Preferred general print size

[Mark_S]

Almost every negative that I like and end up printing, I print, and them mount on an 11x14 board. I have 11x14 archival storage boxes, and the walls in my house and office have several 11x14 frames. I rotate prints through the frames. This means that most of these prints end up being on 8x10 paper, sometimes 11x14 paper, and cut down to a smaller size. Most of my negatives are 6x6 or 4x5 and I do not have any compulsion to print at the same aspect ratio as my negative - I almost always crop.

Some negatives I print larger - and in those cases, it depends on the image. Some work better at 11x14. some on 16x20 paper, and sometimes 20x24. On those images, the exact image size, and the size of the mat that it is mounted on are determined by what I feel works best with that particular image.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

I prefer 5x7's for rectangular, 11x14's for special images. For my 6x6 images I like to print full-frame on 8x10 paper with a reasonable border on the sides.
Something about a smaller photograph, it's more intimate. Also it's less expensive. And having a 5x7 large format camera helps, too.

 

[ROL]

What size do you prefer to print for general printing? and this will of course depend on the format size you are printing, but for 35mm negs, I quite like the old full plate size of 8.5” X 6.5”.

What the heck is general printing? I don't shoot any military portraits.

The other sentence seems to imply aspect ratio, not size specifically. I use to prefer 4:5, but my tastes over the last few years have drifted more towards 3:5, depending on subject matter, for reasons discussed here. The beauty of working with the projected image under the enlarger is that one can make those artistic and aesthetic decisions with any suitable film format, if not purposefully at the time of exposure.

If size is the issue, I find working with 16x20 sheets, utilizing its longest dimension in any suitable aspect ratio in 120 or LF, to be most pleasurable. Then again, it mostly depends on subject and composition. Some subjects are better treated small, while some scream to go as large as practicable.

 

[piu58]

For 6x6 shots I use 12 x16 paper with an 0.5 inch border.