The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

Procedure for Making an Enlarged Negative
Reversal Processing and Enlarged Negatives 145
Do not use a contact printing frame or cover the fi lm with glass as you will pick up dust
spots which will contact print later as black. There are a number of ways to position the fi lm
in the dark. One is to use a cut-sheet fi lm holder placed in the corner of an easel and pull the
dark slide just before making the exposure. Make certain the holder is sitting level.
Another method is to tape a cardboard corner to the enlarger baseboard. Into this corner,
place a piece of black paper to absorb the light passing through the negative. If there is
a problem with the negative curling (in areas of high humidity) use lithographers tape in the
corners to hold it fl at.
An alternative is to use an enlarging easel and black paper one size larger than the
fi lm size. For example, if you are going to enlarge to 8 � 10 inches use an 11 � 14 inch
easel with an 11 � 14 inch piece of black paper. Close the blades down to 8 � 10 inches to
fi t the fi lm. In the dark you can lay the fi lm in-between the blades and on top of the black
paper.
My favorite method is to use a Ganz Speed Ez-el®. Speed Ez-els come in various sizes
from 2 � 3 inches to 16 � 20 inches and the negative can be easily slid in and out in the
dark. If you use a Speed Ez-el paint the inside fl at black to avoid light bouncing back through
the negative.
A fi nal possibility is to use an 11 � 14 inch magnetic copy board available from some
camera stores and graphic supply houses. Again, use a black piece of paper and position the
magnetic strips so that the fi lm can be positioned in the dark.
When making enlarged negatives make certain there are no refl ections or stray light striking
the fi lm. Also, because all enlargers leak some light, it is a good idea to use black photographers
or gaffers tape to seal off any light leaks after the positive is positioned in the negative
carrier.
Start by composing and focusing the positive image onto a sheet of white paper. Once
composition is achieved remove the white paper and replace it with a scrap piece of fi lm for
fi nal fi ne focus. If you don’t have a piece of scrap fi lm (because you never make mistakes)
you will need to sacrifi ce one sheet, which you can keep to use over again. Any piece of
4 � 5 inch fi lm will do for this purpose as they are all within microns of the same thickness.
Always use a grain focuser for fi ne focus.
Remove the fi lm used for focusing, make certain all the lights are off (unless using ortho
fi lm, in which case a red safelight may be left on), place the unexposed fi lm into position
emulsion side up, and cover one-quarter of the negative with cardboard (don’t use paper as
light will bleed through it). Horizontal or vertical makes no difference as long as the remaining
negative contains enough of the subject to judge the densities later. Make a 3 second
exposure of the remaining three-quarters. In the dark, cover each of the remaining quarters of
the negative and expose in 3 second increments (you may want to set up some kind of raised
guides to butt the cardboard against in the dark). You will now have a blank strip, 3 second
exposure, 6 second exposure, and 9 second exposure.
If you want an enlarged negative with pyro stain use PMK. Otherwise, develop the negative
in any fi lm developer, MQ, PQ, pyro, etc. Use whatever developing procedure you would
normally use.