Consistent Printing Over Time For The Same Negative

[lee\c]

I like to reprint the negative but let it reflect how I feel now about the image. So, it is likely that the reprint may be slightly different than when printed the first time. I think that this is artistic growth. I could be wrong.

leec

[Michael Rosenberg]

I agree with what Robert has said in his reply. To make consistent dodges and burns I use multiple Ross D/B masks, most of them made now in photoshop and fitted above the glass on my negative carrier. I use an LPL4550 enlarger, which gives consistent light output when the bulb is prewarmed before each base exposure. My Beseler enlarger is equiped with a Starlite 55 color head that uses a shutter; i.e., after the lamps come up to temperature a shutter automatically opens and at the end of the time closes. Prewarnming the lamp and/or using a mechanical shutter will give you more consistent results. Developing the print to completion is also the best approach if trying to be consistent whether making the print in the same printing session or months later as I often have to do for a gallery. Dilute your develop more than the recommended amount and develop until no more detail appears in the HIGHLIGHTS. I use Dektol diluted 1:4 or 1:5 and develop for 5 mins. or 4 min.s respectively. Many people overlook this minor but significant point. As Robert has pointed out, use a temperature bath for your developer. If at the start of a session your develper is 72F it will drop to below room temparature from evaporation in a few hours. This will through off your timing as well. I make a note if I started printing a new negative using developer a few hours old. And like many others I use extensive notes and diagrams to guide me through the printing procedure.

It is almost impossible to make prints identical, but close is reasonable. And reinterpretation is routine. One noted photographer selenium toned the lower portion of his negative and printed the sky darker. Another remarked to me that his most popular print has evolved in his printing over a 15 year period.

[Jim_3565]

When making large format contact prints, I have no problem making as many prints as I want from a given negative which are absolutely identical. The only possible variation might be of print color due to changes in developer lots (I use amidol) or water chemistry, and this only between batches of prints run months apart. Certainly from a single printing session all of my prints are absolutely identical. I am able to do this only because I use a metronome. It is as essential a part of the printmaking process for me as is developer.

When making enlargements, where I'm forced to use a timer, tonality varies all over the map from print to print. You just have to keep the good and throw away the bad.