Typical number of trial prints

Horatio

Horatio

Masked photographer
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For those of you members who wet print regularly, what would you say is your average number of trial or test prints before you are satisfied with a 'final' print?
 
I've never had a personal darkroom and only took several community college level darkroom classes decades ago, but I seem to remember us doing test strip prints similar to this:

1178719418_0.jpg


Is this still a standard practice and can a final print be determined from said test strip?
 
raydm6 said:
I've never had a personal darkroom and only took several community college level darkroom classes decades ago, but I seem to remember us doing test strip prints similar to this:

Is this still a standard practice and can a final print be determined from said test strip?
Click to expand...
Sure is, at least for those of us who don't use fancy meters in the darkroom. But for a final print, it's often not enough. Most of us require at least one test print of the full image, because test strips don't tell the whole story. Other parts of the image might require dodging and burning, or even change your idea of the best base exposure and contrast.
I usually need anywhere between 1 and 5 test prints until I stop, mode probably being 2, but I don't always think of the last print as "final"...
The funny thing is, I often can't distinguish the final and a good test print after I've forgotten what exactly I tried to improve... I focus a lot on some detail while I'm at it, which in the end sometimes turns out to be irrelevant. Sometimes I come to like a test print better. Or discover something I want to do different and tell myself to revisit the negative.
 
Usually, for a good negative, 0-1 (I don't count the test strip).

Back when I wasn't nearly as good, 5-10.
 
Two sheets most of the time. The most I’ve done is 5 in recent memory,

I do a split grade test grid (x for grade 0, increments of 2s, y for grade 5, increments of 4s) and then eyeball the desired exposures based off of that.

Then I expose a full sheet which gets me about 80% there. The second sheet would be for some dodging/burning at each of the grades if the photograph needs it.
 
Depends on the negative. A low contrast scene with even density prints easy. What do you want from the print? Experimenting with contrast can use up a few sheets...


A high contrast scene where you want a large amount bright white and a large amount of black can be very tricky.


Often a print looks good at the time but the next day it might not be as good as you remembered!
 
And if I remember correctly, wait for the print to dry for final determination?
 
ChrisPlatt said:
Sounds about right.

If I don't get it in 3-4 I usually give up - for now.
I may look for a better negative, or try again in my next printing session.

Chris
Click to expand...

Same for me. Have to stop and think about it.

For some reason, I don't like to spend more than one hour for wet printing.
Getting excocted after it :) .
 
When I'm just getting back to printing from a long hiatus, as I am now, two tests before the final. If, as I hope, my skills return, one at most. That's not a fair statement, however, since I use the Splitgrade system for the first print.
 
Generally three after an exposure test. 1 baseline print with no dodging or burning, #2 has some dodging and burning and then #3 with a change in the dodging and burning. I generally discard #1 right away and then, as someone else has said, often can’t tell the difference between #2 and #3, so I keep both. Occasionally I need four or five iterations of the print, rarely more due to boredom and fatigue.
 
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