Gast
Hello,
I’ve been following your forum for quite some time now and I’m really impressed by it.
A few weeks ago, I came into possession of some glass and sheet film negatives from the 1950s and 1960s. As I only have a 35mm enlarger, I thought I’d start by doing some contact copying. Unfortunately, although the negatives are correctly exposed, the prints aren’t turning out very well. I actually expected the quality to be particularly good, as there is no optical system involved. I used the enlarger for the exposure.
Can anyone help me?
Best regards,
Ernst Hunziker
Claudius
What do you mean by 'not particularly good'?
What's wrong with your contact prints? Contrast, sharpness, tonal range?
Gast
Hi Claudius,
I just can’t seem to get all the detail from the negative to come through. What’s more, if I switch to a softer Hütograd filter (contrast-reversal paper), the whole image ends up looking ‘muddy’.
Dodging and other such finer details just don’t work out.
Best regards, Ernst
SamuliSchielke
Hello Ernst,
Am I right in thinking that the dynamic range of the negatives is so wide that your standard paper gradient is too harsh, but if you use a softer gradient, the prints turn out too soft? In that case, there’s nothing wrong with the negative itself; the correct gradient lies somewhere in between. The tried-and-tested solution for this is split-grade.
In its simplest, most basic form, it works like this: first, determine the highlights on filter 0. They are correct when the very first detail between paper white and just-barely-light-grey is exactly where you want it. Then make a second test print: first expose it on filter 0 as before, then on filter 5 determine the exposure for the deepest shadows: as before, the boundary between pure black and just-barely-perceptible dark grey must be where you want it. Then make the actual print, exposing once with 0 and once with 5, and lo and behold, it’s spot on!
If that’s too fiddly for you, perform some dilution of your paper developer, and the print might just turn out a touch softer than you wanted.
Have fun,
Samuli
Gast
Hello Ernst,
Of course, you could also try to ‘bend’ the paper’s characteristic curve.
A two-bath development process is a good option here – that is, hard and soft development one after the other.
Or the Emmermann method (roughly speaking: soak the paper in the developer, perform brief exposure, wait, perform further exposure, then develop in the tray).
Both methods require considerable experience.
If you want to do it yourself, book a workshop with Moersch.
If that’s too much hassle for you, he also does commissioned work.
Best regards
Martin
piu58
It is certainly possible to dodge and burn contacts, and indeed you have to do so to achieve results that come close to those of enlarged prints.
