Hi All(posted 8410 days ago)It's getting to be summer soon and that means warm weather in New England. I just got back into photography and I have used the temperature of 68 degrees with practiacally all the procesing solutions. This gets tiring since cooling down take a long time and the coldest water is at 72 ro 78 during those times. When it gets this way I use ice cubes in the water before adding the chemistry, then when the temp hits 66 the ice cube comes out, then I draw out some of the water that may have melted, then I pour in the chemical, then reheat the beaker until the extra two degrees is there.
I'm wondering if it is possible to get away with developing in the 72 to 78 degree region and still maintain the quailty of a 68 degree developing time?
Another issue I have is as I have started to get back into photography and mixing carefully and exposing correctly, I'm not getting the right quality when I print. I'm getting sort of a mottled, grainy-patched, uneven tonality, something I never had happen the last time I had processed black and white. Coming from a 120 roll I expected to see smoother tones than this. It's like the consistancy part of processing isn't looking consistent no matter what measures I take to control it.
I'm using tri-x pro 120 rated at 200 with HC-110 dil b at 5:30 at 68F, and ilford paper. Maybe it could be that some of my materials are old, but their not too old and they have been kept in cool places. The only thing that was slightly aged was the dektol, all other solutions were fine. Print development was fast. less than 10 seconds for the image to come up. My prints have ok shadows with detail and ok highlights with detail but they do not look right. I'm on a strict budget and I'll have to work with what I have.
My goal is to be a professional photographer someday and I know this cannot continue like this. I wish I can get the consistancy going again.
Last thing, are there any organizations that aid in artists trying to start up to be a photographer? I haven't found anyplace yet, have been searching in the past but was unlucky.
Thank you all for your time in reading this letter.
Robert D.