The days of film photography pt.3 - Printing - by Glenn Pierce

In printmaking, photography at last yields its prize. For me it was the most pleasurable part of the whole imaging process. To see an image appearing on photo paper in the developer tray was a grand and fun experience.

The Print -- Part 1

Photo paper came in literally hundreds of various options of texture, finish, tint and image tone. In addition,each kind of paper came in several grades, which determined the contrast between the tones of gray. You found the ones that suited your style of photography & printmaking.

                                          Docking Pier-Glenn Pierce

1. We are in our darkroom working under a low wattage yellow safe-light and have already set up our printing trays with our various solutions. Note: temperatures of these solutions are not as critical as they were in film development.

2. Insert your negative strip into a carrier and carefully center the one you have selected. Close the carrier and place it in the enlarger head. Your negative will be between the enlarger lamp and the focusing ring.

3. Place your easel, with a piece of plain white paper inserted, on the base of the enlarger and turn on the enlarger lamp.

4. Adjust the height of the enlarger for the size print you are making. Focus by turning the knob that raises and lowers the lens.

5. Move the easel as needed to compose the image.

6. After focus is completed, adjust enlarger lens to about F11. Turn off enlarger lamp.

7. Remove plain paper from easel (careful not to move it) and insert a sheet of photo paper.

8. We will first make a test print to determine proper exposure. Take a piece of cardboard and cover four fifths of the printing paper(vertical strip) >set timer for five seconds and expose this first section. Repeat this step five times by sliding your cardboard mask over each time. Note: your timer is plugged into the enlarger so it turns on/off each time you start the timer.

9. Your now have a test print with exposures ranging from 5-25 seconds.

10. Place the photo paper in the developer for about a minute and a half. Rock the developer tray gentle back and forth to keep fresh chemicals moving across the paper surface.

11. Place photo in stop bath for about 15 seconds. Again agitate the tray during the process.

12. Place photo in fixer bath for about 2 minutes. Wash bath will not be needed for this throw-away test print.

13. Turn on over head lights and select best exposure for your image.

                                          Reflections - Glenn Pierce

The Print--Part 2

In the last series we had completed our test print and now know the proper exposure for our final print -- We hope! Over a period of time, a test print was not always needed. You developed an eye for judging the density of your negatives under the enlarger lamp and could guess fairly accurately the required exposure time needed. Also sepia or other toners were just additional solution baths in the printing process.
In photoshop or other programs, once you've completed your final image and saved the file, you can go back at anytime and print as many copies as you like or need and they will all look the same. In darkroom printmaking this task was much more difficult but not impossible. It required keeping a very accurate log of every step of the printmaking process. Starting with the negative you had to record which frame on the strip you were working with because you may have bracketed exposures of same subject which would change the outcome you expected. You also had to record the enlarger exposure time and lens F-stop settings used. Any burning & dodging times and type photo paper used also had to be recorded.

1. Your enlarger is set-up and you slip a piece of photo paper into the easel and turn on the timer for the correct exposure time. Timer will turn on and off enlarger lamp.

2. Place photo into developer, stop, fixer trays and agitate them as you go. Takes about 3-5 minutes. Now place photo in a wash bath with running water for one hour! All traces of chemicals must be removed from the print or it will stain over time. This is the reason why the trays are placed in a bath tub or darkroom sink.

3. While this print is washing you can now start on another print.

4. Once your print(s) are finished with the wash bath, hang them up to dry on a line over your bath tub or darkroom sink. They will be dry for you the next morning.

5. With practice, you could print & develop 5-10 images in a 3-5 hour darkroom session!

6. All chemicals used were pour into plastic jugs and marked with the date used and number of prints processed. These chemicals could be reused for a certain period of time or number of prints.

Hope all that have read these articles have enjoyed them. Any comments positive or negative are welcomed. My reference material has been Time-Life library of Photography -"The Print". My memories of 30+ years ago in the darkroom have faded just a bit so I needed a little help.

                                          Breaking Poin t- Glenn Pierce

I thank Emiliano for giving me the stage to share this insight into early B&W film & print developing with you. I urge all of you to study the works of early masters of photography carefully, for that have a great deal to offer modern day digital photographers. 

Thank you,Glenn Pierce.

gepmsm@gmail.com