Do you use a test strip or a test sheet when you print in darkroom?

[Greg]

Interesting question that I think deserves multiple answers:

When I took a printing workshop with George Tice in the 1970s, he never made test strips. His first full sheet prints were very much right on, and they were made from different negatives that we gave him to print.

When I was a professional printer (black & white) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I pretty much never made test strips because there just wasn't enough time with the daily workload.

Presently when printing Lith using my precious few boxes of 11x14 Portriga Rapid, I always start with making test strips and a lot of the times more than one before printing a full sheet of paper. More than once I have ended a printing session without exposing a full sheet of paper. Then other times when things just were going great, I would just expose full sheets of paper.

In the past few years when printing Platinum/Palladium from carefully made digital negatives, I take a lot of notes and only expose full sheets of coated paper.

Today I plan on enlarging some of the negatives that I shot in the 1970s. Most definitely will be making test strips and probably many of them... my negatives shot back then were anything but consistent in their densities and contrasts.

[Michael Graves]

I use a test strip along a specifically chose area of the print to get close, and then do a full sheet with about 50% up and down from what looks like the correct exposure. On the print, I use two second increments to keep the changes minimal.

[Vaughn]

Good point, Greg. While I use in-camera negatives for platinum prints and carbon prints, I do not do test strips, but take my experienced guess the time/contrast and make a full print. If I guessed right I got a final print, if not, I have a good test print to judge how to get it the next time, hopefully!