How many sheets of paper does it take you to get your first keeper-print?

[jnantz]

it depends on the print, usually not many..

[Maris Rusis]

I usually get a keeper in one or two goes but the key for me is a good test strip. When enlarging to 8x10 for example I will use test strips sized 2x10 obtained by cutting a full sheet into 4 strips.
The test strip is placed in the image so that one end of it lies in the shadows and the other end sees the highlights.
By doing 8 stepped exposures across the strip I want a result that goes from too light to too dark in both the shadows and highlights. The correct exposure must exist somewhere in between.
If I don't achieve that full range test strip first time I'll repeat until I get it.

[Vaughn]

On an unrelated note...love that shot, Vaughn!

Thanks.
Back then I felt like I was using light-chisels on stone that would get darker as I carved into it. I might have a base exposure of 20 seconds (a little light), and I would spend up to 15 minutes burning...or sculpturing with light...manipulating the various areas of tonality. I would get the print thru the fix, take it out in the light, and study it for 2 minutes or 30 minutes, however long it took to figure out the next move. Loved it.

Now I put all that energy and thought up-front, into composing and the exposure onto the film...and make 'straight' prints with alt processes. Often I get it on the first print if everything is clicking and I did not blow it too much with the negative.

This image took two tries...the first was just a little light and lacked the richness I wanted. And I need to print it again because I can only find the first print!

Mill Creek, 4x10 carbon print

[iml]

Depends on the negative. I can usually get to a decent first work print with two test strips, each of which is a quarter of a sheet. So one and a half on average, to get a work print. From the work print I work out dodging and burning, maybe a small crop, and then usually can get a final print from that with only one more sheet, sometimes two. On the back of the work print I write everything I did to get the final print (enlarger height, lens and aperture, paper, chemistry, times, any additional notes), and I draw a dodge and burn map on the face of the work print.

If I'm printing to exhibit, I try to keep to the same routine rather than stress it and overthink, since print sizes for galleries tend to be larger than I usually print (I like 8x10 as a size for ordinary prints, but for shows it's usually 16x12 or 20x16), and the paper is expensive. Fortunately for my bank account I keep things simple in the darkroom, I am not someone who does a lot of work on a print aside from some lightweight dodging and burning, I try to make negs that are relatively pain-free to print them in the way I want them to look.

[Huub]

Saving on paper is one of the reasons i started using a R&H design zone master. Before i needed 3 to 4 sheets, but with the zone master i am usually able to create a decent first print. I use this first print to evaluate, finetuning the contrast, dodging and burning. It rarely needs more then 2 to 3 sheets of paper to get a print i consider good enough to keep.

[iml]

Saving on paper is one of the reasons i started using a R&H design zone master. Before i needed 3 to 4 sheets, but with the zone master i am usually able to create a decent first print. I use this first print to evaluate, finetuning the contrast, dodging and burning. It rarely needs more then 2 to 3 sheets of paper to get a print i consider good enough to keep.

You've reminded me that I bought one on eBay ages ago and have never got round to trying it out. I must do that. I already use an RH Designs Stop Clock so there's no excuse really.

[John Layton]

When I'm (horizontally) printing 40x60's, I'll test small (critical/diverse) areas first, then, after I have an idea of relative exposures...I'll tape further small pieces to those same areas and do a "run-through" as in I might a final print, to give me a chance to practice a timed dodging/burning scenario, plus either blue to green light ratios and/or specific contrast settings (via my Heiland VC LED light), before moving on to a large sheet of paper. But do I always get it right on that first large sheet? Well - not always...

[Tin Can]

I do similar

Tape small paper in middle and corners

[nolindan]

1 or, occasionally, 2 sheets. And then there is the negative from hell - ten sheets to figure out it isn't worth printing.

[bob carnie]

When I print for clients or for myself I make three keepers , so it takes me about 7 sheets to have three that I like, the three are never the exact same as I adjust slightly, I find that this way one of the prints is always perfect .