Last post.

It is not only the end of the year, it is the last time that I will be posting to this blog. Over the coming months this blog will be deleted. Why? because there is something rotten at  WordPress and as a good man, I can no longer turn a blind eye.

I would like to thank all those that have supported the blog over the years. I have been surprised at just how many fans there are for traditional photography, which has encouraged me to continue but with a new host. I hope you like the new style. A large number of your favorite posts can be veiwed there already,  in some cases updated and rewritten. I also have a lot of new posts planned for the year ahead so look forward to seeing you there!

I would like to end by wishing everyone the best for the New Year.

The new blog can be found here.

Making a test print .

The test strip is the foundation to obtaining a good final print. Unless you have one of RH designs excellent Analsyser Pro enlarging meters. If not the most common way of producing a test strip is with a sheet of card moved at timed intervals across light-sensitive paper. There are several things you need to set before doing the test: the size of the print, the aperture of the enlarging lens and making sure you have sharp focus.

Once all this is done how big should the test print be? This is down to personal choice but you should consider  whether the use of whole sheet, half, third or strips give the best test results. If using a test strip of about two inches (50 mm) you need to make sure that  each segment includes a full range of tones from the lightest to darkest so you can see at which timed interval  gives the best  high values and shadow areas. It is much easier to achieve this with the larger test strip.

What should the time separation be? A good starting point for prints around the ten by eight size is five seconds. These intervals will give you a rough idea of what the exposure should be. This can be refined with further test strips of two and/or one second if needed.

On what grade of paper should you make the test print?  Grade one. This will change when it comes to making the final print.

PMK Pyro afterbath.

Fg 1

As mentioned in a previous post I have been developing Ilford FP4+ 120 format in PMK Pyro for ten minutes. With my latest use of this developer I decided to change part of the process, instead of inverting the tank every twenty seconds I changed it to every fifteen seconds to see if this increased the density of the negatives. My reasoning is that previous negatives have looked a bit on the thin side. Yes you are right! I could have increased the developing time but wanted to find out how much influence agitation has on the process.

When changing or adapting a method that works well, it is better to change one aspect of it at a time so that it makes it easier to judge whether it is an improvement or not. So what did was introduce a re-bath of the film in the developer after the fix. The after bath is part of the full process when using PMK pyro that completes the staining. Up to now I have not felt the need to do this but was curious to see how much stain would be added and if it improves the print quality. I did this for the  two minutes suggested which I agitated for thirty-seconds at the beginning and  ten seconds one  minute later.

Fg 2

There has been a marked difference in the density and the colour of the staining on the negatives. The picture marked Fg 1 shows the negatives developed with the afterbath, they have a yellow-brown look to them. Figure 2 shows negatives without the bath and they have a purplish look to them.

These results would suggest that an increase in agitation has just as much effect  if not more on the density of the negative than an increase in the process time. The afterbath also produces a significant change in how much stain is deposited which is supposed  to help in making these negatives easier to print. I have found that even without the extra staining I have been producing some wonderfully toned photographs. I have not  printed this latest set of negatives yet but hope to do so soon.

Other posts on this subject:

• PMK Pyro  working solution.
• PMK Pyro my results.
• The colour of PMK Pyro developer
• PMK developer part B

Enlarging part of the negative.

There are no rules when it comes to enlarging your negatives. Cropping, re-formatting and partial enlargement are all part of the creative process. Changing horizontals to verticals and diagonal is also part of this rich tapestry of creativity. The only time I feel this looks odd is with waterscapes and their horizons.

As one of those people that works with 6×6 negatives, cropping and reframing is all part of  making the picture fit the paper. I’m not complaining but the fact is all paper sizes are oblong. I think this has helped me in getting the best from my pictures. I do not waste time in trying to make the whole negative fit the page; this is heresy to some who believe that having carefully framed the view that you should print as you saw it! This is not always possible, especially when you have a certain size of print in mind. Sometimes this careful framing once projected on the enlargers baseboard may look better with horizontal or vertical framing. Do not be afraid to play.

Even bigger prints?

To make enlargements over 50 x 60 centimeters requires a different working practice and a large darkroom.

If your negatives allow you to print them at 50 x 60 centimeters this is not the end of the story, you can go bigger with roll sized paper of 65, 100 and even 130 centimeters wide. But to go larger you will need a different method to produce them and a larger negative to start with which will increase the quality of the image projected by the enlarger. Your darkroom will need to be big enough to cope with the increased size of equipment. You will need an area of clear space that the enlarger can project the image onto whether it is the floor or a wall. Of the former the latter is the better way of doing things as you are less likely to get dust on the paper, it  also makes it easier  to dodge and burn if you need to.

FADU Exhibition.

The film and Darkroom users forums annual Exhibition is well under way and will be open until the end of September 2011. It is being held at The Castle Wellingborough.

It is well worth a visit. The exhibits have been selected by Dave from submissions that members of the forum have made and show that there are some very talented photographers and printers of traditional methods.  It is a small snap shot of how much work is still being produced  the old fashion way and I do not mean that negatively. I’m encouraged to belive that there is still alot of life left in this traditional way of working no matter how much the digital lobby try to convince everybody it’s out dated and second-rate. The fact is that people are joining the forum all the time, some coming back having gone digital and found something lacking in the new technology, some who now find it more affordable and take it up again and young people who think it is great. The only fly in the ointment at present is the cost of silver which will dissuade some and cause others to leave.

So come along see what real Photography, Cyanotype and Ciabachrome pictures looks like you will be amazed at their quality.

How big to print?

Depends on how crisp the negative is! If it is razor sharp there is no reason why you cannot enlarge it to its maximum. A thirty-five millimeter negative should be able to produce a 24 x 30 centimeter print with ease and in exceptional cases 50 x 60 cm. To check if the negative is of a good enough quality, enlarge part of the frame to 18 x 24 centimeters, if it looks a bit grainy the chances are that when the whole negative is enlarged to 50 x 60 cm and viewed from a meter away it will look good.

When enlarging to larger sizes you need to take into account the distance that people will see the picture from. Large photos are rarely viewed up close.