THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE

Enlargements
• Additional Tools
Easel: The easel is simply an adjustable
tool for holding photo paper
in place and keeping it flat. Most
easels have two blades which slide
along a slot marked in inches. To
move the blades, you press a lever
which unlocks them. When you have
set the blades at the correct
measurements, you release the lever,
locking the blades in place. Other
easel designs provide standardized
openings (4x5", 5x7", 8x 10") or
have 4 adjustable (often magnetic)
blades. Here again, which tools you
use is of far less importance than how
you use them.
Grain Focuser: An enlargement
is correctly focused only when the
grain (the pattern of silver dots that
compose the image) is in focus. With
most films, you need a grain focuscr
to see the grain well enough to
achieve this degree of precision. It
enlarges a very small portion of the
image area and reflects it up through
a lens so you can see the grain clearly
enough to focus it.
Before using a grain focuser, adjust
the enlarger until the photograph
is fairly well focused. Then place the
focuser on your easel within the
image area. Look through the lens,
making sure your head jsn't blocking
the light from the enlarger. .Move the
focuser around within the image area
until you can see clusters of black
dots. That's grain. You'll be able to
see more grain, and therefore to
236 The Photographic Eye
focus more accurately, in the darker
areas of the image. Looking through
the focuser, adjust the focusing controls
of your enlarger until the grain
is nice and crisp.
(Note: If your grain focuser is
equipped with a "target" like the sight
of a gun, the grain will appear to
move up and down, rather than in
and out of focus. To use this type of
focuser, keep your eye on the target
and then adjust the enlarger until the
grain lines up with it.)
• Procedures
/. Insert the negative into the
negative holder, emulsion-side
down.