Art of Photography : A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression (9781681982120) by Barnbaum Bruce

Author:Barnbaum, Bruce
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc
Published: 2017-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

Inspection, Evaluation, and the Myth of “Dry-Down”

All of the techniques of controlling the print during exposure and into development have now been discussed: dodging, burning, flashing, masking, variable contrast printing, and two-solution development. The final advanced technique of print control, reducing (also known as bleaching), takes place after the print has been fully developed and placed into the fixing bath. Before discussing reducing, let’s first work our way through chemical processing and on to the all-important inspection and evaluation of the image.

After I develop the print, I quickly transfer it to a stop bath for several seconds to terminate development. (I use glacial acetic acid for this purpose.) Next, I place it in the fixer (I use Kodak’s general-purpose fixer with hardener) for approximately 15 seconds with continuous agitation. I then turn on an initial inspection light to view the image while still in the tray.

The intensity of this initial inspection light is far more important than most people realize. My own experience—and my experience with hundreds of students in years of workshops—is that lack of thought about the inspection light can undo all of the good printing techniques performed to this point. In fact, you need two separate inspection lights: an initial inspection light and a final inspection light. Let’s discuss the initial inspection light first.

Most printers feel that any normal room light serves as a good darkroom inspection light. Wrong! Others feel that a good, bright light best shows the print for proper evaluation. Disastrously wrong! The best initial inspection light is a rather dim light—a low wattage bulb placed rather far away from the print. The reason is simple. You have been in a room lit by safelights from the time you removed the enlarging paper from the box, placed it in the easel, exposed the negative with your basic exposure plus extra burning or flashing steps, then developed the print (hopefully for at least four or five minutes), stopped it, and placed it in the fixer. Since you’ve been in that dim light for approximately 10 minutes, your iris is wide open to gather in the light. Then you put on a bright light. It’s like walking out of a matinee into the noonday sun! If the print is actually too dark, it will look good to you. And if it’s printed just right, it will look too light. A dim light will give you a far better feel of what the print really looks like.

Many feel that any normal room light serves as a good darkroom inspection light. Wrong! Others feel that a good, bright light best shows the print for proper evaluation. Disastrously wrong!

What wattage bulb should be used for the inspection light? It depends how far it’s located from your fixing tray. The only criterion is this: if your finished prints consistently look too dark under normal lighting, or if they consistently lack the shadow detail under normal lighting that you saw under the inspection light, then your inspection light is too bright. Replace the bulb with a lower wattage bulb or move the light farther away.

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