So I am of course a newby to b&w printing, and having mixed results with my printing. I have a 4x5 stouffer 21 step wedge, and a color head on my enlarger, but not sure what do do with it. My understanding is that I want to find an exposure time that produces black at one end and white at the other, and about 17 discernable steps in the middle. The first two blacks and the last two whites may look the same.
Lets say at F/16 it takes 10 seconds. I guess I know that for the paper/developer combination I can do test prints at around 10 secs? Some of my negatives require more. So I am confused about what this tells me.
Also, the limited success I have had was done using the yellow and magenta filters in the head, and doing split grade printing. Do I need to test each filter and combination of filters with the tablet in increments of say 50? I am still left with the same question of exactly what info I am left with and what I do with it.
I apologize if this is really a dumb question. I have a feeling it may be a case of not seeing the trees for the forrest. I have done some reading but the books I have seem to assume the reader knos a lot more than I already do. Any help much appreciated.
Cheers
Bookmarks