Originally Posted by
Doremus Scudder
Ian,
What you describe is making a "proper proof," i.e., with the film rebate printed and minimum exposure to make maximum black. This is useful for proofing, since it gives you lots of info about your exposure and development. I can make tweaks in E.I. and developing time from one look at a proper proof.
However, when it comes to printing, it's a totally different story. Contact printing is not fundamentally different from enlarging. You need test strips, contrast adjustments, exposure refinements, dodging, burning, bleaching, etc., etc. It's the rare (very rare!) negative that prints itself at proper proofing time.
Plan on spending as much time with your contact printing as you would with any other print.
That said, just like with enlarging, your proper proof can give you information regarding contrast and exposure time for printing. If you've got negatives that are really similar in the proof, you can use the same starting exposure time and contrast as a previous print for your starting point. Who knows, you might just get lucky!
Best,
Doremus
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