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I have written a guide on Black & White Film Processing, and when I sum up the facts, it is a lot easier to process film than it is to make a print in the darkroom, one that displays all of the intent you had when you pressed the shutter of your camera.
Let's start from the beginning. I’ve come to find out that print processing takes a lot of experience to do truly well. How to maximize the inherent potential in a given paper with a certain developer and to eke out the maximum of each negative is knowledge that is seriously hard work to come by. I'll try to advice on how to get a good start.
1. To choose a negative. If you look at your negatives on a light table, or hold it up against a window while there's daylight, to choose a 'technically' good negative, you should see detail in both the 'thinnest' and the 'densest' areas of it. Ideally it should also not have completely 'empty' thin areas (shadows or dark areas in the print) and completely black or opaque dense areas (highlights). That is more brightness range than most papers can handle.
2. To get a print without worrying about quality, it's easy to put the negative in the enlarger, raise the enlarger head to the appropriate height and printing size, focus on the paper easel, turn the enlarger lamp off, insert a paper, turn the lamp on again for some arbitrary time, move the print to the developer and leave it in there while agitating and removing it when it looks OK, then put it in the stop bath and finally fixer.
This way you will get something resembling a photographic print, but most likely a really bad one.
Getting good prints is really down to developing a good process, and for that you need a few things:
- Paper. I started with resin coated variable contrast paper, because it's cheap and available in many places still.
- Enlarger, with a lamp, lens, negative carrier, easel, focusing aid, and variable contrast filters.
- Paper developer, stop bath (water works fine if you change it every few prints), and fresh fixer.
- Safelight.
- Trays (one paper size larger than the paper you're using preferably), tongs.
- Beakers / graduates to mix chemistry, and a thermometer for temperature.
- A dark space.
- Dry compressed air to blow dust off negatives.
- Patience of a saint, dedication, and an understanding that it takes a LOT of time to get the results you want.
3. Contrast - what is it?
Contrast is the difference in tone between the darkest black and the brightest white that you produce in a print. There is overall contrast and local contrast.
Overall contrast is a judgement of the entire print where you see a good range of tones between black and white, along with a strong black and crisp whites.
Local contrast is basically the same thing but it talks about minute details of the print. Good local contrast aids in seeing the details of the print clearer, by having clear distinctions between bordering or 'local' tonal values.
Low contrast prints are thought of as looking ‘muddy’ by some, but can be very effective and beautiful with the right subject matter. High contrast prints look very ‘snappy’ to some and can be equally beautiful if used appropriately and creatively.
4. Paper Grades – Contrast Variations
Let's talk about paper, the first item needed. There are many kinds, but basically there are two categories:
A. Graded - graded paper has the same contrast from sheet to sheet in the same box, but are available in various contrast grades to purchase. Ilford Galerie is an example, and it is available in contrast grade 2 and 3. Once upon a time you could get 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 with 0 being the softest (least contrast) and 5 being the hardest (highest contrast). The availability today is grades 2, 3, and 4.
With graded paper, what determines the final contrast in the finished print is almost exclusively the contrast of your negative. This requires experience because you have to be able to interpret negatives and their contrast before you print them in order to select the correct paper. (Or if you are really good at what you are doing you can 'tailor' your negatives to always print well on a certain grade of paper).
B. Variable contrast - this type of paper is available as one single 'type', but you can vary the contrast by using multi contrast filters. With these filters you can vary the contrast according to the same contrast levels as graded paper, and sometimes more. The Ilford set that I have contains filters for grades: 00, 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5. It is my opinion that not all of them are necessary, and I actually only use two of them, and I will explain why a little bit further down. These filters are designed to be introduced somewhere in the 'light path' between the enlarger light source and the printing-paper surface. Some enlargers have drawers they go in, others have small fixtures under the lens. The effect is the same.
Black & White photo paper is essentially sensitive to blue and green light. The graded papers are used without filters and are exposed to whatever blue and green light the light source (filtered through the negative) produces.
The variable contrast filters vary and determine how much blue and green light reaches the paper and therefore alters the contrast.
5 – Choice: Variable Contrast Paper
I will focus on using variable contrast paper, as it is by far the most commonly used, and it is the most economical to stock in your darkroom as you only need one box for all grades needed, while if you used graded paper, you would have to get one box of each grade, at least until you learn how to master 'tailoring' the negatives to a certain grade. Some people use graded paper with beautiful results, others use variable contrast; it’s mainly personal preference that dictates what you actually use.
6. Print density.
Print density is basically how dark the whole print becomes after it has been processed. There are three factors determining how dark your print will become.
A. Enlarging lens aperture. The enlarging lens has an aperture. This device has a ring that fits around the lens, and as you turn it, metal blades located between the glass elements of your lens move. They move to make the opening in the lens smaller or larger. There are numbers that correspond to which aperture you have chosen. The smallest number is the largest opening, and vice versa. A large aperture (low number) will let more light through the lens to reach the paper surface. Think of it as sunbathing. The longer you stay in the light, the more tan you will become. Same thing with photo paper. The more light that reaches the surface, the darker the print will become.
B. Enlarging time. According to the same reasoning as aperture - to get more light to the paper surface, you can either open the lens wider, or you can illuminate it longer.
C. Developing time. Many people make the mistake of taking the paper out of the developer when it 'looks right'. The amount of time it's in the developer is different every time, and that is a disaster if you want any consistency in your printing at all. You need to have a predetermined time, and if you think your print is either too light or too dark, you will have to lengthen or shorten your exposure time, or change your lens aperture.
I have chosen 3 minutes as my development time. It is pretty long by most standards, but it works for me and the results I desire. Most people use 1m00s, 1m30s, or 2m00s. Settle for one (I don't think the 1 minute option works real well in most situation, longer times mean the dark tones settle down much better usually).
7. Split Grade Printing
I use a technique that is called 'Split Grade Printing'. Straight filter printing means that you examine the negative and choose which variable contrast filter you use to make your print. Split Grade means I use two different filters in succession, but regardless of negative contrast.
I feel that Split Grade allows me a degree more control of the outcome and a nicer tonal range. I also have a much higher success rate in making prints I like – both my own and when I make prints from negatives that others bring.
Filter number 0 is a low contrast filter. It prints a negative of normal contrast to have less contrast in the print. The blacks are not as intense and rich, and the whites can seem a little dull. That is really useful if you have a negative with a lot of contrast, but we can also use this particular filter with a normal contrast negative and focus on printing the highlights to our liking, while completely disregarding what happens in the darker sections of the print.
I do what's called a test strip. First I put my negative into the negative holder, and adjust the enlarger to the column height that yields roughly the size print I want. Then I bring out the focusing aid and focus the enlarger until it's sharp (or sometimes I make it soft on purpose). I take one full sheet of paper, put it in the enlarging easel, and I cover 75% of it with opaque paper. I set my enlarger timer to 40 seconds, start it, and I count backwards from 40. When I get to 20 seconds I move the paper to cover 50%, at 10 seconds 75% and at 5 seconds I completely remove the cover to illuminate the whole print.
Then I submerse that full sheet of paper into the developer and agitate constantly for the first whole minute, then I lift the corner of the tray every 15 seconds. At 2m45s I lift the print out of the developer and let it drip off for 15 seconds. At precisely 3 minutes I put it in the stop bath. I agitate it there for about 20 seconds, lift it up and let it drain for 10 seconds. Finally I put it in the fixer. Usually fixing a paper takes about 1 minute for resin-coated (RC) stock (and 2 minutes for fiber based paper). I actually turn on the lights after 15 seconds because I'm full of anticipation to look at the results (and it’s safe to do so).
It is time to examine this first stage of the print. I look at the highlights only and determine at what exposure time I like the highlights.
Now I turn off the room lights and put a second piece of paper in the easel. I then proceed to expose this full sheet at the time I liked the highlights at Grade 0.
Now comes what you've been waiting for... Part Two…
I change the Grade 0 filter to the Grade 5, and on top of the initial Grade 0 exposure I now make the same 40 second procedure as before. From 40 to 20 seconds I cover 75%, from 20 to 10 I cover 50%, from 10 to 5 I cover 25%, and the last 5 I let the light fall on the entire print surface.
This sheet of paper now gets transferred into the developer, yet again for 3 minutes. At 2m45s I drain, at 3m00s I submerse in the stop bath. 20 seconds in the stop, let it drip off, and finally into the fixer it goes.
The Grade 5 filter is a high contrast filter. It will hardly make a difference in the brightest of the highlights at all, but it will significantly increase the density and the richness of the blacks. Mid-tones between black and white take on their final tone as well in combination with the Grade 0 exposure.
When safe I turn on the room lights and examine the print, and now I choose the combination of the Grade 0 and Grade 5 exposure I like the best. I make a note of these times and the lens aperture so I don't forget them. I actually take a lot more notes than that, and I keep them with the negatives in case I have to make a reprint when people order prints. This way I can make an exact copy of the original.
Step three of this Split Grade process is to expose the full sheet to your selected Grade 0 and Grade 5 times. Something extremely important is to always do them in the same order. Some people like to do the Grade 5 first, others like to do the Grade 0 first. I like the last technique of Grade 0 first.
So I remove the Grade 5 filter and put the Grade 0 filter back in the filter holder, set my enlarger timer for the time I chose, and expose a new sheet of paper. Then I again change to the Grade 5 filter and expose for the time chosen for that filtration. Now the paper goes into the developer of course, let the 3 minutes pass, stop, fix, and now you should have a print that is a good work print.
8. Work Print
A work print is the first step of making a fine print. A work print is a basic rendition of the subject you photographed. A fine print is one that has been refined in many ways. Here are a couple of techniques.
9. Dodging
I have a set of tools that are attached to steel wire. They are sized roughly like a 25 cent coin and I have an oval, a square, a rectangle, a circle, and a triangle. By putting this device under the enlarging lens during the time exposure, I can cover certain parts of the print that I believe will make it look better if it was brighter.
Since we're doing split grade printing, dodging the Grade 0 exposure would basically give you brighter highlights and mid tones. Dodging the Grade 5 exposure would give you less intense blacks and dark-gray tones.
10. Burning In
Burning in is something you do during additional time after your main exposure is over. You shine more light on certain parts of the print that you would believe look better if they were darker.
Once again in Split Grade printing, burning in Grade 0 would mean darker highlights and light-gray tones. Burning in Grade 5 would mean more intense and richer black and dark-gray tones.
After I am done with my work print I let it dry and I keep it around for a while. I pick it up once in a while and look at it. I hang it on my office wall. Then I decide before my next printing session what areas I want to burn in, which ones I want to dodge, and at what filter grade.
Then when I go in the dark-room again I have a clear idea of what I want to achieve. This is a technique that sounds like a lot of work. It is definitely a lot of work. But I believe that unless you did your absolute best with each print you make, then you cheated yourself of an opportunity to really learn about what works and what doesn't work. And I would much rather come out of the darkroom with one print that I am wholly satisfied with than ten of them that are mediocre.
A couple of final thoughts:
a) Get one type of paper, one type of developer. Always use the same dilution on the developer and get used to these materials. All, and I mean ALL, papers and developers are capable of fine results. The results you get are MUCH more dependent on your technique and skill than the subtle differences between various materials. Please don’t fall in that trap.
b) Buy fresh paper and fresh chemistry. Old paper usually looks very bad and has poor contrast. Old chemistry – the same thing. Fresh paper can be inexpensive if you look in the right place.
c) Have fun, be creative, shoot lots of film and experiment with lighting, subject matter, and print all kinds of negatives. It is rewarding in the long run.
Now it's your turn. I wish you good luck if you decide to use this technique, or any other for that matter. There is no shortage of advice out there. This is just my method and what works for me.
I wish you good light!
- Thomas
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