John A. Tennant

“ Knowing that a weak light increases contrasts we move the negative three feet from the light, and instead of two, give eighteen seconds exposure, the rule telling us that this is equivalent. Thus we are enabled to regulate the strength of our light to suit the character of our negative. But a standard distance of one foot will not suit with all kinds of lights or with all sizes of negatives. If, for instance, our light is a Welsbach burner, giving an intense and comparatively white light, we will find that a normal negative will print too flat if exposed at one foot. ”

“ As compared with the paper, developer is cheap, and it is poor economy to save on the latter.
Except in rare instances the developer is better without any modifications whatever. In case of over-exposure, either general or partial, the developer after having been diluted as stated should be again diluted with its bulk of water. This gives blacker tones and more depth and life to the shadows. When through inadvertence we under-expose a print it may frequently be saved after partial development in the weak solution by flooding with a strong undiluted developer. ”

“ The purpose of the rinsing before development is to avoid the possibility of air-bells. The paper should be rinsed in cold water, as warmish water will cause air-bells instead of preventing them. This rinsing can be dispensed with if thought desirable. The rinsing after development is for the purpose of stopping development immediately, and also in order that the prints may not go into the fixing bath full of developer, as staining would be likely to result in such case. With the iron oxalate developer an acid rinsing bath is necessary, but it is not necessary with any of the other developers. ”

“ Double printing in enlarging is not at all difficult. Assuming that test-strips have been made determining the proper exposure for each negative, I will briefly outline the process. Taking a landscape negative with clear sky in which we wish to print clouds, we first tack on the screen a sheet of paper the size of our bromide, and after properly adjusting and focusing it, trace with a pencil the outline of the skyline. We then remove the foreground negative and, after tracing, cut out a mask conforming to the size and shape of the foreground, cutting away the sky. ”

“ The ideal negative for contact printing on bromide paper is one without excessive contrasts on the one hand, and without excessive flatness on the other. A moderately strong negative, such as will require from three to five minutes in the sunlight with a print out paper, fairly describes it. In other words, the negative should be fully exposed and so developed that there is a fair amount of density in the shadows. I have never been able, with bromide paper, to get the detail in the shadows of under-exposed negatives, such as we see in a good print made on glossy printout paper. ”

“ Of all printing processes, bromide enlarging offers the best opportunities for successful dodging and modification. We can cut our light down and take all the time we want, or we can take as little time as we want. A hand, a finger, a slip of paper, or anything within reach, will suffice to shade the light just as we want it. In this connection it is well to always hold the shade nearer the lens than the easel, as greater diffusion results and there is less danger of sharp lines. ”

“ The support being paper of course makes some difference and the fact that while in the negative we aim to get printing density and printing color only, in the positive we aim to please the eye, makes another. But generally speaking, it may be said that whatever we can do with the negative we can do with bromide paper, that is, in so far as the emulsion itself is concerned. ”

“ In using the daylight apparatus, which we will now consider, the negative is placed in the holder opposite the center of the ground-glass, upside down and facing into the work room. The room is darkened and lens uncapped. An image more or less blurred will appear on the screen. If the enlarged picture is to be only slightly larger than the negative, the lens must be racked out until its distance from the negative is but little less than its distance from the screen. To make the enlargement greater we simply rack back the lens and move the screen further off. ”

“ The apparatus for enlarging with artificial light is, as has been stated, more expensive than that for use with daylight. The negative box and screen, however, remain as given. But we need in addition two extra pieces, a light-box and a pair of condensing lenses.
The form of light-box presupposes the choice of illuminant, and in this there is a wide range. Suffice it to say that a kerosene lamp with one or more one-and-a-half inch burners will be found suitable for very small work or weak negatives. For larger work or stronger negatives a stronger light will be needed. ”

“ It is obtainable in any desired size, and with a great variety of surfaces, from extreme gloss to that of rough drawing paper. It offers great latitude in exposure and development, and yields, even in the hands of the novice, a greater percentage of good prints than any other printing paper in the market. It offers a range of tone from deepest black to the most delicate of platinotype grays, which may be modified to give a fair variety of color effects where this is desirable. It affords a simple means of making enlargements without the necessity of an enlarged negative. ”

“ It is quite possible to make bromide negatives in the camera. They have their advantages in classes of work not requiring the finest definition, are much lighter, cheaper, more easily stored and less liable to breakage or other mishaps. They are best made on a thin, smooth paper, a soft paper being better than the hard. They are placed in the plate-holder by means of the ordinary cut film holder. The exposure required is ascertained by a trial or two, but roughly speaking is about one-twentieth that of a rapid plate. ”

“ It is far better to adapt one’s camera to the apparatus, and this can always be done; it being very simple with a reversible back camera, which can be backed right up to the opening, and more difficult but always possible with others. Fig. 7 shows the entire apparatus in place, and the manner in which it is used. AB is the window board, C is the negative box, D is the camera adjusted to the latter, E is the enlarging screen on an easel to hold the bromide paper, and F is the reflector. The screen on the easel can be made either to rest on the floor or on a table. ”

“ A good sulphide tone presupposes a good black and white bromide. Not only that, defects in the bromide which may lie latent while the print is untoned come to light in the sulphide bath. This applies to uneven fixation (due to omission to keep prints moving in the hypo bath) and fingering of the surface; while, as regards the original development of the print, making the best of a wrong exposure will not do when sulphide toning is in view. A print that is forced by long development will suffer in tone, the result being colder and less satisfactory as regards vigor. ”

“ Broadly speaking, all bromide papers are made in a few well-defined varieties; in considering the manipulation of the papers made by a single firm, therefore, we practically cover all the papers in the market. As a matter of convenience, then, we will glance over the different varieties of bromide paper available, as represented by the Eastman papers, with the understanding that what is said of any one variety is generally applicable to papers of the same sort put out by other manufacturers. ”

“ It frequently happens that a negative may require more or less dodging in printing. With bromide paper this is particularly easy. We will take the simple case of a negative with dense sky which will not print out in the ordinary way. All that we need in this case is a piece of paper cut roughly to the sky line and kept moving during part of the exposure over the part which is to be held back. If necessary, cut down the light in order to prolong the exposure, or expose at a greater distance from the light. ”

“ Quick toning, like quick development, tends to block the shadows in the print, and if you once get bronzed shadows the print is practically hopeless. Not quite ruined, however, as a bath in a 5 per cent solution of sodium carbonate will discharge the color and then, if the print is faded, it may be redeveloped in an alkaline developer such as metol-hydro. ”

“ For the same reason, contrary to common opinion, I do not advise the addition of potassium bromide to the developer. It does not improve the developer, and may do harm.
An excellent developer which must be used freshly mixed, and may be made up in a moment, is as follows: Take 11⁄2 ounces of a 25 per cent solution of sodium sulphite; dry amidol, 30 grains; 5 to 10 drops of a 10 per cent solution of potassium bromide, and dilute with 41⁄2 ounces of water. A supply of new developer should be added as this is seen to become exhausted. ”

“ It is better to make absolutely certain of thorough fixing by continued immersion, occasional rocking and, where many prints are made, a second bath. The fixing bath should not be allowed to get too warm in hot weather. Blistering, staining and frilling will result in such a case, and I have known a print which was left in a warm fixing bath for an hour or more to be reduced beyond redemption. With freshly made hypo baths at a suitable temperature there is absolutely no danger of the paper frilling or blistering. ”

“ In some cases the image is fainter than in others, the difference appearing to depend chiefly on the developer employed. Developers with a liability to stain will give prints which do not bleach out so completely as those made with cleaner working developers. But, in all cases, two to three minutes’ action of the bleaching solution will be ample; if all pure black is not gone in this time, it is a sign that the bleach is becoming exhausted. The prints should be kept constantly on the move whilst in the solution, and turned over and over to ensure equal action. ”

“ Potassium ferricyanide costs about twenty cents per pound, and a pound is ample for a lifetime. Glacial acetic acid is a little more costly, but a half-pound bottle will prove a good investment. It is used also, as the reader will recall, in making acid hypo for acid fixing.
To prepare the toning baths, dissolve the ounce of uranium nitrate in 10 ounces of water. The water should be distilled if this is easily obtainable, and the solution should be kept in an orange-glass bottle or an ordinary bottle protected from light by a non-actinic paper wrapping. ”

“ The paper is first opened at a safe distance from the dark-room light, and it is well at first to cut up one sheet into several slips to use as test-strips. If any difficulty is found in determining which is the sensitive side, it will be well to throw a piece of the paper on a plane surface when it will be seen that it has a slight tendency to curl. The concave is the sensitive side. Taking a standard negative we first take one of the test-slips and place it upon the negative so that it covers a portion containing both high lights and shadows. ”

“ Sulphide which has gone liquid will at all times be found to work perfectly, but it is of course open to suspicion, and, in any case, it is not possible to know what is the strength of a solution made up with such a supply. For this reason, it is best to make up the sulphide into solution of 20 per cent strength, and add this to water to make the toning bath. And it is here that a caution must be noted. The weak working solution, which is only about 1 to 2 per cent strength, keeps very badly indeed, and should be made up fresh from the stock solution at the time of toning each batch of prints. ”

“ When this developer is used an acid clearing bath is necessary, and this invites complications which may be disastrous to the prints. When experience has been gained, and a large number of prints are to be made at one time, it will be found advantageous as working longer with greater efficiency and more uniformity than some of the other developers. It is troublesome to prepare and does not keep well, apart from which there is the disadvantage that it does not permit of control in development in as large a measure as other developers. ”

“ But in this case, as indeed with the ruby light, care must be taken to guard against too much light. Development should be conducted at a distance of several feet from the light, and when almost completed, the tray can be brought close under the light to enable the worker to stop it at exactly the right moment. Ordinary bromide paper is about as sensitive as the process or slow dry plate or the average lantern-slide plate, and requires as much care as either, but not nearly so much as the most rapid dry plates. ”

“ Experience with our light will, however, furnish the best standard, always taking a standard negative for the tests.
The size of the negative also has its influence on the unit of exposure. For instance, we may have a half-inch oil-burner, in which case we would probably have to expose a standard negative at four inches in order to get the proper contrasts. ”

“ One great objection to the use of bromide paper is that it must be handled in a dark-room. But this objection is not as serious as it may seem. An ordinary living room at night furnishes a delightful place in which to make prints, if we handle our solutions with reasonable care. ”

“ The direct sun on the white reflector will give a light of high intensity. In winter, however, when the sun is low, it will fall directly on the ground-glass, and this, if the negative box be constructed as advised, is not objectionable, but on the contrary an advantage. ”

“ In almost all cloud printing the tendency is to give undue prominence to the clouds by printing the sky to too deep a tone. This, besides making the blending very noticeable at the horizon, results in unnatural effects and should be avoided. ”