What happens when you over/under develop a neg?
- Thread starter benwal
- Start date
when you over develop your film, the neg gets "thicker", means the negative is more dense,
when you under develop your film, the neg gets "thinner", means the negative is more faint,
both are still printable, to a certain degree, depends how off is that, usually "thicker" neg is much easier to print and get much decent results than thinner neg.
when you under develop your film, the neg gets "thinner", means the negative is more faint,
both are still printable, to a certain degree, depends how off is that, usually "thicker" neg is much easier to print and get much decent results than thinner neg.
It helps to think in cooking terms. If you "overcook" (over develop) your negatives, then they will turn out very dark (dense). Like food getting burnt until chow tar.
If you "undercook" (under develop) your negatives, then they will turn out very light (thin).
When scanning or printing the negatives, remember that there will be a reversal in the lightness/darkness you see on the negatives. The lighter the negatives are, the darker your scans or prints will turn out. The darker your negatives are, the brighter your scans or prints will turn out.
Hope this helps.
Royale With Cheese
Senior Member
Just to add on.
Better to kena over develope as you still have details & can bring exposure down using photo editing software.
Under developed film has no details.
Better to kena over develope as you still have details & can bring exposure down using photo editing software.
Under developed film has no details.
Left side is Underexposure. Right side is Overexposure.
Top side is Underdeveloped. Bottom is Overdeveloped.
Sorry to confused you even further, here is another text on the subject with photos of the negatives.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/photomicrography/bwprocessingerrors.html
Odyssey-Boy
Senior Member
I try not to over exposed my films but if my films are under exposed, i will use Photoshop to increase the exposure.
here's another excellent article.
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Assessing-negatives-4682
"An underdeveloped film can easily be confused with an underexposed negative because both are thin, but the underdeveloped version will still have some detail in shadow areas. "
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Assessing-negatives-4682
"An underdeveloped film can easily be confused with an underexposed negative because both are thin, but the underdeveloped version will still have some detail in shadow areas. "
overexposed /underexposed are not the same as overdevelopment/underdevelopment.
overexposed negative/film with underdevelopment (pull processing) will result a lower contrast negative/film
underexposed negative/film with overevelopment (push processing) will result a higher contrast negative/film
this is the way zone system controlling the tonal range of a negative, for more details info please read "The Negative" by Ansel Adams the master.
overexposed negative/film with underdevelopment (pull processing) will result a lower contrast negative/film
underexposed negative/film with overevelopment (push processing) will result a higher contrast negative/film
this is the way zone system controlling the tonal range of a negative, for more details info please read "The Negative" by Ansel Adams the master.
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