Getting pushy

with film and chemistry

In my never-ending quest to produce the most crunchy, contrast-filled images I can, I decided last weekend I would try to push some Fuji Acros 100 II.

“Why do you want your blacks to fill off into nothingness?” you might ask.

I don’t know. That’s how the night makes me feel. I love those shadows, especially when they have little detail. Okay, some detail.

Fuji Acros seemed like a good starting point for this look at night, and paired with a Pro-Mist filter, it gives me the desired effect of harsh blacks with soft, blooming whites and highlights. It’s one of my favorite combos. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more menacing shadows and contrast!

You know that scene in that Star War where Kylo Ren is like, “More. MORE.” It’s like that but with lack of shadow detail and increased contrast.

I’ve never attempted to push any film and develop it myself, so I figured I’d give it a try. I decided to rate my Acros at 200 and see what I got.

I also still had some leftover Kodak XTOL developer, and I had yet to use it in dilution form.

Problem: I wasn’t sure how good my current batch of fixer was since it had been sitting in a bottle for months. Then I thought about my XTOL and whether that had suffered from too much oxidation.

I realized it would be a dev session of firsts and also did my first ever clip test with both my developer and fixer. You’d think I would have done one at this point after developing for several years, but I generally keep good notes about my chemistry and stay aware of whether it’s good or not. Not this time. I had no idea.

Chemistry is as addicting (to me) as the process of shooting film. Not only are camera adventures fun, but the risk/reward of trying new and different chemicals combinations is also exciting in its own way. It’s also a good time to catch up on podcasts.

Speaking of podcasts, I got mentioned by Justin Allen- Photographer at Negative Influence the other day while he was talking to okayfoto. Yeah, pretty dope. Imagine you’re just listening to one of your favorite podcasts while planning your film antics and then people whose work you admire just happen to bring up your Harman RED photos. It gives you a charge. Thanks for the shoutout. You should check out both individuals’ work.

Anyway, these photos turned out pretty good (if misery it what your’e looking for). I shot these photos in and around the South Orange train station on my Nikon F3. The negatives were a tad thin, but that was to be expected considering I just rolled the dice. I wonder how they might print, which is another area in which I still need to venture.

If you’re curious about my development process, I used a 1:1 dilution of XTOL. That’s one part XTOL stock to one part distilled water. Since I rated the Acros at 200, I developed the film for 12 minutes at around 68°F, agitation for the first thirty seconds and four rotations every thirty seconds thereafter.

There was no editing done to these photos because I wanted to try to preserve what I got from the negative, so the only major variables are my Plustek 8200i, Silverfast scans, and Negative Lab Pro.

But the madness isn’t over. I need MORE contrast. Next I’m going to try to push this film to 400 and see what I get.

And since I shot the entirety of the roll at night, I thought it best to at least fire off one shot using this technique in harsh daylight. I give you: dogs who aren’t thrilled to be photographed.

Look at those shadows! That’s what I’m talking about.

Thanks for reading.