Taking Control Of The Printing Process (the practice)

In my last post I briefly outlined Bruce Dobbin's darkroom printing method and my intention to use it . I can happily report I did use it last week and found it very useful . Rather than follow it slavishly I customised it a little . The image I wanted to try it on was the image above spoken about in "Square Trees " . Other frames had worked well at grade 4 - this one hadn't ; Huge areas of highlight had been completely lost and the shadow detail had had a similar fate with a large area just to the left of centre rendered black .
My first task in the darkroom was to focus the image to the required size on the easel and set the enlarger to grade 2 as suggested . An f stop of 5.6 was chosen for the enlarging lens . Under safelight I cut a single 10x8 sheet into about 12 pieces each one about half the size of a playing card .  I placed just one piece in the centre of the easel after I had put the others back in the light proof packaging . The centre was about the brightest part of the image and I wanted to find out the exposure time to achieve bright highlights which weren't blown . I knew from experience I was looking at a time of 40 seconds plus so I set the timer to 22 seconds and hit it twice giving an exposure of 44 seconds . Before taking it over to the trays I marked the rear side of the paper 44s . After developing stopping and fixing the test square it was time to put the lights up and examine it . Result - an improvement but still too light . Next test was 25 seconds x2 - a 50 second  exposure . The result this time was perfect ! now to adjust the grade to get shadow ....
            Even at grade 2 the edges of the highlight square were indicating there was a problem with the shadows ." Maximum black "was being achieved but in large areas meaning shadow detail was being lost . This indicated a lower grade (lower contrast) filter was needed . Just to make sure there was some hope of achieving a result I decided to use the lowest grade filter 0 . The test square was placed on the shadow area just to left of centre and exposed for 50 seconds , marked and processed . The result was encouraging - shadow detail was now evident . Blacks were just shy of maximum though indicating a slightly higher grade . The test was repeated using grade  1/2 and voila ! shadow detail and maximum black .

   So I took out a full sheet and gave it 50secs at f5.6 using Grade 1/2 and the result was what I wanted . While the photo wasn't a masterpiece I was fully in control of the printing process and had only used 1/2 a sheet of paper getting a satisfactory result . Thanks Bruce !

Taking Control Of The Printing Process (the theory )

As I wrote in my previous piece - "Square Trees" it was time to gain better control of my final prints in the darkroom . Most film users agree it's far better when you are starting out to use one film/developer combination and one paper/paper developer combination in the darkroom . i.e. be consistent . This is easy enough to grasp and I had done it early on . Your methods too need to be consistent.
While my methods when it came to developing film were very consistent  in the darkroom I was using a lot of trial and error . This meant (a) I was wasting a lot of paper and (b) I wasn't really in full control and was achieving results I liked by luck rather than design . My plan was to use Bruce Robbins methods laid out in his blog .
Put simply Bruce starts with highlights . You  select this area in the photo (negative is thickest ) and using test strips find a balanced exposure time which leaves the highlights bright but not blown out . This is done at a lowish grade (2)  . Once this exposure time has been established your attention goes to the darkest area (clearest part of the negative ) . You DON'T change the exposure time from now on - just establish the correct grade (contrast ) to achieve on the one hand "maximum black " in the shadows while on the other preserving shadow detail . Once you know the time and grade you can use a full sheet and achieve a full range print with the least amount of paper wasted . simple eh ?
 

Square Trees

In my head the square format is very sympathetic to tree photos . Off I went down the local park and shot some . Problem was I wasn't too sure where my focus point should be - in the foreground - off to infinity or use hyper focal distance to keep a maximum depth of field ??? Then there was depth of field - I knew medium format shooting means you have less depth of field for a given aperture - but how much ?? would f-8 be enough ?

The answer was unfortunately no - f11 or f16 might have been better . The general vision I had was correct just the finer points were messed up !! Back to the drawing board . The image you see above is an accurate scan of a print I made of one of the better frames . It probably was printed at too high a grade  (4) . I've just been reading the excellent Online Darkroom blog by Bruce Robbins and am very impressed with his suggestions for achieving good prints in the darkroom . Think I'll give his method a go and hopefully save some highlights while avoiding a dull print . Topic for a new post methinks !!

First Film

It's a risk that just had to be taken - buy 10 rolls of Shanghai GP3 roll film on ebay for 15euro including p+p . The alternative was to travel into the centre of Dublin to buy some at 7euro a roll or to order some through a UK supplier and pay riduculous postage (usually £12stg) . Ten days or so the film duly arrived safely . The first thing I noticed was the packaging - each roll was very well sealed ...this looked promising ...maybe it was a good buy ??
As mentioned in the last post the first foll of film was left in the camera for nearly six months . My decision when I loaded the roll was to shoot it at iso200 - a push of one stop . Luckily I remembered this when I shot off the remaining frames . Film removed I processed in Kodak HC-110 (solution B ) . Instead of 7.5 mins at 20C I compensated for the extra stop by going to 10 mins at the same temperature . I'll go into more depth another time but suffice to say I was very impressed - initially just with the sharpness of the negatives due to the lens but then with the film itself . Yes its a little curly but if you are using a traditional enlarger like me thats not an issue . I detected no difficulty loading the film onto the reel and frame numbers on the paper backing werent an issue as Rolleicord III's don't used the red window system .
   At time of writing (Oct '11) Shanghai is a little more expensive at 18euro for 10 rolls but still represents amazing value . Try it !

First Image

Digital photographers are used to instant gratification . Right then and there the image is displayed on the back of the camera . Yes the image is only "truly" seen at the print stage but this is a confirmation rather than a revelation . The image below WAS a revelation - for two reasons . The first was the unplanned nature of the final image . I had intended to take a photo of Liam my eldest son sitting with the morning light streaming in through the patio doors . Kids are kids and Robert my younger son decided to enliven proceedings with his inflatable hammer !! The result was I pressed the shutter before I had focussed properly . In the end I focussed "early" - his knees are in focus and little else . I still love the image though :-) It's Robert barely to be seen attacking from our left that makes it .

The image was a revelation for another reason : I took two frames with the camera and then left it to one side for six months for various reasons. When I finally finished the roll (this month October) and developed the film I discovered this photo I had nearly forgotten  . Despite the Rolleicord's fifty plus years it hadnt leaked any light . How great to rediscover images in this way !! .. I love film .

Stop Testing , Start Creating !

This blog is not about the Rolleicord III - it's about my "Adventures" with it . Many magazine articles, blogs, forums lose sight of real photographty - the art and joy of making pictures . They concentrate on equipment and very little else - an endless search for the newest and latest . Pictures are taken only to test - to draw comparision rather than create . In the name of science rather than art !!

  If you want to know the technical ins and outs of a Rolleicord there are excellent articles throughout the web and I don't intend to compete with them . I'm just going to tell a story - an illustrated story of my "Adventures with a Rolleicord " - how this camera purchased in March 2011 changed my photography (if at all ) and the images I captured with it .