Fading face?

One day later

I don't know about you but sometimes my mind wonders when I am processing photographs in the darkroom. I just can not help it, especially when an FB paper is involved, as sometimes it can be minutes till it is fully developed.

It was on one of these occasion that I started thinking about how long it would take for a developed image, but not fixed, to disappear. I have always thought it would be seconds once you turn on the light. Don't ask me where I got this notion from it is almost folk law among film uses. It is known that if you accidentally do it with film it all go's black straight away. Well the truth is, it can be saved if you are quick.

So what about photo paper? Firstly unexposed paper go's pink in day light and not black as I was expecting. The longer it is in the light the pinker it gets till it go's a pinky brown colour.

OK! a developed but not fixed image also degrades the same way but the image does not fade to black ether. In fact there is not much change a day later if left out on the table.

What is the biggest surprise of all nine months later and the image is just visible. You must bear in mind that it has not been in full day light all the time. I did notice that it had a couple of books on top of it for a time. It has well and truly surpassed any of my expectations. Just go's to show what you think you know may not bear any relation to the facts.

Technical data:

The images have been enhanced to help show the colour change digitally. The test strip appears in order of age from a couple of days to the last one nearly a year old and still going. I like the effect it has produced on the test strip. The paper is Ilford FB natural gloss. Developed in Ilford multigrade and washed, no stop or fix was used.

Last

What image looks like when processed
properly.