Dodging & Burning 8x10 Contact Prints

[neil poulsen]

Not wanting to hijack a parallel thread, what are ways to dodge and burn a contact print? I have trouble seeing details on the negative well enough dodge and burn, given that the darkroom is dimly lit with red filtered darkroom lights.

I did some contact printing recently. I finally gave up and finished with some edge burning.

[Greg]

Practice, practice, and more practice. Failures are teachers in disguise. It doesn't come easy in my experience. Keep detailed notes.

[Vaughn]

I have used a sharpie on the glass part way thru the exposure. Other types of masking are options, too.

If the exposures are long enough, you can do a lot of 'playing' around. Take the frame from under the light or turn it off...change the masking, turn the light back on. Might be habit forming. Use cut pieces of rubilith to dodge large areas, or shaded (pencil?) on frosted mylar.

There are (were) photographers who built masks for each negative on glass. Filed them away and used them if they needed another copy. Lots of possibilities.

add: inkjet masks is another possibility.

[Michael R]

Practice (obviously), yes, but also selective masking (contours, pencil shading etc. etc.) can help when things are intricate and/or too difficult to see properly.

Not wanting to hijack a parallel thread, what are ways to dodge and burn a contact print? I have trouble seeing details on the negative well enough dodge and burn, given that the darkroom is dimly lit with red filtered darkroom lights.

I did some contact printing recently. I finally gave up and finished with some edge burning.

[Eric Woodbury]

There are red dyes you can use to 'dodge'. Paint them on the back of the neg.

Morley Baer made 1:1 enlargements with 8x10 rather than contact print. This made dodge and burn easier.

[jmdavis]

it helps a lot to let your eyes get used to the darkroom. I also don't like a really bright darkroom when I am printing. I make contacts on enlarging paper using a cold light and under the lens filters (generally split filter with 00 and 4 or 4.5). It helps when I am used to the dark. It's easier with contact printing paper and brighter lights.

[Tin Can]

Useful tips!

There are red dyes you can use to 'dodge'. Paint them on the back of the neg.

Morley Baer made 1:1 enlargements with 8x10 rather than contact print. This made dodge and burn easier.

[Tracy Storer]

Yep/ I worked in a repro lab for Polaroid and we made "dodging masks" out of layers of frosted myar taped to the back of the white plexi diffuser. These got filed with the interpositives we were copying onto 40"x80" Polaroid film. (This was the Polaroid Museum Replicas project that I helped on part time during my Boston 20"x24" days.)

I have used a sharpie on the glass part way thru the exposure. Other types of masking are options, too.

If the exposures are long enough, you can do a lot of 'playing' around. Take the frame from under the light or turn it off...change the masking, turn the light back on. Might be habit forming. Use cut pieces of rubilith to dodge large areas, or shaded (pencil?) on frosted mylar.

There are (were) photographers who built masks for each negative on glass. Filed them away and used them if they needed another copy. Lots of possibilities.

add: inkjet masks is another possibility.

[Maris Rusis]

I use an enlarger as a controlled light source for contact printing.
As a guide to the eye I put a wet pilot print in a dry tray on the enlarger baseboard next to the contact frame so I have a visible "map" of where to dodge and burn.
And I get the impression that contact work needs less dodging and burning compared to projection printing.

[Alan9940]

In my experience, contact prints just seem to sort themselves out. IMO, burning is easier than dodging so I try to avoid the latter. I'll begin with a lighter print which effectively gives me a "dodge", then burn in areas I want darker. For burning, I lay a white card on top of the printing frame, then using another card I'll hit the foot switch as many times as necessary to work out the area to be burned. Then, while holding the "burn card" with one hand I remove the other card, switch on the light, and do the burn. Harder to write, than to do!