Jack Hold Still !

Hey Greg, I am impressed with your first attempt. I would say you are ahead of the game already with a mx 45 enlarger. Try not to stress out, we all started somewhere. I would recomend a digital timer, they are very reasonable on the bay. You are in the right place to learn photography, there are some VERY talented photographers here who are more than happy to help out. Sooooo keep printing!!
.............frank

Thanks Frank!

It won't win any rewards,but I wanted my first picture of my Son, Jack.
I got lucky with the MX45. A fine gentleman was selling me his whole darkroom
for $30 usd. I gave him double. The deal did not include a timer, so I have been
shopping on eBay. I intend to use this site to help and critique to learn.
Making mistakes are the second best way to learn, the first having a mentor.
I am thinking that with darker images... when exposing the paper , I am guessing that
I need a quicker exposure time or would I need to use filters?
I guess my question is..taking a photo of a manhole cover on a black road the exposure time
for the enlarger at one second renders a photo on the paper renders a dark image. The longer the
exposure, the darker the image. If this is a correct statement then decreasing the exposure
time to 1/2 second should give a lighter image. What type of filter would give me a photo with more contrast?
Thanks for any help.
I think I'm hooked. It was very exciting seeing my Son's image
appear on the paper immersed in the developer.

Greg

haha..welcome to the world of film photography...your in for a real treat!!...I used to have a darkroom in my bedroom when I started and used to breath in all those wonderful fumes, my method to develop prints was to give them lots of light under the enlarger then quickly stick them in and out of the developer before they got to DARK!! I was a great technician!

Greg continue to photograph your family they will be some of the most important photographs you will ever take.

hmm lets see if I can answer some questions

contrast can be adjusted many ways in the darkroom, by the type of photo paper you use(graded paper) or by using filters on your enlarger that change the contrast of multigrade paper, you can also adjust the contrast of a print by varying the developer you use. Film contrast can be adjusted by varying the agitation and development, developer also.

The longer the exposure the darker the image yes but if you get into to much overexposure your going to end up with highlights(white areas of the print) that are blown away and solid white. If you underexpose a neg your going to end up with shadows that lack detail.

It is better to overexpose a bit and have something on the negative than to underexpose and have nothing.

the image appearing in the developer is one of the great HOOKS of photography. Once you fall in love with that you cannot get loose from the drive to make photographs!