Pyrogallol

[Tom Deering <tdeering@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Second question: Have any experimenters tried Pyro out there? No, not
>setting buildings on fire, I mean Pyrogallol developer for B&W processing.
>I've heard some great things about it, and I've got tons of B&W film to
>play with. Might be the cat's ass for stereo, as it apparently boosts
>shadow detail and highlights, and also reduces grain.


I did just a bit of checking.  There have been 161 messages in the
newsgroup rec.photo.darkroom that contain "Pyrogallol".  Use deja.com to
search for them.

Here's one message, which quotes another source:

>The following quotes from Darkroom Cookbook as I can't say
>it better myself. "There is nothing that can compare to a
>full scale black and white negative developed in pyro.
>Negatives developed in pyro exhibit exceptionally sharp
>edges and unbelievably delicate highlight detail. Sharpness,
>acutance, highlight separation and, it the case of pyro
>staining formulas, the masking of the inherent grain are
>properties of the pyro developed negative. Pyro produces
>stronger and more consistant edge  effects than any other
>known developer. A print from a pyro negative will show
>greater acutance (subjective visual sharpness) than a print
>from a conventionally developed negative. Pyro excels in
>separating and  preserving highlight values. negatives
>exposed under very difficult light  conditions illustrate
>the superiority of pyro. Strongly backlit subjects, such as
>summer grass and glacial polish, or overall white subjects
>that exhibit  very little internal contrast, all separate
>remarkably well".

Here's a dissenting view:

: First there is no magic elixir that will work
: dramatic miracles with an image. It takes years of careful
: analysis and understanding to thoroughly understand the
: processes involved and even then any achievements are at
: best minimal as the very nature of the media is the primary
: limiting factor. Granted some characteristics can be
: "enhanced" but that is the limit of the "magic" !

Also mentioned was that Pyro is highly toxic.

Sounds interesting but apparently it can't be used to make slides, which is
all I shoot. (Searching for both "Pyrogallol" or "Pyro" and "reversal" or
"slides" turned up nothing useful.)

Tom

---
Tom Deering    tdeering@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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