After covering previous mistakes, I thought I had more or less covered my bases, until I started looking at pictures I developed rather recently from a fresh batch of chemicals.
At first glance, everything looks fine enough, if this was shot on 800 or 1600 iso film. But it wasn’t…
This was shot on good-old Lomography Color 100 stock.
So where did all that grain come from?
The developer was way too hot. I put the tap on hot and walked away for a bit to let it warm up before mixing the chemicals. Before I knew it, I was mixing chemicals at 120, instead of 102…
I let the developer sit in a lukewarm water bath for awhile, but got impatient, so as soon as I got a reading below 110 on the thermometer, I went at it…
Good thing I’m not a pro shooter, I guess, but I still got some nice shots, and I’ll share some over the next few days, God willing, but here’s a reminder for me first: C-41 development requires a fairly specific temperature. It’s not as critical as the instructions—or commenters on the internets—claim: I’ve developed as low as 96 or 98 and as high as 104 with no ill effects.
But 110 is just too hot.
