So today I tried out something after I failed to get a usable shot on Pinhole Day. I mixed a fresh batch of developer, and took a test shot. And got an image that was so thin, it was barely there. My developer stock had gone off. But I do have a few sachets of Ilford film developer. So I gave that a go. The results are contrasty, but effective. And reversed and inverted... The great thing is that the sachets are small, and resealable, so I am a lot less likely to have my stock go off. Much less wasteful.

The standard paper is the Harman Direct Positive paper, which is a great paper, no question. It is, however, quite pricey, especially here in Australia. So what are the alternatives? The obvious thing to do is to trim down other negative type papers, and then do a reversal in something like Snapseed. So I have been doing quite a bit of that, and I have made a few discoveries along the way. First and foremost is that the finish of the paper strongly affects the outcome, especially with RC papers. A gloss RC paper will pit and mar very easily in the field. Of course these are the cheapest papers available. A matt, pearl, or satin finish paper does not appear to suffer from the pitting and marring issue, and are still comparatively cheap compared to the HDP. To see what I mean, compare these two photos: Gloss RC Ilford MGIV. Satin RC Ilford MGIV. Gloss papers are also more prone to pooling of developer, and the effect of that stands out more with the negative papers, so look out for that.

On the Murray River (Western Australia). Ilford MGIV Pearl RC paper, 65 seconds exposure perched on top of a mooring post! The pre-washing technique is working out really well to ensure even development.

This sculpture is at City Beach, in Perth. This is reversed, so the image is the right way around. I am shooting from the back of it! One technical note: I have started pre-rinsing my shots before development with clean water, this is proving to be fantastic for reducing pooling , giving a much more even development. You do have to increase development times slightly - add about 15s for each shot you have already developed from the current loading. This will compensate for the slight dilution.