Split Grade Printing - ILFORD Darkroom Guides 

I believe F-Stop-Printing explained would be the most beneficial to get more out darkroom printing. As a comment on the current video on split grade printing: a) some information written on the screen is going by way too fast, b) evaluating the test strips could (should) be explained more in depth: soft exposure to get the high light details "right" (I might go for just about visible), hard exposure to get the blacks "right". Combined this with f-stop printing is a very efficient and fast way to dial in the amount of hard and soft exposure in combination; test strips done with the f-stop printing technique can than be used to arrive exactly at the right tone in - selected - parts of the image.

@@rlfsoso Thanks for taking the time to feedback. We thought that people would likely pause the video to read the on screen comments but will take the speed that they appear on board for next time. You are the second person to request f stop printing as a future video so this is definitely something we'll look at.

@@Ilfordphoto Thanks! The real issue would be to show a way without special timers… …handling tables and dialing in ever changing times manually is taking some fun out of it. Nobody is ever going to separate me from my RH Design Stop Clock Pro… !

Yes, you can use the colour head and we have the correct ratios listed on the technical data sheets for each grade:)

That's fantastic to hear Philip. So glad that you found it helpful.

Thanks Jeremy:)

Thanks Thomas. I take it from your reply that you use split grade printing regularly on your darkroom prints?

@@Ilfordphoto Yes, particularly when I have a somewhat challenging negative to work with, in therms of contrast. It’s interesting to note that with this technique it’s possible to stretch boundaries further, by processing the film to a higher contrast, knowing more details can be eked out in printing. By doing so we will notice more differences between different films and film developers, as it’s at the extremes of their capabilities those differences emerge. This makes the whole process of learning our materials even more interesting, as a much greater degree of variability becomes available at the time we print. The only kinds of negatives that print poorly using this technique are thin ones and low contrast ones. The low contrast filter does nothing for these negs at the printing stage; they need high contrast right away.

@@ptbfrch How do you split dodging and burning between filters? I mean do you burn with low contrast filters and burn with high?

That's great to hear Jake, just what we were aiming for. Rachel has a fantastic way of explaining things and keeping them simple.

@@Ilfordphoto Yes, it was indeed the simplest explanation I've seen too. I liked her suggestion of starting with 2.5 and moving on from there. However, Rachel was a bit quick explaining her final print (I think it was 10 sec total?). Did she give the print 5 seconds on the lowest filter, and an additional 5 on the highest which gave a total of 10 seconds? Lastly, I see you show two boxes of filters. Maybe you could tell me what the difference between the two boxes are? Thanks in advance.

@@cardboardmusic I was wondering about the final total exposure times, too. I want to try this technique tomorrow in class.

@@cardboardmusic My interpretation is that the final print was 50% of time at 00 and 50% of time at 5

Thanks for the great feedback, we're glad that you found them useful. Are there any other darkroom techniques that you'd like to see us explore in future videos?

@@Ilfordphoto not for now actually :D but I appreciate you reaching out!

Thanks Vincenzo. You'll have to let us know if you use the technique next time you print in the darkroom.

For sure!

We made it just for you😁

I would say it was 5s @ 00 filter and 10s @ 5 filter.

It was 5 seconds at 00 and 10 seconds at grade 5 :)

@@tomasnovotny4108 Thank you

@@Ilfordphoto thank you

@@tomasnovotny4108 Thanks for clarification.

Thanks Ted. Yes you definitely need to invest in the Multigrade filters and give this technique a go next time you are in the darkroom.

Hi Tomas. Thanks for watching, and the lovely feedback. We love Lina's videos so that's huge compliment. Have you used the split grade printing technique yourself?

@@Ilfordphoto I think your video is more clear for beginners. Hers is a bit advanced. Yes, I use split grading always.

Thanks Wagner. What's your favourite ILFORD film or darkroom paper?

Thanks for watching Walter. Do you do much darkroom printing?

@@Ilfordphoto Not much because I don't have my own darkroom. But while I was a student, I had the opportunity to print and it was really exciting. If you had to recommend an enlarger to me, what would it be? Thanks for answering

Hi Martin. Thanks for the feedback.Great to hear that you found it helpful and simple to understand. We will look at the F-Stop printing method for a future darkroom video, thanks for the suggestion.

Glad you think so. Have you done much split grade printing in the darkroom?

Thanks Pedro. That's what we like to hear! Have you used split grade printing for your own darkroom prints before?

Check out the previous video about filters. There is a section in there about using the settings in the colour head ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vY3bbXkuAfw.html The information is also available on our technical data sheets www.ilfordphoto.com/technical-downloads/technical-data-sheets/

Hi Yes you are correct, this will give you a starting point and whilst we'd like to think that everybody will use our ILFORD Multigrade darkroom papers you have to remember that all Multigrade papers act slightly differently.

It's good to have a change occasionally!

Hi Dale. Yes this would only work with Multigrade or variable contrast darkroom papers not with a graded paper like you have.

I would say that FB Galerie paper is pretty fancy for a beginner!))

@@tomasnovotny4108 I agree on that too, perhaps he should start on RC paper first, as a begginer should, then move up to fiber. It's certainly an expensive paper to begin with, getting used to long washing times and the hefty price for each sheet.

@@Ryan-lu9km I have started with FB graded papers and I wanna stay with these papers. But for the start I haven't chose the FB Galerie but lower priced papers from different producer. Here are my some first paper photographs 30x40cm dryed on a glass plates. www.temnakomora.cz/gallery/album/651-papírovky-zvětšování/

Yes, that's exactly what she does. She exposes with the 00 filter for 5 seconds and the grade 5 filter for 10 seconds to create the final print

@@Ilfordphoto thank you for clarifying.

Because it's an instructional video and most people don't have a color head.

@@TheAgeOfAnalog :)

We wanted our video to be relevant to as many people as possible and not everyone has access to a colour head. We do share more details of using a colour head in the previous video about filters ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vY3bbXkuAfw.html

Think you'll find it's 5 and 5 as her test strip indicated 10 as best :)

Yes , although the doubling is only a guide or a starting point. Some multigrade papers such as our latest MGRC Deluxe don't need this much more.

@@JJ-vy7bc ......true but IFORD made a popup around 1:50m stating to more or less double the time .......that's why I asked......going to try it out......happy printing stay healthy

@@Ilfordphoto thanks still have some MGIV left