No need to alter the enlarger. Try to find a Kostiner enlarging easel.
No need to alter the enlarger. Try to find a Kostiner enlarging easel.
Here is an example of full frame printing with my 10x10 lightbox on my Durst that can just barely cover the full negative rebate. It is very close so very tedious to setup and get the borders even. I decided not to print like this anymore due to the difficulty.
place a sheet of milky white plastic or glass directly above your negative.
im using a 135mm lens on my bessler 45. i dont get any clipping at all. but the light circle is very close to the edges... im using a cold light with a diffuser and the condensers. my enlarger also has the filter draw just above the negative carrier.. without the filter draw part (its a head type accessory) i get an even larger light circle.
For my 8x10 speed easel I just cut a piece of plexiglass that fits inside the easel 7.5x9.5 then glued on black paper 1/8 less all the way around that contacts the print leaving the border exposed. Then shine a bright LED flashlight with a grade 5 filter on it for a few seconds. I need to make one for 5x12 and 11x14. I suppose in theory you could also make a negative carrier with two pieces of plexi or glass with a mask slightly larger than the negative and put them in the negative stage so you get black border with white outer border. But sometimes negatives are crooked in the holder at exposure so you have account for that.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
If the point of the request is to make a print with black borders, rather than to print the actual rebate and edge of the negative, then try the following:
1) decide whatever size enlargement you want
2) set the easel to expose the enlargement size plus the total borders (eg. 2mm borders => 4mm larger)
3) cut a piece of black card or mounting board smaller in each dimension than the print size, by the thickness of the black border you want (in other words, if you want a 2mm border make the insert 2mm smaller than the composed area you want to see).
4) centre the composition on the easel, remembering the outer 2mm (in the example used above) all round will be black
5) expose the image
6) put the insert in place pushed up to one corner, flash to black
7) move the insert to the diagonally opposite corner, flash to black
8) develop as usual
The method gives even borders all the way round, parallel to the easel arms. I can like the effect of printing the edges of the film sheet, but having a plain black border is more unusual outside of funerals. Having said this, I am not very trendy, so . . .
(I agree with Greg. I knw of nothing that wil beat the Kostiner. I love mine.Originally Posted by Greg
Very nice outcome in this case, ic-racer. Is the black border critical to the success of this image? I think not.Here is an example of full frame printing with my 10x10 lightbox on my Durst that can just barely cover the full negative rebate. It is very close so very tedious to setup and get the borders even. I decided not to print like this anymore due to the difficulty.
I have never attempted this with 4x5 in my 4x5 enlarger, but I will venture to add the following.
During my brief and unlamented foray into photographic education in the university setting, printing with black borders
was practically universal amongst the students. The instructor wondered out loud one time whether this was because
otherwise the images would seem poorer. (My guess is that they were just imitating him, as it was his practice at the
time.) The idea, I suppose, was that it "proved" that you were using the full image area when you were photographing.
I adopted the convention and kept it up until I quit using 35mm for creative work around 1978. I liked how it looked.
My technique was simply to use an x-acto knife (which, in practice, is usually an approximato-knife) to cut a mask out
of black cardboard and use it in a 6x6 negative holder. The rough edges of the image got cut off when mounting.
Naturally, I did not have any problem with the border being black!
I have no strong opinions about the technique, but I still generally try to use all of the 4x5 negative area available to
me, except when my rectangle is not the right one for the picture that day. I don't print with black borders any more in any case,
but I do leave a half-inch or so of relief between the edge of the mounted print and the overmat. That sets the image off nicely,
in my opinion.
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