Large wall projected print from 135 small format

[bence8810]

Hello all,


One morning I woke up (last saturday) and decided I'll give this a try. It is in contrary to any common sense but I just wanted to see how it looks and I have to say I really like it.


I took a 135 small format negative and enlarged it by a factor of 29. The reason for the size was that my roll paper I used had a width of 110cm's and I wanted to use this as the width of the frame.


You'll see some photos below of the process and I try to detail it in between steps.


The end result? A ridiculously grainy and high contrast shot - just the way I wanted it to be.


Camera used: Leica M3 with a Summitar 50 f2 lens
Film used: Kodak Eastman 5222 DoubleX pushed to 400
Enlarger: Lucky 90M-D
Paper: Fuji AM roll paper (matte 110cm X 20m) cut to 80cm's length.
Contrast: Fuji Varigrade filter 5 - below the lens
Chemicals: 500ml of each - Chugai My Developer / Chugai My Fixer


I have a very minimalistic setup at home, it's a room I managed to semi-designate as a darkroom. We live in Tokyo so the size of real estate is rather on the small side of things and therefore this "darkroom" of mine has lots of other stuff in it non-darkroom related.


All the darkroom furniture you see was built by me using wood from a nearby DIY store.


I first got the couch and the enlarger's table out and moved the enlarger over to the workbench that I use for the trays usually. I did this as the wall projected image wasn't big enough with the original setup so I had to move the enlarger back.
As the paper has a width of 110cms, I wanted the image to be 105 wide and this gave me 70cm in height, therefore I ended up cutting my roll paper to 80cms to leave some slack.
As I have no tools for alignment other than a bubble thingy, I ended up measuring the projected image on the wall and making sure that both sides as well as top/bottom match in size. Once done I marked the 4 corners of the projection with pieces of tapes so I'd know where to fasten the paper to. I set the focus by the eye as I just simply dont have long enough arms to reach the enlarger with me using the grain focuser. Luckily it worked well.

This is what the setup looked like before I started with the test prints. You see the little trays by the enlarger - this is what I used to develop the test papers which were 5x7. I placed these 5x7's to various areas of the print to determine base exposure time and then dodging / burning.

This is what the room looked like with just the Red light on and the projection on the wall.
If you look closely around the image you'll see 4 strips of black tape which was my easel once the paper was on the wall. I also by now had the 4 little tape pieces marking the corners of the image which you see as they eat into the projected image around the corners.

This image is right after I took the exposed paper off the wall. You see the "easel" pieces on the wall - was quite hard to manage all this in the dark and the tape if I pulled it fast had sparks coming out of it which I thought might cause some fogging. Nothing noticeable thank god!
The paper at this stage was rolled up and placed into the black bag you see on the floor. The bag is actually 5 pieces of 90 liter trash bags stacked into one another.

Then came the development. As I have no such large trays I did this all in my bathroom. I am quite lucky as in Japan the bathrooms are made entirely out of plastic and are really well sealed so water even if splashed will remain in the bathing area. Hard to explain - it's common here as people shower outside of the tub and only go in once clean. Works really well for me!
I brought the safelight, paper, chemicals and two sponges. Changed into swim trunks and got to it.
I first poured the 500ml developer over the photo in two stages and massaged the liquid around with the two sponges making sure I don't step on the photo. This might sounds easy but was rather difficult - the 110cm is a heck of a lot bigger than I had imagined, makes reaching the end of it without stepping on the photo very hard.
The developer was diluted so it worked slow and I could see the irregularities clearly and correct them as they occurred. I developed it for about 4-5 minutes and when done I showered the print clean which was also the stop. Then I poured the fixer over the print - also in two stages - and did the same as what I did for developing except for a lot longer. I was fixing for around 10 minutes in total just to make sure it's done right. The 500ml liquid is not a lot so I made sure it reached everywhere. The corners were of course neglected as there was a curl in the paper and it was impossible to keep the liquid there. I knew this and hence left quite a bit of slack on the sides which I can later cut when mounting properly.

Once the lights went on I put the print over the bath tub's cover and washed it with the shower for 10-15 minutes until it was clean. As it was RC it was easy, I think I could never do fiber this size without actual trays and a proper facility for washing.

The paper then was hung from these clips for a good 2 hours until almost dry.

This is what it looked like when I mounted it temporarily into the darkroom. I really like this photo - my son at a traditional Japanese inn with a sword - hope the image will last long enough for him to be proud of it.

The darkroom put back together with the enlarger relocated to where it belongs and the sofa (which should not be here) moved back. All cleaned and returned - the whole process from beginning to end took 2 hours.

You see the ridiculous amount of grain here - but the image viewed from a meter or so does actually look rather good!

Here you see a corner where the fixing didn't really work. Again - I knew this will happen and therefore I left some slack to be cut off. I thought it'll be a smaller stain but still I think I'll manage to crop it so it won't show.

Please let me know what you think about this process and if you have done anything similar - please do share.
It was my 3rd large print in my life, the first two being Medium Format 6x6 shots enlarged to 90x90cm paper.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Jesper]

Thanks for an interesting description of the process. Your process is very close to mine when it comes to large prints but I have the fortune of having two fairly large rooms for my darkroom so I can scrub the print on the floor of the wet room. Measuring the image, as you did, is a good way of getting the negative parallel to the paper.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Ben, a job well done. The light happening from when you remove the tape a bit quick, has never been an issue with any papers, B&W, colour negative or colour positive (from colour slides). In the past I have used tape to hold paper on walls a fair bit, used to pull the tape off quite quickly to light up the darkroom.

One possible focusing tip, if you have some low powered binoculars, especially Opera glasses, which are around 2 X magnification, you should be able to see the grain snapping in and out of focus as you stand alongside your enlarger and moving the focusing mechanism. Done this a fair bit too, really speeds things up and you can usually see the difference when you start to enlarge by this magnification factor with your enlarger just how much of out of critical focus you can be, if your negative is not in a glass carrier when using binoculars.

If you decide in the future to do a fair amount of enlarging this way, perhaps having a metal sheet hanging like a picture, but taped lightly to the wall to keep it vertical and still, could be useful. With a vertical metal sheet, you can use magnets to hold the corners of the paper, maybe having three along the top and one in each bottom corner.

In an industrial enlarging environment I once worked in, we had whole metal walls for wall projection. We always used magnets to hold the paper, and black tape to mark the edge and corner placement of the paper. We were mostly using colour paper and had to place the paper on the wall in total darkness, B&W was easy as we had safelights on.

Large prints like this can be quite the eye puller, especially if like this one they are simple but graphic.

Mick.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Very interesting - thanks for posting. I tried something similar many years ago but for my large print I re-mounted my enlarger at the edge of the bench and projected on to the lino floor. I didn't have any large sheets of paper, so Blue Tacked several sheets together on the floor. I developed, stopped and fixed in situ using sponges. (Though I could have developed the sheets separately, I opted not to in case differences in the processing of individual sheets were a problem). I was pleased with the result, but I have to say it was nowhere near as good as yours! I think you're being overly critical about the grain - for such an enlargement from a 35mm neg I'd say it's pretty good. I wouldn't even say that the corner issues are a problem. They're part of the process and I'm sure your son will appreciate the print in years to come for both the final result and the trouble you took to produce it.
Best wishes,
Steve

 

[Bill Burk]

bence8810,

Bravo! Many people are afraid to try large prints and you have shown a way anybody can do it!

Well done and beautiful print!

 

[gone]

Excellent work, and a clear, concise tutorial. I've been hanging the enlarger over the edge of it's table and using the floor for large prints, which is quite a bit easier than using the wall I'd venture to say. Not sure you have enough ceiling height in your place though. The suggestion to use metal and magnets to hold the paper should make the whole process much faster and easier. I once sent a small drawing to a lab to be enlarged and they used thin, flat magnets about the width of a ruler to hold the paper down. It worked well for a border around the image too. Not sure how they did this accurately in the dark, which is always the tricky part, but they probably had some sort of adjustable jig set up for work jobs.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Your darkroom reminds me of mine I had in Japan! I also wall projected occasionally, but only 4x5 negs. Your results look good!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Usually the only problems with making very large enlargements with small format film are the limits of the optics used. Digi-snappers have many more problems doing that, so they need not apply.

 

[wildbill]

Thanks, now I need a sofa in my darkroom!

 

[bsenst]

Hi bence8810,

very nice and interesting article. Now, I need a dark room as well .
As far as I can see, the print and the photo looks really nice.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hi bence8810,

very nice and interesting article. Now, I need a dark room as well .
As far as I can see, the print and the photo looks really nice.

Welcome to APUG

 

[bence8810]

Thanks, now I need a sofa in my darkroom!

The sofa is yours - just need to come and get it.

I used to have a small more mobile setup that I used in the bathroom and it was a bit of a pain every time I wanted to do some printing.
I then had an agreement with the lady of the house that I could set the enlarger up in the spare room we had provided that I don't mind storing some stuff which doesn't fit anywhere. This is the story of the sofa there...

Thanks for all the other great and encouraging comments gents. It was a fantastic adventure, seeing a photo develop in a tray is already an experience on its own but to see something develop literally under the palm of your hands - something this large - is a whole other thing.

The wall mounted metal sheet is a great idea and I did think about it. Unfortunately we are still renting and since the wall is only drywall, I'd have to do some major construction to get a metal sheet hanging off of it which I am sure won't be appreciated by the landlord.

Projecting to the floor is of course another possibility but to me the wall thing worked just good. The print is so large and the room is so small that it'd be almost impossible to walk around the print while taping it down etc.

I am not planning on doing too many of these type of prints otherwise, mainly as I have no way to display them and having them rolled in a tube just doesn't feel right. I have given one to my family before and one I've done for a friend's wedding which they now have in their living room.

The size really makes an image this big an eye puller as it was mentioned above in the comments. I spend quite a lot of time in front of it staring

Ben

 

[bence8810]

And an addition to the original post - the issues I faced:

- The red filter under the lens moves quite freely which isn't a problem with the enlarger when it sits on a table and the gravity is pulling it normally down and this keeps it from moving around unless I swing it out of the way on purpose. With the enlarger's head horizontal, the red filter is pulled by gravity away from the lens. This is ok for most of the time but when I have the paper taped to the wall (be it the big sheet or the test strips) I need to double and triple check things which must happen with the red filter blocking the light. I ended up taping it or just inserting something plastic as a wedge to keep it in front of the lens.

- Similar to above - the horizontal head position makes keeping contrast filters in place difficult. All my filters are under-the-lens type so they tend to want to fall out.

- The negative itself was hard to align as when I insert it into the head and release it, the negative holder will "drop" a little due to gravity I suppose and this moves the negative itself. I have a filed out negative carrier as I like the black borders and therefore it's pretty important for me to keep an even spacing around the negative.


All of the above could be solved by just having the floor projection of course so I might need to revisit that idea.

Ben

 

[ericdan]

pretty impressive!

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Love the story. Love the images of the process. Love the image. I am inspired to do this now. Thanks Bence8810!!

 

[bence8810]

Thank you guys!

If my post can serve as a motivating factor in someone's journey into printing large, it was already worth the effort doing on my end and documenting it.

Ben

 

[MartinP]

Wonderful result! It just shows what can happen by ignoring the 'sensible' way of tray processing

If you wet the print again then you can still attack the corners with fresh fixer, followed by re-washing and so on. That might at least stabilise the 'hand-made' marks and maybe clear them completely, depending on if the silver halide has turned itself into a lumen-print or not.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

worked great and I admire your dedication.You've got the 99% drudgery down alright.