Topic: paper neg + contact prints question

[formica]

i've started shooting paper negs in some pinhole cameras.  if i want to do a contact print from the paper negative. do i place the unexposed paper under the exposed paper neg - face to face or do i put the paper neg on the bottom with the unexposed paper on top  of it(face to face)?

also below are two shots. the first is the paper neg, the second is the positive from inverting the neg in photoshop. the positive looks a bit dark - does that mean i should have exposed the negative in camera for a longer time or shorter? it's probably something i could adjust during the contact printing process - right?

             thanks for the help in advance,

                                     william

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[LT]

I think your neg looks a bit thin william (hence the dark image on the reversed file- yo probably need to give some more exposure?

You have to print through the paper neg onto the paper positive, so the paper neg always needs to be on the top. Face to face will reverse your image, so if you dont want to do that, then print with the neg back to the paper front.

[formica]

thanks leon. now it's much clearer to me. i may run some more tests on monday if i have time.

              william

[choppert]

Good robots! 

[Andrea.]

I hesitate to disagree with the eminent Leon, but I think the neg is fine. I tend to make my paper negs like this then you adjust the contrast easier on contact printing. If you have too much black on the neg you will have loads of blown out areas on the positive.
Use the thin neg and give a harder contrast exposure when making the contact print for a shorter time.  Or better still, use a split contrast exposure
This is a contact print made from a thin paper neg.

[LT]

 I bow to your superior knowedge & experience with the paper negs Andrea

[formica]

andrea, can you explain what you mean by a harder contrast exposure? i'll be using a desk lamp as my light source since i don't have an enlarger sadly.

            william

[Andrea.]

Ah. Then its a bit more difficult. There are, however some partial remedies.
1. use a harder grade of graded paper to print to [gd 5 is the contrastiest].
2. mix up a stronger mix of developer
3. get some filters and tape them over the lamp when you expose.
4. Squint when you look at the print. I always find that helps a bit.
5. Ask Leon :-)

[Andrew Sanderson]

Try overexposing from this by two stops and remove it from the developer before it gets too black, this way you compress the tones and get a printable image with interesting tones.



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[formica]

thanks for the advice andrea and andrew. i'll give it another go tomorrow and see if i can get better results!

               william

[original_ann]

Sanderson that's beautiful, your bluebells!

[formica]

so here's what my contact print of that paper negative ended up looking like.  if i was to make some sort of filter out of transparencies/gels to increase the contrast what colour would i need? yellow?

            william

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[LT]

what paper are you using william?

[formica]

what paper are you using william?

i'm using ilford multigrade IV RC Deluxe glossy.  it was the only paper the shop had. i wanted matte, but they didn't have any at the moment.

             william

[LT]

ilford make a set of 6" square filter gels that cover their multigrade range from   0 to 5 with 1/2 grade steps + one super-soft contrast 00.  They can be used with any multigrade papers with varying levels of contrast.  Or, you can just use a yellow filter and test until you get the first hint of tone in the highlights then over this, do a test strip until your shadows are as dark as you want them.  This is split grade printing. in essence you have to do two exposures for each print - yellow for highlight and magenta for shadows.  Given that you are using a table lamp etc, you'll probably find it easier to use an ilford multigrade set.

[Francois]

I found somewhere that the grade 4 filter is the same as the Rosco Calcolor 90M.
The Rosco filters are available in 20x20 sheets if I remember for quite a bit cheaper than the Ilford sets (only drawback is they don't have the densities for all grades...)

[formica]

thanks for the suggestions francois and leon. i'll see if i can find either of those. they may be abit hard to find locally since dark room supplies aren't as plentiful. if all fails i can always order such things on line of course.

            william