ViC MUNiZ

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Controling Contrast in Your Prints:

Contrast Filters

Contrast filters are necessary for increasing or decreasing the amount of contrast in your print. If your test prints are coming out much too gray, then increasing the number of your filter will increase the contrast, making the whites whiter and the blacks blacker. Everyone has a different preference when it comes to deciding which contrast filter to start with, but I have always found for my purposes that a contrast filter of 2.5 suits me well when I’m working on a black and white enlarger.

Changing your contrast filter as you do test prints will also affect your exposure times, so don’t expect the same results in exposure when changing from a 3 to a 3 1/2 or a 4.

The first photograph here mimics the effect of a lower contrast filter. The second illustrates the effect of using a contrast filter higher in number.

Photo by De Buysser

Making a test strip - a traditional darkroom technique

To save wasting a sheet of paper you can make a test strip using a smaller piece of the same paper first.

1 Set everything up as you intend to print - height of enlarger head on column, stop the lens down a couple of stops to the optimum aperture, usually around f/5.6. Focus the negative on the baseboard.

2 Then switch off the room light and turn on the safelight.

3 Pull out a sheet of printing paper and cut it into smaller pieces. A 10x8in can be cut into four pieces. Keep one piece out and place the others back in the light tight packing.

4 Place the sheet on the baseboard in a suitable place on the print. Try picking a spot where there's a good range of tones to assess when you've made the test strip.

5 Now get a piece of black card that's bigger than the test paper and hold it above the paper so that it prevents any light reaching the paper when the enlarger is switched on.

6 Switch the enlarger on and move the card to reveal a strip about one fifth of the area of the paper. Hold steady for three seconds and move the card to reveal another fifth of the paper and hold for three seconds. The first strip has now received six seconds. Repeat this process exposing for three seconds each time you move across the remaining three parts of the paper. The part that was first exposed will now have had a total of 15seconds exposure and gradually steps down to the last exposed strip with just a three seconds exposure.

7 Develop the sheet in processing trays and when rinsed turn on the room light and check to see which strip looks best. It could be that the best exposure falls between two strips, one being too light, the other too dark. If this is the case, set a time that falls between the two. In our case about eight seconds would be best.

Tests strips can also be used to check how long you should burn in areas such as sky or a white dress and how long you should dodge to maintain detail in shadow areas.

John Pfahl: Cleverly Undermines Landscapes:

John Pfahl is a master at preventing viewers from easily comprehending the spatial relationship before their eyes.