THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE

contaminating your chemicals. Always
use your tongs . . -. do not use
your fingers.
• Chemicals
The chemicals used for processing
prints are essentially the same as
those used for processing film. Some
of them, in fact, can be used for
either purpose. In both cases, you
develop the image, "stop" it, fix it
and, finally, wash and dry it.
Contact Prints
• Additional Tools
Glass: To make a contact print,
the negative must be pressed flat
against —or in contact with —the
photo paper. The simplest way to
achieve this is to place a piece of glass
on top of the negative. (Though
special contact printing frames are
sold for this purpose, they are not
necessary.) The glass should be heavy
enough to hold the negatives flat and
slightly larger than the photo paper
(generally 8x10").
It is essential that the glass be clean
and unscratched, since any flaws in
the glass will show up on your contacts.
You should have a dry and protected
place in which to store the
glass, and always put it away immediately
after using it. Wipe the
glass clean with a dry, lint-free cloth
(using a glass-cleaning spray if
necessary) prior to each use.
Lupe: The primary function of
a contact sheet is to enable you to inspect
your photographs before you
enlarge them. To avoid disappointing
results, you need to know more than
just what's in each photograph. Is it
in focus? Is the lighting exactly right?
Are the subject's eyes open? Is the
facial expression good? These are
some of the questions you can only
answer with a lupe or magnifying lens.
234 The Photographic Eye
To use a lupe, place it directly on
the contact sheet over the frame you
want to inspect. Bring your eye down
to the lupe (don't lift the lupe) and
look through it. It's important that
your head does not block the light.
Do not place the contact on a light
box or hold it up to the window, as
this will only make all the
photographs look over-exposed and
out of focus.
Grease Pencil: As you inspect
each contact sheet, you'll want to
make notes regarding which photographs
to enlarge and how to enlarge
them. The best tool for this is a white
grease pencil. A grease pencil writes
easily on photo paper, and can also
be erased with a fingertip or tissue.
A while grease pencil will show up
fairly well even under a safelight . . .
so your notes will be legible in the
darkroom, where you need them
most.
What sort of notes should you put
on your contacts? First, mark each
frame that you want to enlarge. The
usual way of doing this is simply to
draw a box around it. You may also
want to cross out any frames that are
out of focus. If you see a good way
to crop a photograph, mark that as
well. Finally, you may want to jot
down suggestions on how to print a
photograph, so you'll remember your
intentions when the time comes.
• Procedures
1. Turn the enlarger on and open
the lens to its largest aperture.
2. Adjust the enlarger's height as
needed until the light is covering
an area slightly larger than the
negative file.
It's a good idea to focus the
enlarger when you do this, so
you'll always be setting it at
roughly the same height. The reason
for this is that the amount of
light reaching the paper decreases
as the distance to the light source
(the enlarger bulb) increases. You
can focus the enlarger without
putting a negative in it: simply
adjust the focusing knob until the
edges of the lighted area are crisp
and clear.
3. Set the enlarger lens two stops
down.
4. Cover the lens with the safelight
filter.
At this point, check to be sure
that all lights except safelights
are turned off, and that there
are no light leaks around doors,
window, etc. Leave the enlarger
light on.
5. Center a sheet of photo paper in
the lighted area.
Remove one sheet of photo paper
from its container. Always close
the container immediately. Do
not leave photo paper uncovered,
no matter how light-tight you
think your darkroom is. There's
always the chance that you or
someone else will turn the lights
on before you've put the paper
away. Learn good habits from
the outset and stick with them.