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Chapter 6. Printing in a darkroom. Tools. Easel for 8x10 paper Plastic tray Negative holder and number of your enlarger Filters Focusing magnifier enlarger 8x10 photo paper Brush or other to clean negative Developer, stop bath, fixer, stop, washer, dryer. Enlarger Pgs 112-113.
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Chapter 6 Printing in a darkroom
Tools • Easel for 8x10 paper • Plastic tray • Negative holder and number of your enlarger • Filters • Focusing magnifier • enlarger • 8x10 photo paper • Brush or other to clean negative • Developer, stop bath, fixer, stop, washer, dryer
Enlarger Pgs 112-113 • Ours are sized for 11x14 or smaller, usually 8x10 • Has a head with the lamp • 2 types • Condenser: uses a lens above the negative to concentrate the light. More contrast. This is the type we use at VVC. • Diffusion: scatters unfocused light over the negative • Enlarger should spread light evenly over the negative • Light goes through a lens with f stops to regulate the amount of light passing through. • Timer switches light on and off
Photo paper pgs 114-115 • Variable Contrast or VC. Vary the contrast with a filter. This is what we use. • Graded paper. Single contrast from grade 0 to grade 5. • Resin Coated or RC. Requires less washing time. • Fiber based paper. Premium product for Fine Art Photography. Much longer washing period.
Steps to making a print • Set up enlarger. Start at f/11. • Contact sheet from your negatives in the sleeve. • Emulsion side down! • Test strip of sleeve between 2 rows to determine optimal exposure time. • May not work for all negatives in the sleeve. • Just like we did the value strip for the photogram. • Expose the full contact print and develop. • If necessary, adjust time and repeat.
Make an enlargement • Evaluate your contact sheet for the negatives you want to print. Do this in the light. • Use the light box and loupe to see flaws. • Insert negative strip in the negative carrier. • Emulsion side down. • Brush the carrier for dust. • Clean the negative. • Air or brush • Insert carrier into the enlarger
Enlargement cont. • Open f stop to brightest position to focus • Insert white focus paper into the easel to focus • Use adjustment knob to focus to your eye. • Adjust the image to enlarge or shrink image • Be sure image fills the paper! • Re-focus image • Use grain magnifier to make final focus. Without this step you final image will NOT be in focus. • Move magnifier around until you see the grain or edges.
Test strip pgs 120-122 • Use a test strip, just as you did on the contact sheet. • This is just one negative and you need to know the optimal exposure, time & f stop for this one negative. • Find an area in your negative that has light and dark tones. • The test strip may go left-right or up-down, even diagonal • Try increments of 5. Your best times should be between 10 and 20. If it’s well beyond this, open the f stop 1 stop and repeat. • Develop your test strip (1 min. for fixer) • Take your strip out of the darkroom, in your tray, to evaluate.
Test strip cont. • If you are not sure it’s 15 or 20, then fine tune your test strip. • This time do 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 • Run the whole strip 15 seconds. Then cover all but the top section and run 1 second, move the cover down and repeat until you’ve added 1 more second to each section. Your top will be 20 seconds and the bottom that you did not uncover is at 15. • Be sure you have highlights and shadows • Develop and evaluate.
Full size print • Put your focus paper back in and recheck your focus. • Be sure modeling light is off. • Put your photo paper into the easel and be sure you have a ¼ inch edge all around the print. • Expose and develop • Put in fixer 1 to 2 minutes, rinse, a take out of the darkroom to evaluate. If it’s right, put back into the fixer until a total of 5 minutes and complete the process
Developer pgs 123-125 • Note time you put the print in the developer tray. Gently agitate the tray. • Using tongs you may turn the paper over but DO NOT poke at the image side of the paper. 2-4 times is enough. • Drain the developer from the print. Hold it 2-5 inches above the tray while it drips. Don’t shake! • Transfer to the stop bath for 30 seconds. Gently agitate. • Drain print
Fixer • Once drained in the stop bath, move to the fixer with tongs. Never, never, never use your fingers. Do not put the tongs from one tray into the next. • Agitate for 5 minutes. You may turn the print over once a minute with tongs only. • Print can now be exposed to light. Drain fixer and move the the 2 minute wash tray. • Using your tray, move the print to the 10 minute tumble-washer
Wash to dry • Try to minimize starts and stop of the big washer. • When your print is done, remove and put it face down on the board above the washer. Squeegee the print • Remove to your tray and take to the outer room and place on the drying screen. • Never do this unless your print has been through a complete wash.
Judging your print pgs 126-127 • Density • The longer the exposure, the more density. That is, the darker the print • Change time or f stop • What you want: • Full range of tones • Rich blacks, many shades of gray, brilliant whites) • Realistic sense of texture • Use ordinary light, not safe light, to evaluate
Judging cont. • Contrast • Difference in brightness between light and dark areas of the print. • Low contrast appears gray a weak. • No real blacks or brilliant whites • High contrast • Harsh, too contrasty • Lacks texture or details in the shadows • White may be blown out to pure white. Texture or details missing
How to proceed • Judge density (too dark or light) and find correct exposure. • Judge contrast and use filter to adjust. • We start with a #2. That is a normal filter. • Smaller # is less contrast, larger is more contrast • This is why we recommend you buy the big box of paper. This may take several prints. • Make a test strip for density (time) for the highlights. Make test strips and adjust time and/or f stop. • Repeat for the shadows
Adjust contrast • We have an exercise to teach this coming soon. • If you can see details in the negative (use a loupe and the light box)and they print black, then lower the contrast. • If shadows are too light or look weak and gray, use a higher contrast filter. • Further adjustment through dodge and burn and that comes later. • Your print will dry down darker that when wet.
So what do I settle for now? • What’s the subject of your photo? Make sure that comes out the best you can. • A person? The skin tones • A moving car? The car
When to stop this chapter • We’ll stop for now at page 127. • We’ll cover more when we do contrast and dodge/burn. • This last part because you’ll hit some frustration and not be sure what to do. • Testing in invaluable. Cut 1 sheet into 4 or 5 test strips so you test a large area. • Test highlights and shadows on one strip and adjust. • Be patient. Allow adequate time to print.
Extra Review • Density in a negative or print is • The amount of silver build up on the surface • The overall lightness and darkness of either a print or negative • And is controlled by the amount of exposure • If your first print is too light then add time to add density • An 35mm SLR has an advantage over other types of cameras, you se what your film sees.
Shutter Aperture review • Using a 50mm lens, what shutter speed will probably have some blur? • Using a 50mm lens, what shutter speed will probably freeze any action? • What f stop will give a shallow depth of field? • What f stop will give a deep depth of field?
Bonus Review • The initial exposure is f/11 at 1/60 sec. If the photographer changes the shutter to 1/1000, what f stop should they set the camera to get the equivalent amount of light? • Shutter speeds • 1/60 1/125 1/250 1/500 1/1000 • Four stops from 60 to 1000 and ½ the light with each stop • F stops – need more light to balance the shutter • f/11 f/8 f/5.6 f/4 f/2.8 • Each stop is twice the amount of light
