Can you overdevelop pushed black-and-white film to mimic the look of overexposure?

Asked 12/28/2015

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When shooting color negative film, people sometimes rate the film slower than box speed to intentionally overexpose it. With black-and-white film, it's also common to rate a film like Tri-X 400 at a higher EI, such as 1600, and then increase development time to push-process it.

Is the extra development time in a push meant to compensate for the underexposure? If so, would adding even more development time create a look similar to overexposure, or is that a different effect?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

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During developing, add more time to the development, e.g. 10min for Tri-X400 pushed to 1600 for Tmax dev.

You are talking here about pushing on film development.

Definition of pushing on Wikipedia:

Push processing in photography, sometimes called uprating, refers to a film developing technique that increases the effective sensitivity of the film being processed.2 Push processing involves developing the film for more time, possibly in combination with a higher temperature, than the manufacturer's recommendations. This technique results in effective overdevelopment of the film, compensating for underexposure in the camera.

Source: Guide to film photography

When pushing or pulling film at different EI speeds, you must over- or under-develop the film to compensate for over or underexposing the film. Generally, pushing the film to another ISO makes the development process much easier. If you push a 400 speed film to EI 800, you should develop the film based on the development time for ISO 800 film. This will give you a solid starting point as you learn to push or pull process film.

This technique applies to both colour and black&white films.

Talking B&W now: As you (probably) already know, the longer you keep the film in the developer, the more the silver halides on the films are reduced to metallic silver which will then get fixed on the film during the fixing process. That means, the more you keep the film in the developer, the more "light" will be caught on film, the more the exposure will be pulled during the development.

You should nevertheless always read the specifications of the developer.

Quoting again from Guide to film photography:

Chemical developers have also provided some general rules for push and pull film processing. Kodak recommends that when push processing, you should increase the development time by two minutes for each camera stop of underexposure. With pull processing, the development time should be decreased one minute for each stop of overexposure. Ilford recommends increasing development time by 20% to boost contrast for underexposed images.

Both companies provide basic data sheets for push/pull processing times similar to their sheets for standard processing times. Please consult the appropriate company for more information.

Originally by user26160. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user26160

10y ago

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Yes: in black-and-white film, the extra time used for push processing is meant to compensate for underexposure by overdeveloping the negative. Rating Tri-X 400 at 1600 means exposing it 2 stops less, then increasing development to raise density and contrast.

But extra development is not the same thing as overexposure. Exposure and development affect the negative differently:

  • exposure mainly determines how much shadow detail is recorded
  • increased development mainly boosts highlight density and overall contrast

So if you add even more development time beyond a normal push, you are not really creating the same result as giving the film more light. You are mostly increasing contrast and highlight buildup, and you may get a harsher negative rather than the smoother, fuller-shadow look associated with actual overexposure.

If you want the effect of overexposure, give the film more exposure. If you want the effect of pushing, underexpose and extend development. They are separate creative choices.

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10y ago

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