A question about analog printing.

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Gerry M

Gerry
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Those that do not have a permanent darkroom:
Do you do your printing in batches? I mean selecting your negatives for printing and then print from a number of them. Or, will you set up the darkroom and print from only one or two negs? Since the set up/take down of a temporary darkroom is a bit of a bother, I'm wondering how most handle this.
 
I use an epson v700 scanner to proof negs and create web images. Pull out the tongs for the good stuff, in batches.

- Charlie

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I just started wet printing and am still in shock at how time-consuming it is. Setting up and breaking down is only about 10 minutes each, so that's not the bad part. It's the test prints that eat up a lot of time.

I find two or three negatives is about the limit I can handle per session. By that time, I'm bumping into two hours total, the evening is practically gone, I'm getting tired and beginning to cough (with good ventilation, and breaks outside for evaluating the tests!), and my wife would like the bathroom back. 🙂
 
My situation is just like batterytype's. In a good bathroom darkroom session I can get a usable print using 3 papers; one for test strips, one for work print and the third for the real thing.
 
Hi Gerry,

I recommend you to print your negs always as soon as possible. From my own experience I can tell that when a lot of time is passing between shooting and printing the passion for the shot, for the picture, is diminishing by and by. I´ve many good negs never been printed.....
 
My printing sessions are usually about six hours. The number of negs I print varies with what I want to work on, how many prints of each, and how difficult they are to get right. I get tired after much longer. Spending an hour on each neg is probably about average.

I have a dedicated darkroom.

It's fun to pull out the old stuff occasionally and see if I do it any differently.
 
I do marathon sessions: all day long and into the night. I use LPD developer, as it keeps going like the Energizer bunny, and will last the whole time!
 
It takes me about 30 minutes to set up my guerrilla darkroom, that consists of two Nova three slot processors, an old-school wash tray in a windowless bathroom that adjoins a walk in closet. The enlarger is in the walk in closet on a very solid, homemade cart.

My printing sessions last about two hours a night, unless I'm in the process of making multiple prints from a negative.

I use a light table to preview each roll - but honestly I never know which exposure I will like best until the most promising frames are printed.

As someone else said, it can be very time consuming to fine tune the exposure on some negatives. 2 seconds more or less exposure totally changes the look of the print, as does dodging or burning.
 
I can't manage more than three hours max. I get exhausted after that. If it's FB prints I'll usually get about four max. If it's RC it's a lot easier and can get more done. It can be very time consuming though. I scan my negs into my mac and decide from there what I want to print, and it's rarely more than two or three from a 36 print roll, sometimes less, sometimes none. Ultimately it is rewarding. My finished prints are far superior to scanned negs on the computer, but I must say I do have a rubbish scanner which will be replaced in the new year.
 
straightmp said:
Hi Gerry,

I recommend you to print your negs always as soon as possible. From my own experience I can tell that when a lot of time is passing between shooting and printing the passion for the shot, for the picture, is diminishing by and by. I´ve many good negs never been printed.....
Click to expand...

interesting, do it the other way around, i make contact sheets and wait a few month before i decide.

Yogi
 
Up to three negs per session, mostly two.
I scan all my rolls and pre-selected candidates for prints.
I don't do contact prints because I don't want to spend more time in the darkroom doing things other than the fun part, that is printing.

If your exposure is consistent (even consistently off, but in one direction 🙂 ), you'll soon get a hang of estimating the time for development, I've gotten down to 2 test prints to get a good result. The rest of the time I use for experimenting with different look.

Tip 1: Spend time developing your sense in judging negatives. The more preparation you can do before entering the darkroom will only make things easier when you're inside.

Tip 2: Learn to decide quickly if the negative is indeed workable within a session. If I sense that the negative won't give me a satisfactory result easily, I put it aside to work on it at a different session. This will minimize frustrating time such when you have 7 test prints hanging and none of them is to you liking. All the while I could have postponed that neg and work with the other ones.

Tip 3: This is a mental perspective thing, don't expect to come out with a masterpiece every time. Instead use a less than satisfactory print to come up with a plan for the next session. A good note taking process will help tremendously.

Tip 4: Use RC paper. I consider myself a printer in a modern age, where RC papers have improved and I'm free from the shackles of old cynical views that FB is always better. Anyways, it'll probably be a while before you can tackle an exhibition at the MoMA 😎, so have fun honing your printing skills by creating kick-butt RC prints.
 
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Can't begin to say how pleased I am to have read this.I too am new to printing and the time frame always seemed excessive and the results frequently bordered on depressing(but,not always),this has definitely improved my spirits knowing I'm not alone.
 
What a great thread. Without slagging the hybrid process it presents the foibles and pleasures of a wet darkroom fairly and honestly!
 
Two or three hours, one or two negs. If I get a good exposure and composition I will make three or four prints of one picture. I also have an enlarger on a roll cart. Setting up and dialing in a shot, exposure and dodging takes most of the time. I try and keep some chemicals mixed so setup will take less time. I am also new to it so I waste to much time and paper. But the results are well worth it.
 
When we bought our first house and needed unexpected electrical work and foundation repairs within the first couple of months, my wife quipped that one unit of home improvement equalled $10,000. I'm learning the same holds true for wet printing. Don't get started unless you have at least two hours.
 
Moto-Uno said:
Can't begin to say how pleased I am to have read this.I too am new to printing and the time frame always seemed excessive and the results frequently bordered on depressing(but,not always),this has definitely improved my spirits knowing I'm not alone.
Click to expand...

diagularax said:
What a great thread. Without slagging the hybrid process it presents the foibles and pleasures of a wet darkroom fairly and honestly!
Click to expand...

We darkroom practitioners in this modern time must unite, there ain't that much of us to begin with 🙂

As for hybrid, my take is we should use digital technology whenever and wherever make sense. Darkroom printing is not an exercise in self-imposed suffering, so we need to be creative and invent new ways to make things simpler.
 
mod2001 said:
interesting, do it the other way around, i make contact sheets and wait a few month before i decide.

Yogi
Click to expand...

Yes, interesting! A fast workflow from shot to print is my usual way. But there are quasi timeless shots I can print after years, again and again. Kinda "Best of- prints".

Hybrid or not... Depends on the person. I don´t like hybrid but stick to the darkroom when working with film.
 
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