Morte
Hello everyone,
I’m about to have a go at making contact prints of my negatives for the first time. Up until now, I’ve been doing this digitally, but I’m no longer happy with that. I understand the general process. Two questions remain unanswered:
- In one of the many descriptions of the procedure, there was mention of inserting the empty negative stage into the enlarger and then ‘focusing’ the illuminated area using the edges. -> Is this actually necessary and useful? Does it make a difference to the quality of the light whether the lens is focused for this distance?
- Is it important to use the same photographic paper for contact sheets as for the subsequent enlargements? One argument in favour is that you would have the same contrast behaviour in the contact sheet and the enlargement, which is helpful for assessing the gradient to be used (via filters). An argument against this is that, for example, baryta paper, which I use, is considerably more expensive than inexpensive PE paper.
I usually use Fomabrom paper; for the contact sheets, I could envisage using ADOX Easy Print RC, for example. Or should I stick with Foma after all?
Many thanks for your advice
Morte
TiMo
Hello Morte,
I don’t adjust the sharpness of the light source; instead, I set it to be diffuse and a good deal larger than the paper. I always use the same height and the same exposure for each type of film (IR820 always 8s at f/16, Silvermax always 10s at f/16, always filter 2.5, etc.) in order to detect any variations. I always keep the settings the same. Set them as follows and then note down the distance values. Focus on the edge and, from this position, adjust the lens slightly downwards to improve the sharpness.
I don’t use the same type of paper as for the prints, but the cheaper ADOX Easy Print. Otherwise it would be too expensive for me, and I don’t consider the advantage of using the same paper as for the prints to be significant enough.
Tim
piu58
> "Focusing" using the edges. -> Is that really necessary?
Yes. That ensures the exposure is even.
> It’s important to use the same photographic paper for contact sheets
Not essential, and not always possible either. I wouldn’t use baryta paper for prints; the drawbacks (price, water consumption) aren’t outweighed by any benefits.
If, for example, working prints are made on PE and good prints on baryta, then you’re dealing with two types of paper anyway. Over-exposed paper with a slight fog at the edges can usually still be processed into contact sheets. I’ll be demonstrating how to switch from one type of paper to another without a whole new round of test strips at the fineartforum in Paderborn in October.
It is important to use soft paper, not exceeding a gradient of 2.
Morte
Thank you for your replies!
