Question to master printers on darkroom workflow

[Will S]

David Vestal's book "The Art of Black and White Enlarging" (or something close to that) has a lot of very good information about setting up a darkroom, how to work efficiently, how to fine tune your processes, how to test, how to wash, how to make good negatives, etc. I highly recommend it. I don't know when it was written (1980?) but he has answers to many questions that have often bugged me. Like, for instance, how to do selenium toning without getting streaks. Answered 26 years or so ago and still being asked today.

Les McClean's book is also pretty decent, but more on the image-making side than the darkroom side.


Best,

Will

 

[Rob Skeoch]

One thing I do is print my 8x10's and 16x20's of the same neg. on the same day. I start with the 8x10's and make a good print... then make as many copies as I need of it. Then I move the enlarger and make the 16x20's of the same shot. This way I remember how much burning/dodging I had to do.

Also when making contacts of 35mm I use 8 1/2 x 11 paper... it's easier to get every frame on the paper.