
Paper may be developed over a wide range of times with varying results. Up to a point, the
longer paper is developed, the richer the gradation and overall print quality. Exposure and
dilution can be adjusted to allow development from 1 to 7 minutes. Less than 1 minute can
result in stains, streaks, and uneven development. However, the changes that take place after
3 minutes are often slight, even though they can at times make a difference.
Unless otherwise specifi ed standard development time for all the paper developers are
1½ minutes for RC (i.e., 1 minute 20 seconds with a 10 second drain) and 2 minutes for fi berbase
(1 minutes 50 seconds with a 10 second drain). You can extend or shorten the time to
suit individual images.
Methods of Manipulating Print Developers
None of the paper developers in this section is written in stone. Many of them were created
by photographers, not unlike you, who were experimenting with various proportions of
developing agents and alkali. Feel free to alter any of the formulas. If your new brew gives you
the tone/color, look, and feel you’re after, great. If not, you may lose a few sheets of paper.
One suggestion for anyone wishing to become a “chef” and alter or create new formulas
is to break existing formulas down into proportionate amounts. Be certain to compare and
modify working solutions, not stock solutions. The following is a brief synopsis of some of
the methods outlined in Chapters 3 and 8.
Cold Tones with MQ Developers
● Reduce the amount of bromide.
● Reduce the amount of bromide and add benzotriazole.
NOTE: Eliminating the bromide entirely, without replacing it by an antifoggant, may cause
paper fog. To maintain an equivalent amount of fog reduction, substitute 0.2 grams of benzotriazole
for every 1.0 gram of bromide. The easiest way to accomplish this is by converting