Making a Black & White Print
We went into the darkroom as a class for the process, but were allowed to make our own prints using the negatives we had developed the week before. I started by examining all of the available negatives in order to choose my favourites. Once I had decided on which negative I would like to print first, I placed the negative in the negative carrier of the enlarger so that the emulsion (the matt side) was facing downwards, and the top of the image was facing me. When everyone was ready, the main lights were switched off, and the safelight turned on. I then turned on the enlarger and adjusted the height of the enlarger head to frame and focus my image. I also adjusted the focus knob slightly to fine-tune the image, making it appear sharper, and set the lens’ aperture ring at f8 to insure that the enlarged print would be less sensitive to focusing errors. The next step was making a test strip, which I did using a long strip of photographic paper. The photographic paper must be kept in its light tight box until you are ready to use it.
When I was ready, I removed the piece of paper I needed for the test strip from its box, making sure to close the box properly afterwards, so that the photographic paper that was left in the box was protected. I then placed the paper for my test strip on the easel and covered most of it with a piece of thick cardboard, leaving only a small faction on the left end of the paper exposed. Next I switched on the enlarger using the timer, and exposed that fraction of the photographic paper to light for two seconds. I then moved the cardboard further to the right, exposing more of the photographic paper and switched on the enlarger for another two seconds. I continued to do this until all of the photographic paper had been exposed to the enlarger’s light. I then used an Ilford Black and White Processor to develop my test strip.
Once the test strip was developed, I went out of the darkroom to examine the test strip in bright light, in order to decide on the correct exposure to use for my final print. I then went back into the darkroom, took a piece of 5X7” Ilford glossy finish paper from its box and placed it on the easel. I did not need to make any adjustments to the enlarger settings, as the settings I had used for the test strip were correct. I quickly set the timer so that the correct exposure time would be generated. Once this was done, I switched on the enlarger, exposing the paper to light for the set time. I developed my print using the Ilford Black and White Processor.
I used the same procedure for every test strip and print I produced.