it depends on the print, usually not many..
it depends on the print, usually not many..
Last edited by jnantz; 16-Mar-2023 at 12:22. Reason: phone typos
I usually get a keeper in one or two goes but the key for me is a good test strip. When enlarging to 8x10 for example I will use test strips sized 2x10 obtained by cutting a full sheet into 4 strips.
The test strip is placed in the image so that one end of it lies in the shadows and the other end sees the highlights.
By doing 8 stepped exposures across the strip I want a result that goes from too light to too dark in both the shadows and highlights. The correct exposure must exist somewhere in between.
If I don't achieve that full range test strip first time I'll repeat until I get it.
Photography:first utterance. Sir John Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society. "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..".
Thanks.
Back then I felt like I was using light-chisels on stone that would get darker as I carved into it. I might have a base exposure of 20 seconds (a little light), and I would spend up to 15 minutes burning...or sculpturing with light...manipulating the various areas of tonality. I would get the print thru the fix, take it out in the light, and study it for 2 minutes or 30 minutes, however long it took to figure out the next move. Loved it.
Now I put all that energy and thought up-front, into composing and the exposure onto the film...and make 'straight' prints with alt processes. Often I get it on the first print if everything is clicking and I did not blow it too much with the negative.
This image took two tries...the first was just a little light and lacked the richness I wanted. And I need to print it again because I can only find the first print!
Mill Creek, 4x10 carbon print
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Depends on the negative. I can usually get to a decent first work print with two test strips, each of which is a quarter of a sheet. So one and a half on average, to get a work print. From the work print I work out dodging and burning, maybe a small crop, and then usually can get a final print from that with only one more sheet, sometimes two. On the back of the work print I write everything I did to get the final print (enlarger height, lens and aperture, paper, chemistry, times, any additional notes), and I draw a dodge and burn map on the face of the work print.
If I'm printing to exhibit, I try to keep to the same routine rather than stress it and overthink, since print sizes for galleries tend to be larger than I usually print (I like 8x10 as a size for ordinary prints, but for shows it's usually 16x12 or 20x16), and the paper is expensive. Fortunately for my bank account I keep things simple in the darkroom, I am not someone who does a lot of work on a print aside from some lightweight dodging and burning, I try to make negs that are relatively pain-free to print them in the way I want them to look.
Saving on paper is one of the reasons i started using a R&H design zone master. Before i needed 3 to 4 sheets, but with the zone master i am usually able to create a decent first print. I use this first print to evaluate, finetuning the contrast, dodging and burning. It rarely needs more then 2 to 3 sheets of paper to get a print i consider good enough to keep.
When I'm (horizontally) printing 40x60's, I'll test small (critical/diverse) areas first, then, after I have an idea of relative exposures...I'll tape further small pieces to those same areas and do a "run-through" as in I might a final print, to give me a chance to practice a timed dodging/burning scenario, plus either blue to green light ratios and/or specific contrast settings (via my Heiland VC LED light), before moving on to a large sheet of paper. But do I always get it right on that first large sheet? Well - not always...
I do similar
Tape small paper in middle and corners
Tin Can
1 or, occasionally, 2 sheets. And then there is the negative from hell - ten sheets to figure out it isn't worth printing.
Last edited by nolindan; 16-Mar-2023 at 05:33. Reason: Restoring the comma I removed in the last edit.
Darkroom Automation / Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
f-Stop Timers & Enlarging meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
When I print for clients or for myself I make three keepers , so it takes me about 7 sheets to have three that I like, the three are never the exact same as I adjust slightly, I find that this way one of the prints is always perfect .
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