Keeping track of printing notes

lauffray · Jun 15, 2016

Hey everyone

I was wondering what everyone else does to organize and keep track of printing notes. I currently have notes on my computer mapping each negative I've already printed to the notes I've taken during printing. That was ok for a while but the notes are growing very fast and finding things is getting slower.

Alan9940 · Jun 15, 2016

I'm old school with this stuff! I have a pad where each sheet reveals all the global details regarding the print--paper choice, developer, toning, general exposure, f/stop, print size, etc, then small rectangular boxes in two columns down the remainder of the page where I make dodging/burning notes using my own icons. Each sheet contains the negative number which makes it easy to find one based on the other. My negatives are kept in film storage boxes and these printing note sheets are kept in a standard binder.

jimjm · Jun 15, 2016

I use the same type of process as Alan mentioned. Kind of an "instruction sheet" with all the technical information needed to obtain the final print, plus burning and dodging mapped out. I also attach a 5x7 copy of the straight print (with crop marks, if any) so I can find the image I'm looking for quickly while I'm flipping thru the binder.

Konical · Jun 15, 2016

Good Afternoon,

Written with a Sharpie on the back of the contact sheet.

Konical

MattKing · Jun 15, 2016

If you have a photocopier, one can photocopy a print, then annotate it on its face, then store the result with the negative.

RalphLambrecht · Jun 15, 2016

lauffray said:
Hey everyone

I was wondering what everyone else does to organize and keep track of printing notes. I currently have notes on my computer mapping each negative I've already printed to the notes I've taken during printing. That was ok for a while but the notes are growing very fast and finding things is getting slower.

I store a detailed printing map with every negative in the negative binder behind the contact sheet;a pain but less of a pain than doing it all over again.

removed account4 · Jun 15, 2016

i don't use notes
i make a print and that's it.
i don't plan on making 3 or 5 or 50 prints
of the same image ... i also have a printer
that prints my work and i can't mention the
negative used but its a hoot, and the same ever time !

Kilgallb · Jun 15, 2016

I label prints with the negative number and date of printing. In my print record binder I record f-stop, paper type, developer and enlarger distance to the easel. I record timings with the 00 filter and 05 filter and dodging and burning info. When the straight print is dry I draw the dodging and burning regions with a grease pencil and attach the print to the paper notes.

eddie · Jun 15, 2016

I make notes/sketches on legal pads. I find I rarely refer to them, even if reprinting something. If revisiting a negative means reinterpreting it differently, that's fine with me.

Vaughn · Jun 16, 2016

I am with jnanian when I was printing silver gelatin, but with a slightly different outlook. I would reprint an image, but prefered to start from scratch with it, rather than follow a plan. Perhaps find something new in a negative. Otherwise, always too many new negatives to work with!

When learning carbon printing and platinum print I kept good notes on every exposure (although there is little or no dodging or burning going on). That way when something worked, I had a chance of repeating the experience. And notes gives me a ballpark starting point in a very multi-variable process.

David Lyga · Jun 16, 2016

I never thought of using a computer to annotate, but maybe that is a doable option. Why don't you open a dedicated Word or even Excel file, titled 'photo printing notes' and number each negative (date picture taken is an option) with the detailed data?

This does not have to be saved to your hard drive, but, instead, save it to a flash drive. On the top of the file page, type today's date, and update date each time you add something new. As a final safety factor, save each change to your email as an attachment. That way, this data is secured and available to you anywhere in the world. (This is what I do with my passport and other important data.) - David Lyga

Paul Howell · Jun 16, 2016

I number my negative pages, keep an index with a short description of place, date, camera, film, developer. I then keep notes on the back of my work prints, on the front notes of areas to be burned dodged bleached, work prints 8X10 or 11X14 go in a empty paper box with an index written on the box, subject matter, dates. I don't file chronological, I file by topic such as Zoo, travel Iceland. As live just a mile or two form the Phoenix Zoo so I tend to shoot there quite often as I am testing cameras, lens, or just bored so I have 3 or 4 boxes, other boxes might hold a couple of different subjects. I have prints that go back 50 years, so my notes are not very helpful, the paper is no longer made, developers and films have changed, I usually start from the beginning.

Hatchetman · Jun 16, 2016

notes? that sounds too much like work. If I am going to print multiple copies of something and get interrupted I'll pencil in some notes on the back of one of the prints.

Steve Smith · Jun 16, 2016

I used to write it all down. I stopped when I realised I never used any of it.

Steve.

chris77 · Jun 16, 2016

Steve Smith said:
I used to write it all down. I stopped when I realised I never used any of it.

Steve.

+1

adelorenzo · Jun 16, 2016

Steve Smith said:
I used to write it all down. I stopped when I realised I never used any of it.

Same here. I have a bunch of printing notes in a book that I never used again. This is partly because I have only been making prints for about four years (still learning) and there's a good chance if I reprint an image I can do a better job the next time around.

MattKing · Jun 16, 2016

One of the benefits of writing the notes is that the process of recording the information tends to improve our ability to organize our thoughts and recall our observations at some time in the future.

So when you either go to reprint a negative, or go to print something that involves similar challenges, you will be more likely to recall your previous successes - even if you don't locate the notes themselves.

I'm not sure that you get exactly the same benefit from typing those notes into a computer, but the computer is great for cataloging your negatives.

lauffray · Jun 16, 2016

Thanks guys. Though I must say I'm a bit surprised at those who don't keep notes at all. My system isn't as much a recipe as it is a suggested starting point, at least for basic exposure so that I don't have to redo the test strips again. Maybe it's because I split grade print everything ? I could see how that would be useless for someone who straight prints.

jerrybro · Jun 16, 2016

I recorded everything for every print in a notebook, until I lost it somewhere.

bvy · Jun 16, 2016

Excel.

Kilgallb · Jun 21, 2016

I find writing down exposire at every step disciplines my thoughts and makes sure I change one parameter at a time and arrive at the better print sooner. It is rare for me to refer back to the notes other than identifying the negative used in sprint.

Patrick Robert James · Jun 21, 2016

Here is my method, start to finish-

Every roll of film/frame gets a number, so one today might be 2016-104-34. That means it was shot in 2016, it was the 104th roll of film in that year, and the neg number is 34. I sc@n all negatives and sort them in Lightroom to stay organized. If I want to print some images I have a laser printer for "contact" sheets with the neg number underneath. I keep track of printing with a binder in the darkroom. When I print something I cut the little image out of the contact sheet and paste it into the binder. I also write down any pertinent info, like enlarger, lens, paper, developer, dodging and burning times, etc. The binder pages are numbered and the page number is written over the negative on the negative sheet with a china marker so the next time I print the neg the page number is right there. This all works flawlessly and it will take you longer to read than it does to find a neg and get it in the enlarger.

I started using this method after too many evenings wasting so much time searching for negatives that I never made it into the darkroom. I had over a decade of negatives when I first decided to go this route. It took a long time to get them all sorted, but it was worth it. Now that it is set up, it is easy to maintain the process.

Hope that helps you.

MartinP · Jun 22, 2016

If the print is of somewhere that I often visit (implying many similar negs, spread over time and format) then I'll write down the neg reference on the back of the print, and maybe a comment on the back of the contact-sheet. That's all - no need for printing notes for normal printing.

The people using word-processors or spreadsheets for storing work details seem a little unwise. There is no simple way to search or store those files and they are limited in what you can record. I strongly recommend using a database (note that M/S Access is not a database, just a re-purposed spreadsheet engine) which can grow to almost any required size, can use picture fields as well as text or numeric data, is easy to back-up and restore (automatically or manually), is open-source and which has a format that is very time-proof (will not be abandoned when a company goes broke or changes product-line).

Either MySQL or Postgresql will fulfil the requirements in their 'open' versions, and perhaps other databases too but these are the best known ones. You can add data, or run your queries on the database, from all sorts of graphical front-ends which are safely separate from the actual data - as well as with the databases own tools. My apologies for the rant, but I build SQL-Server and Oracle enterprise systems as a day-job and the amount of ridiculous 'great idea by Fred in Sales' lash-ups we replace is appalling.

Edit: Additionally, note that 100% of hard disks will fail. It is just a matter of when. Backup frequently, and also practice making restores.

mr rusty · Jun 23, 2016

I don't make any notes. Best I have is a scribble on the neg sleeve with location/date. Can't see the point. If I do revisit a neg a second time, which isn't very often (almost never) I just treat is a new neg and start from scratch. I have enough trouble selecting a few negs to print from the latest film, let alone going backwards looking for old stuff to print.

jvo · Jun 23, 2016

I make brief notes on the computer and give the picture a title or name. i putdown time, f stop, paper, filter... date, neg #, roll number... if i want to reprint an easy search finds it and i have a starting point for the next print. bob's your uncle.

Keeping track of printing notes

lauffray

Alan9940

jimjm

Konical

MattKing

Moderator

RalphLambrecht

removed account4

Kilgallb

eddie

Vaughn

David Lyga

Paul Howell

Hatchetman

Steve Smith

chris77

adelorenzo

MattKing

Moderator

lauffray

jerrybro

bvy

Kilgallb

Patrick Robert James

MartinP

mr rusty

jvo

Keeping track of printing notes

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