Improving visibility for dodging and burning

[OKK]

Hi all, l lost my left eye’s vision due to COVID booster vaccination and having difficulty to locate burning and dodging point while doing black and white printing using enlarger in the darkroom. Is there any device to help enhance visibility for dodging and burning? Any suggestion is appreciated.

 

[MattKing]

Thread moved and thread title enhanced.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hi all, l lost my left eye’s vision due to COVID booster vaccination and having difficulty to locate burning and dodging point while doing black and white printing using enlarger in the darkroom. Is there any device to help enhance visibility for dodging and burning? Any suggestion is appreciated.

Welcome to Photrio!

Let me think about your problem for a while to hopefully come up with some ideas.

 

[mshchem]

Printing with graded paper and white (tungsten light) may be easier to see the image? Slower paper would allow for brighter light and longer exposure.

 

[OKK]

Welcome to Photrio!

Let me think about your problem for a while to hopefully come up with some ideas.

Thanks and waiting for good ideas might help me.

 

[OKK]

Printing with graded paper and white (tungsten light) may be easier to see the image? Slower paper would allow for brighter light and longer exposure.

Printing with graded paper and white (tungsten light) may be easier to see the image? Slower paper would allow for brighter light and longer exposure.

Thanks and any particular brand paper would you recommend?

 

[MattKing]

Does your darkroom safelight turn off while you are exposing the paper? If not, try to make that happen, because that can really improve how easy it is to see the image at easel level.
Also, what sort of light source are you using? If it supplies mainly blue and green light, that can be a lot harder to see than a source that includes more red.

 

[mshchem]

Thanks and any particular brand paper would you recommend?

The only graded papers available to me are Foma.

 

[mshchem]

Very good point about safelights

 

[Hilo]

Yes, Matt's suggestion is what I was thinking when I read your post.

I only do b/w and use a simple digital timer that not only turns on the enlarger, but also turns off the many safelights in my darkroom. This makes it easier to set up the negatives and makes the projected image much more visible during printing.

I have one safelight on during exposure. This light is far away from the enlargers and is there to make it possible to find something on the enlargers' table during printing.

Having a timer that automatically switches off the safelight(s) when you expose (or turn on the enlarger to set it up) helps.

 

[OKK]

Does your darkroom safelight turn off while you are exposing the paper? If not, try to make that happen, because that can really improve how easy it is to see the image at easel level.
Also, what sort of light source are you using? If it supplies mainly blue and green light, that can be a lot harder to see than a source that includes more red.

Yes, I do turn off safelights while exposing and am using LPL 7452 enlarger with quarts 250w halogen lamp.

 

[DanyB]

This is real dodgind and burning. It is a very fascinating process. Congratulations!

 

[grain elevator]

Would night vision goggles help?

 

[koraks]

Would night vision goggles help?

I doubt it. In fact, it'll make it much more difficult to view the projected image since it'll be flooded by the IR image.

I do turn off safelights while exposing

OK, that's about the best you can do, I'm afraid.
The only other thing that comes to mind is open up the aperture and use shorter exposure times, but this of course also drastically reduces the time you have to do any manipulations. Having said that, I frequently print with times between 4 and 10 seconds, and then do additional burning (rarely any dodging though). It works, but you have to be fairly swift.

I'm sorry to hear about your eyesight; I hope there's still a chance of recovery.

 

[OKK]

I doubt it. In fact, it'll make it much more difficult to view the projected image since it'll be flooded by the IR image.



OK, that's about the best you can do, I'm afraid.
The only other thing that comes to mind is open up the aperture and use shorter exposure times, but this of course also drastically reduces the time you have to do any manipulations. Having said that, I frequently print with times between 4 and 10 seconds, and then do additional burning (rarely any dodging though). It works, but you have to be fairly swift.

I'm sorry to hear about your eyesight; I hope there's still a chance of recovery.

Thanks for your kind tips and I’ll try all the options available to perform dodging and burning task.

 

[bernard_L]

What I do is position my hand or dodging mask with red filter engaged and then expose by flipping (gently) the filtrer. Also my doging masks are black under and white above.

 

[koraks]

What I do is position my hand or dodging mask with red filter engaged and then expose by flipping (gently) the filtrer.

Yes, that works. I personally use a foot pedal and have come to regard it as essential - or at least enormously convenient.

 

[grain elevator]

I doubt it. In fact, it'll make it much more difficult to view the projected image since it'll be flooded by the IR image.

Right, with actual IR night vision. But there's also goggles that amplify light in the visual spectrum I believe?

 

[koraks]

But there's also goggles that amplify light in the visual spectrum I believe?

Ah, yes, sorry, I hadn't thought of that. And something like that may indeed be very useful here!

 

[OKK]

I tried a IR night vision goggles but it won’t help same as kokrak’s comment.

 

[OKK]

Yes, that works. I personally use a foot pedal and have come to regard it as essential - or at least enormously convenient.

I also use foot pedal too, but my main problem is to locate the point on the image need to dodging while exposing.

 

[Bill Burk]

Ilford Galerie allows me 30 to 60 second exposure time which is very comfortable for burning and dodging. I find myself using an ND 0.6 filter much of the time.

I use infrared viewer for other purposes,. It amplifies light and you can turn off the illumniator.

I had considered it for dodge and burn but it's awful inconvenient,

A light red filter would probably be the best, because it will greatly extend the print time while modestly reducing visibility

 

[koraks]

I also use foot pedal too, but my main problem is to locate the point on the image need to dodging while exposing.

Yes, I understand. Most of the burning I do (I don't dodge much), I do with one or two pieces of card. I simply hold a card under the lens, close to it, hit the pedal and then move the card in position. As soon as the light comes on, I can see where I need to go on the image that's projected onto the card. With hands, it doesn't work quite as well and I need to keep an eye on the baseboard image insofar as it's visible, and try to guesstimate where I need to be before the exposure starts. In practice, this works well enough - but I do have pretty good eyesight in dim conditions.

 

[cowanw]

At least for your burns you could take a work print and cut out the burn area. It would be easier, I imagine, to hold an 8x10 mask over an 8x10 enlargement, for example. I lost my left eye to Steroid medication, so I really understand your complication. Re Koraks point about seeing on the card, it should be a white card, not black, and if using a Work print the comprehension of place within the print is enhanced.

 

[cowanw]

For dodging I find lengthening the exposure allows me to spend more time wallowing around with the dodge tool, side to side and up and down, to find the right spot without too much damage.