Bruce Barnbaum - The Art of Photography - An Approach to Personal Expression

Also, once you’re in the ballpark with a good basic exposure, you can check the contrast level again within the three sections before making your first full print. If contrast within the best section of the three seems a bit too low or too high, alter it for the first print you make. After all, why not make all the changes needed before wasting time and money on prints that won’t be very good?

After years of printing, not only do I skip the test print entirely (simply because I can usually guess the exposure time fairly accurately), but I also go further with my initial print because I study the contact proof print extremely carefully. Careful study of the proof print gives me a very good idea of how much contrast the final print needs, but it tells me much more. If a specific area of a proof print is quite light, I may have to burn it to maintain detail. When I increase contrast for the final print, I’ll have to burn that area progressively more because it will be even brighter as contrast increases. So a careful study of the proof not only tells me if an area needs burning, but also how much I have to burn. In a similar manner, studying the proof print gives me a great deal of information about where I have to dodge the negative during the basic exposure, and roughly how much dodging is needed.

Combining all this information gives me the following:

The contact proof tells me the level of contrast I need for my print, so I can set my dichroic head filtration for the contrast I need.

The contact proof tells me where I have to burn and dodge, and as I increase or decrease contrast, it indicates how much I have to burn or dodge each area.

The level of light hitting the easel when the filtration is dialed in tells me the necessary length of exposure at the chosen aperture.

Now I have a pretty good idea of how to print the negative. My first print of any new negative is an educated guess at the proper contrast, the length of the exposure, and the burning and dodging needed. So I go for it! I make my first print as if I’ve printed it for years, including all the burning and dodging I think I’ll need right from the start. I fully develop that print, then evaluate it carefully after I get it into the fixing bath and inspect it under white lights.

There have been instances in which I hit it right on target on the very first try. Most of the time, I’m a bit off, but I’m generally close enough to make a few minor adjustments to get much closer to the print I want on my second try. Further refinements may extend the process to three or four or more tries before I get the print exactly the way I want it (and, of course, future printings may bring additional improvements to the image). Sometimes, I’m way off on my first set of guesses, but careful comparisons between the contact proof print, the first enlarged print, and my desires for a final print, give me a great deal of insight for a second print that’s usually close to the print I want to have. From that stage, it’s just a question of further refinements.

Concerning aperture, please ignore those who argue that all negatives should be enlarged at two or three stops below maximum aperture on your enlarging lens to yield maximum sharpness. Technically, those arguments are correct. Neither the wide open (full aperture) nor the fully stopped down (minimum aperture) lens is as sharp as the mid-range openings. While that’s technically true, in practical terms it’s meaningless. The sharpness difference at various apertures may be visible on a super-enlarged optical bench, but it isn’t visible to the naked eye at any enlargement that you or I will ever make. Don’t worry about any supposed lack of sharpness as you stop down, because you’ll never see the difference. Choose the aperture that makes sense for the print you’re making: you don’t want an exposure that lasts several minutes (because it’s tiring), and you don’t want one that’s just a few seconds long (because you lack control over the final result). Something in the middle makes logical sense.

The only aperture I generally avoid is maximum aperture, not because of sharpness considerations but simply because it projects significantly more light toward the center than the edges and corners. I stop down at least one full f/stop to achieve an even level of light across the easel. In time, you’ll recognize that if you want a lighter (high key) print, you’ll choose a shorter exposure or a more closed aperture; if you want a darker (low key) print, you’ll choose a longer exposure or a more open aperture (more on this issue below).

Doing test prints rather than test strips gives you a wealth of information and sharpens your view of the negative right from the start. You’ll begin to see the relationship between the negative and the print you want. It helps your understanding of the entire photographic process. You’ll get to your final print quicker this way, and your final print will be better! Start thinking from the beginning! Follow the advice that American painter Robert Henri gave to his students in the late 1800s and early 1900s, “Intellect should be used as a tool.”

Two-Solution Development for Graded and Variable Contrast Papers

Graded papers come in distinct contrast levels, generally 1, 2, 3, and 4 (sometimes 5), with each grade progressively higher in contrast. To obtain intermediate contrast levels, you can use two developers in sequence—first, a low contrast developer like Kodak Selectol-Soft which develops any grade of paper more than a full grade lower in contrast; and then a second, higher contrast developer, like Kodak Dektol.

Here’s how it works. If you want to get the equivalent of Grade 2½, use a Grade 3 paper but start the development in Selectol-Soft, effectively developing it slightly lower in contrast than a Grade 2 paper. Part way through, move the paper into Dektol and finish the development like a true Grade 3 paper. If the print is in the first developer for a short time and in the second for a longer time, you can achieve Grade 2.9. If it’s in the first developer for a long time and in the second developer for a short time, you can get Grade 2.1. Starting with the higher contrast grade paper and varying the time in each developer allows you to get any contrast level between the two grades. Be aware, though, that Selectol-Soft also slows the paper, so the greater percentage of time in it, the more initial exposure you’ll need.

If you use variable contrast papers with numbered filters below the enlarging lens (or even above the negative), the only way to achieve subtle variations between half-grade filter levels is by using two developers, just as with graded papers. If you have an enlarger with continuous variation of contrast levels, it may seem that using more than one developer is unnecessary; but this is not the case. Extending the thinking detailed above from graded to variable contrast papers, two developers can be employed to subtly alter the contrast curve of a paper. Because Selectol-Soft alters the characteristic curve of the paper (increasing highlight separations and decreasing shadow separations) while lowering overall contrast, you may achieve a print more to your liking by dialing in higher contrast filtration, then softening the contrast in Selectol-Soft developer. By doing this, you can achieve subtle tonal changes in the highlights and shadows that cannot be achieved with any other method. It’s worth pursuing in an effort to achieve the highest quality prints you can produce.

Dodging and Burning

Dodging and burning are essential techniques in making most prints. Dodging is the procedure of blocking light from the enlarger to selected areas of the print during part of the basic exposure. When light is withheld, the area is made lighter, so dodging lightens an area. Burning is the procedure of giving extra exposure to selected areas of the print, thus making those areas darker.