Do you make same picture on both sides of the film holder?

bobwysiwyg · Oct 5, 2009

Vaughn said:
I will also add that my printing process can be rough on negatives, ..

Just curious, how so?

outwest · Oct 5, 2009

When I was shooting chromes I would sometimes shoot a second sheet at 1/2 stop under. If the first sheet turned out to be over, I had the second sheet processed normally. If the first sheet turned out to be under, I had the second sheet pushed one stop. Sort of a 3 shot bracket using only 2 sheets.

Mike1234 · Oct 5, 2009

Just my opinion but when you're using a very deeply tinted filter with B&W... say a Wratten #29 or #64... you'd better bracket and you'd better take extra shots to pinpoint development procedures. If you don't use filters then you can easily pinpoint the exposure but, other than the price of film, there is no harm in taking an extra shot because... stuff happens such as leaky film holders, finger prints, darkroom errors, etc. This also holds true with color negs with commercial processing because... stuff happens. Yes, I'm repeating myself.

BradS · Oct 5, 2009

I have, but only on rare instances.

I have tons of film holders and film is cheap but, I am almost never able to carry enough loaded film holders to be able to waste half of my film. On a big day, I might make twenty exposures....so it would mean carrying forty loaded film holders versus twenty! and, though I have (more than) forty film holders, I would never dream of carrying that many at once. Usually, twelve is plenty for a full days worth of shooting 4x5.

The simple fact is, nothing I do photographically is really that important. If I loose one or two here and there to exposure blunders or processing errors it just doesn't matter. I'll still be drawing oxygen and emitting carbon dioxide...

mikebarger · Oct 5, 2009

The farther I am from home, the more likely.

Mike

Vaughn · Oct 5, 2009

bobwysiwyg said:
Just curious, how so?

Carbon printing -- if I mis-judge the moisture content of the carbon tissue (the neg is contact-printed against carbon tissue), or if there is too much heat build up under the merc vapor lamps, the neg sticks to the tissue and causes local ferriotyping (sp?) -- which reads as extra density when printing.

I haven't lost a neg in a long time...but there was the time when the tissue and 11x14 neg stuck together like glue (I foolishly did not put a fan on to blow cool air over the glass of the contact printing frame). This was for a class demo. And as I stood in front of the class trying to pull the two apart, the 11x14 neg tore in half. I did not know they could do that! Very dramatic! Fortunately, I had used the lesser of the two almost identical negs for the demo!

Vaughn

PS...I now know of other ways to protect the neg, such as using a very thin sheet of clear mylar between the neg and tissue.

removed account4 · Oct 5, 2009

when i said most of the time,
i was referring to work related image making
i usually have to submit 2 negatives and 3 contact prints ..
and have learned through experience it is good to have 1 extra
... using single step duplicating film is OK ( kodak stopped selling it,
and i have a feeling photowarehouse doesn't sell it anymore )
and contact printing a negative, and then
making a contact print of that positive is a PITA ... nothing is as good as the real thing,
it is just like making prints, i always make 1 or 2 extra because sometimes
"stuff happens" ...

from time to time with "personal work" i will make a second exposure as well ...
but it probably doens't record the same thing ...

for the folks who don't make back up exposures -
do you back up your computer, or just hope your hard drive doesn't fail ?

Adrian Twiss · Oct 5, 2009

Given that I am still very new to large format I do take a back up. I also ensure that I don't process both films at the same time. I also process the second film based on the outcome of the first.

ic-racer · Oct 5, 2009

jaimeb82 said:
When you take a picture in a 4x5 system. Do you always flip the card holder and take the same picture as a back up?

If I am testing something, I might make multiple images. In the usual case of shooting with the intent on printing I don't.

Do you then develop first one sheet and base on the results develop the other one base on first results?

Not unless I am testing something. Otherwise, the usual case is that development time would already have been determined. Since I print multigrade, the final density/tonality matching of the image reproduction cycle is done during printing.

Is this a common practice one should get into?

Can't answer that.

coriana6jp · Oct 5, 2009

Generally, I don't shoot more than one. However, there are two cases when I do.....visiting places I probably won't be able to return to again. The other is doing night shots, I shot a lot at night and find taking an extra exposure usually two stops more is a way to make sure I get a usable image. At night, meters don't work well, so the extra shot is insurance.

Gary

Do you make same picture on both sides of the film holder?

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