The great debate: development times by the book vs. feeling it out by eye in the darkroom

I used to be super strict about following Ilford's times to the second, but after a batch of underexposed rolls from a dim forest shoot last fall I started pulling film early based on how the negs looked... has anyone else thrown the charts out and just gone by gut feel for push processing?

2 comments

2 Comments

pat_perry25d ago

Read that Ansel Adams book once where he talked about feeling his way through development.

drew_grant5224d ago

Feeling his way through development" - thats exactly it @pat_perry. I remember that part too. But yknow what it reminded me of? My uncle used to do darkroom printing by touch when his enlarger bulb blew out one night. He just went by how long the paper had been in the tray and the temp of the chemicals lol. Came out looking all moody and weird but honestly some of his best prints were from that night. Its like Adams said about knowing your materials so well you can just go on instinct.