Submitted by Al …
(Adapted from The Encyclopedia of Photography ©1963)
The Beers’ developer is actually two developer solutions, one for high contrast and the other for low contrast, which can be combined for various effects in the making of prints and enlargements. It was originally formulated by Dr. Roland F. Beers and has been highly recommended by such photographers as Ansel Adams.
It is important to remember that most modern enlarging and contact papers develop to a maximum degree of contrast in a very short time, after which only the overall density of the image increases with additional development. Thus, the amount of variation in contrast possible with such papers is very small. It is likely that in most cases the developer will have a total range from softest to hardest which is little, if any, more than the contrast difference between two adjacent grades of paper. For subtle changes in contrast which cannot be secured by using the conventional paper grades, or to ‘split’ grades, this developer is of considerable value.
However, with the advent of the variable contrast papers such as Varigam, Polycontrast, VeeCee, Varaloid, and Multigrade, the need for varying developer composition is much less. These papers produce a range of as many as ten different degrees of contrast, and grades can be split by making the exposure in parts through two adjacent filters.
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