Introduction to Photography - Basic Printing
Printing a Base Print
In the last post, I explained a little bit about what is involved in developing film to acquire negatives to print onto light sensitive photographic paper. Now I will elaborate more on printing an image. In the last post I touched base on the subject of printing. The process is, however, far more involved then I explained.
Printing can range from a simple process to a very complex ordeal that can span from a few minutes to many hours per individual prints depending on the amount of manipulation required to make the image presentable. In a perfect world, every single negative would put forth a perfectly exposed image ready to enlarge and print quickly, easily, and without having to customize anything. Unfortunately, however, this rarely happens. As I touched on earlier, negatives capture information by recording different amounts of light. The amount of light required to properly expose a negative varies greatly by subject matter, time of day, available light, artificial light, and a number of other elements. The amount of light required to properly expose a negative is that negatives Exposure Time. Exposure time is determined on an individual basis, and is different for each and every print. To begin, you load the negative into the carrier, emulsion face down, and enlarge your image to the inside marks on your predetermined easel WITHOUT photo paper in it. You then use a magnification device to enlarge the grains and focus the image accordingly. To determine a base exposure time, turn the enlarger light off and place a single sheet of paper into the easel. Create a test sheet by taking a piece of cardboard (or something similar to block the light of the enlarger) and expose one-inch sections in 5 second increments until you have exposed the entire piece of paper to the projected image light of the enlarger. Once you have developed the test print fully, take it outside and choose an increment which best suites the light density you wish your entire image to portray. Then, print the image again on a new sheet of paper using that selected time. Once you develop that print, take the image outside again and see what, if any, changes need to be made to overall exposure time. Modify your overall exposure time by a few seconds in either direction if you are unsure of where to start adjusting. Take notes of your exposure times, and pay attention to how the lighting works. Eventually, you will have a better idea ahead of time of what your timing will be. Going back to my previous comment regarding difficult printing, it is sometimes possible that your negative is exposed in such a way where you will need to print it again and again, using slightly different exposure times for various portions of the print. In the event of this happening, you will need to learn how to Dodge and Burn your image, which I will further explain in the next post.
In the last post, I explained a little bit about what is involved in developing film to acquire negatives to print onto light sensitive photographic paper. Now I will elaborate more on printing an image. In the last post I touched base on the subject of printing. The process is, however, far more involved then I explained.
Printing can range from a simple process to a very complex ordeal that can span from a few minutes to many hours per individual prints depending on the amount of manipulation required to make the image presentable. In a perfect world, every single negative would put forth a perfectly exposed image ready to enlarge and print quickly, easily, and without having to customize anything. Unfortunately, however, this rarely happens. As I touched on earlier, negatives capture information by recording different amounts of light. The amount of light required to properly expose a negative varies greatly by subject matter, time of day, available light, artificial light, and a number of other elements. The amount of light required to properly expose a negative is that negatives Exposure Time. Exposure time is determined on an individual basis, and is different for each and every print. To begin, you load the negative into the carrier, emulsion face down, and enlarge your image to the inside marks on your predetermined easel WITHOUT photo paper in it. You then use a magnification device to enlarge the grains and focus the image accordingly. To determine a base exposure time, turn the enlarger light off and place a single sheet of paper into the easel. Create a test sheet by taking a piece of cardboard (or something similar to block the light of the enlarger) and expose one-inch sections in 5 second increments until you have exposed the entire piece of paper to the projected image light of the enlarger. Once you have developed the test print fully, take it outside and choose an increment which best suites the light density you wish your entire image to portray. Then, print the image again on a new sheet of paper using that selected time. Once you develop that print, take the image outside again and see what, if any, changes need to be made to overall exposure time. Modify your overall exposure time by a few seconds in either direction if you are unsure of where to start adjusting. Take notes of your exposure times, and pay attention to how the lighting works. Eventually, you will have a better idea ahead of time of what your timing will be. Going back to my previous comment regarding difficult printing, it is sometimes possible that your negative is exposed in such a way where you will need to print it again and again, using slightly different exposure times for various portions of the print. In the event of this happening, you will need to learn how to Dodge and Burn your image, which I will further explain in the next post.
posted by Christina at 1:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home