Bleach Bypass

jean-louis · January 23, 2004

Id like to know what are the actual results of bypass on developing the film and on copying, and what would happen if I bypass it twice (on developing and on copying)

I'm working on Kodak EXR100T (16mm)

David Mullen ASC · January 24, 2004

You are leaving black (metallic) silver in the film by skipping the bleach step.

On the negative, this looks like overexposure -- excessive density -- unless you had compensated by underexposing the stock by at least one stop. Contrast in highlights goes up, burning out faster. There is some loss of color saturation. There is a lot more grain since you have silver grains AND color dye grains in the image.

If you do it to the print, there is an increase in contrast in the shadows, which go black faster. There is some loss of saturation. Blacks are much denser than normally possible since they have black silver in them (this can cause some heat problems with the print during projection due to absorbed infrared). Grain increase is not as dramatic as when done to the negative because the silver grains in print stock are naturally smaller, being a much slower-speed stock than camera negative.

So you do it to both and there is a lot of contrast and a loss of color saturation, plus a lot of graininess.