A LOT OF BULL

Why black and white printing for the C.R.C.?

Photography is all about light and shade and I find that doing black and white work helps me to study the effects of light without the distraction of colour. Also, many subjects are just as good, or even better, when devoid of colour.

Essential Equipment.

Good negatives, Print paper, Developer, Fixer, Water, Three dishes, Two print tongs, Safelight, Thermometer, Sheet of glass, Clock or watch with seconds, Enlarger and a Room which can be blacked out.

Desirable Extras. (in order of preference),

Aerosol of clean air (for dusting negatives), Focus Finder
(to assist in focusing on grain of negatives) Home made "Ring - around" frame (for making test prints)

A Few Points About Equipment

Enlarger : must be very firm with a rigid column.

If you intend to move on from 35mm to medium format at a later date choose an enlarger which is suitable for the range of negative sizes you plan to use.

If you intend to print from colour negatives as well as black and white consider a model with a colour head but remember that colour prints can be made without a colour head by using filters. In that case a filter drawer is a desirable feature. Either type of enlarger is suitable for printing onto variable contrast black and white paper.

There are two basic types of illumination in enlargers;

(1) Condensers, which increase the contrast in black and white negatives but not in colour negatives or slides. On the minus side, dust specks are emphasized

(2) Diffusers require a more powerful lamp to give an equivalent light output but otherwise are perfectly satisfactory for all types of printing.

It is important to check that the mechanisms which rack the head up and down the column and focus the lens operate smoothly and without backlash. Enlarger lenses differ from camera lenses in that they are required to produce an image on a flat plane at a relatively close distance.

It pays, in the long run, to buy the best lens you can afford. Choose from those made by Nikon, Durst or Rodenstock. It is better to economise on maximum aperture than to go for an f2.8 by some obscure maker.

Print Paper

Printing papers come in conventional fibre based and resin coated base types in various sizes from 3½in x 5in to 16in x 20in cut sheets in packets of 10 or 25 and boxes of 50 or 100. Surface finishes are matt, semi-matt and glossy. Some brands are available in separate grades of contrast; Grade 0 is very soft and grade 5 is very contrasty (hard).

Because the ratio of lightest to darkest tones on a print is only 50:1 - at best - it is necessary to have various grades so that the full range of tones can be matched to the negative, whatever it`s contrast scale may be. A convenient way of overcoming the need to carry a stock of various grades of paper is to use variable contrast paper. Most manufacturers now make these in both fibre and resin based materials. Variable contrast papers are coated with two emulsions, one sensitive to green light which has a low contrast and one sensitive to blue light which has a high contrast. By varying the combination of green and blue light content in the enlarger light source, any grade between 0 and 5 is possible. Either a colour head or separate filters can be used for controlling contrast.

All very bewildering isn`t it? Don`t worry, you can start with a resin coated variable contrast paper in size A4 with semi-matt finish. This size of paper fits the 35mm format very well and if you require smaller papers, it retains the same proportions when halved. By using resin coated papers which lie flat it is not necessary to have an easel. Another advantage is that R.C. paper washes in 5 minutes against 30 minutes for single weight and 60 minutes for double weight fibre based paper.

Decide upon your preference for paper sizes before you buy the dishes, The bigger the paper, the bigger the dishes and the larger the quantity of solutions required to cover the prints.

Processing Chemicals

Once you have settled on the type of paper, start with the recommended developer and fixer. A stop bath between developer and and fixer neutralises the alkali in the developer prolonging the life of the fixer. Mix up fresh developer for each session, just sufficient to cover a print in the dish. Stop bath can be re-used until the indicating colour changes. One litre of fixer will process at least 3,300sq.ins. of paper ie. 30xA4 sheets or the equivalent. Therefore, it is best to have one litre of working solution and to keep a record of the number of prints fixed. An alternative to using stop bath between developer and fixer is to use two fixing baths.

Each is mixed in the usual way and kept in separate bottles marked `1` and `2` Keep a record of the prints processed and when 80xA4 sheets (or the equivalent area) have been fixed discard no. 1 bath and put no. fixer into no. 1 bottle. Then mix up a fresh bath of no. 2. The advantages of this method are:

(1) Every print is finished in relatively fresh fixer which ensures that the remaining salts can be washed out.

(2) No. 1 fixing bath, even when nearly exhausted, converts the undeveloped halides into salts which can be attacked by no. 2 fixer. This makes the method very economical.

At the beginning of a print session set out dishes which are slightly larger than the biggest print intended. Mix sufficient developer concentrate with the required amount of water at 20C. It will be necessary to check the developer temperature from time to time and adjust accordingly. Pour the other chemicals into their respective dishes.

Switch on safelight, switch off white light. Rack the enlarger head to the top of the column and focus the lens on the baseboard.

Set lens to f8 and insert grade 3 filter if using multigrade paper. Swing in red filter.

Place a sheet of 10in x 8in paper face up on the baseboard. Carefully remove the negative strips from sleeve and place emulsion side down on paper. (7 strips of 5 or 6 negatives just fit). When all negative strips are in place cover with a sheet of clean glass to hold in place.

Switch off enlarger. Swing out red filter. Expose whole sheet for 2 secs. Cover one strip of paper with the paper packet and expose the remainder for another two seconds. Repeat until the last strip has been exposed for 14 secs.

Lift off glass and carefully replace negatives in the filing sleeve. Slide the piece of paper into the developer and time the process for exactly two minutes. Gently rock the dish to ensure even development. When two minutes is up lift one edge of print with the tongs and drain for a few seconds before transferring to the stop bath (or fixer no. 1), taking care not to allow the tongs to touch the liquid. Then replace the developer tongs into the developer dish. NEVER allow any contamination between developer and other solutions.

Now using the fixer tongs, Transfer print to fixer dish and agitate gently. Make sure that the print is covered by solution
at all times. After 2 minutes for rapid fixer or 10 minutes for ordinary fixer remove to sink or bucket for washing. For
resin coated papers washing time is 5 minutes, for single weight fibre based paper 30 minutes and for double weight
fibre based paper 60 minutes.

Before washing starts the print can be examined in white light. Note the strip which is closest to the correct exposure
and use that time for all subsequent contact sheets keeping all other factors constant.

Using clear plastic surfaced sleeves with negatives filed emulsion to clear side.

Set up darkroom and enlarger as for method 1. In this case it is not necessary to remove the negatives from the sleeve
if you observe the following.

The contact image may not be perfect but it will certainly show sufficient detail to identify the shot and to serve as an index.

It cannot be stressed too strongly that good enlargements can be made only from good, clean negatives. For this reason I believe that it is better to learn to print by using negatives which you have had processed professionally.

Enlargers which have diffuse illumination require negatives which have a higher contrast than that suitable for enlargers with condenser optics. However, the difference is less than one grade of print paper and should not present a problem.

Before closing the darkroom door and getting down to a printing session, check everything over to ensure that you have all the items you require. Then mix up the solutions, pour into dishes at the correct temperature and set out the tongs at the side of the appropriate dish. NEVER allow contamination between solutions.

Switch on safelight, switch off white light., switch on enlarger and set lens to maximum aperture. Carefully take the strip of negatives which contains the one to enlarge and blow clean air over both surfaces using an aerosol of clean air. Place in negative carrier and using enlarger controls frame up the image on the baseboard, or ring-around-frame if you have made one. Now using the focus finder adjust the lens focus until you can see the grain like sharp sand. If you are to use variable contrast paper select grade 2½ on either colour head or filter drawer of the enlarger. Swing in the red filter and stop down to f8. Place a piece of print paper, emulsion side up, in the centre of the ring-around frame and close all four doors. Position door 1 under the most important part of the image, switch off enlarger, swing red filter out of the way and open door 1. Expose for 2 secs.

Close door 1, switch on enlarger and reposition frame until door 2 is under the same part of the image. Switch of enlarger, open door 2 and expose for 4 secs.

Close door 2 and continue the same procedure exposing paper for 8 secs under door 3 and 16 secs under door 4. Swing in the red filter.

Take paper from ring-around-frame slide smoothly into the developer and develop for 2 mins. exactly. Drain using developer tongs and drop gently into the stop bath, or No. 1 fixer, agitate for a few secs. and then using the fixer tongs transfer to fixer bath where it remains for 2 mins , rapid fixer, or 10 mins, ordinary fixer.

Making sure that all paper is secure from light, switch on white light and examine your test print. One of these will be a little light and the next will be a little dark.

Suppose that the 4 secs print is a little light and the 8 secs print is a little dark. Your next ring-around will be 5, 6 and 7 secs. Occasionally one of the four originals will be spot on.

When deciding how much more or less to give an exposure remember that printing paper, like film, has a geometric characteristic. That means that to increase an exposure we multiply by a fixed factor, to reduce an exposure we divide by the same factor. This is what happens when we open or close the aperture of the lens. eg. f8 admits twice as much light as f11.

With print paper, the smallest factor which has any significant effect on density, in practical terms, is one third of a stop or 1.259. This may seem very technical but the series of numbers relating to this factor is used for ISO (ASA) film speeds. 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 64, 80, 100, 125, 160 etc. Because this is a geometrical progression the series can be divided or multiplied by 10. If this seems too much for you start with 4 secs and multiply by 1¼ over and over again. That will be much better than adding one or two secs each time you make a test exposure.

However, when you have finally decided on the exposure that gives the density you require think about the contrast. If, when you get the whites just right the blacks are not black enough try one grade harder paper. ie. 3½ instead of 2½. If, on the other hand, the whites are burned out whilst the blacks are deep black try a lower, softer, grade of paper.

On variable contrast paper when using filters, as opposed to using a colour head setting, the exposure does not alter from grade 0 to grade 3½. Grades 4, 4½ and 5 are one step slower or in other words require twice the exposure time.

After processing and washing prints in cold running water, blot them carefully and lay them out face up on an absorbent surface to dry. If you are using glossy resin coated paper the use of a hair dryer to dry the prints also improves the gloss.

Do not worry if your first printing session produces no good finished prints. It takes time and practice to succeed at anything. Be patient and make notes so that you can repeat your efforts in future.

If you do not wish to do black and white printing it is also possible to copy black and white negatives onto Kodak 5302 Positive Release Film which has an emulsion similar to print paper and can be processed in the same way using the same chemicals. This film is available in 100ft bulk lengths from Firstcall or Jessop`s by special order for approx £20.

If you do not wish to make B&W prints why not try B&W slides from B&W negatives? This is easy when using Kodak 5302 film which has very similar characteristics as B&W print paper. This film is available in 100ft bulk lengths at just under £20.00 from Jessop, by special order.

If you do not have an enlarger, the film can be loaded into 35mm cassettes and used in your SLR with a slide copier attachment to copy your B&W negatives to make B&W slides. Processing is just the same as for B&W print paper.