The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

144 THE DARKROOM COOKBOOK
ENLARGED NEGATIVES
Don’t have an Enlarger?
No problem. Pick up a drop cord light from the hardware store, the kind mechanics
and builders use when they have to work in tight spaces. Suspend it from a swag hook
(the kind used for potted plants) from the ceiling at about 4 feet above your work surface
(in the 1970s I would do this to make contact prints from 8 � 10 inch negatives).
If possible plug the light into a timer. Start with a 15-watt tungsten bulb and using the
same method as described above, turn the light on to expose a series of negatives for
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds, and 6 seconds. If this turns out to be too
much or too little light, switch to a lower or higher wattage bulb or cover the bulb with
layers of tissue paper, a trick Edward Weston used to control his printing light.
Of course, you will still need an enlarger to make the enlarged negative, but at least
you can get this part done before going to a lab or borrowing a friend’s darkroom.
Don’t have a proofi ng frame?
No problem. Use a piece of glass with beveled edges and tape one of the long edges
to a piece of smooth-fi nish plywood to create a hinge.
Now that you have your original positive or your interpositive you are ready to make an
enlarged negative. Using an enlarger the original positive or interpositive can be projected
onto any size or type of negative material, including ortho fi lm. Kodak T-Max 100 is widely
used for enlarged negatives as it has high resolution and good reciprocity characteristics.
Because it has an ISO of 100 you may wish to use a neutral density fi lter under the lens to
increase the exposure time from a fraction of a second at f/16 to one or more full seconds.
● Try to keep your f-stop between f/11 and f/16 for sharpness, with an enlarging time of 1.5 to
6 seconds to avoid reciprocity.
● Times less than 1.5 seconds (for example, 1 second, 0.5 second, 0.25 second) may lead to inconsistent
results because of variables in lamp warm-up. Use neutral density (ND) fi lters to adjust the
EI as necessary and allow for longer exposure times.
● Make three negatives, with a one-stop increment difference between each, for example, 1.5 seconds,
3 seconds, and 6 seconds. 1
1 At the time of this writing a single sheet of 8 � 10 inch T-Max 100 costs $4.00, which means each
enlarged negative will cost $12.00 if you make three. However, consider how much your time is worth if
you have to set up and do another negative.