Questions, post printing

[Christopher Walrath]

OK. Things went well yesterday. I made a couple of newbers but all in all it turned out good. A couple of questions. Bear in mind that I am printing on a budget.

1. I dry the prints after washing in folded up Shamwows (I know) and though they do absorb the water they do not remove it from the surface of the print. Today I ran a fan across them for about thirty minutes and they were dry as a bone. Does it hurt any to leave the prints in an EVER-SO-SLIGHT state of being damp overnight?

Actually, next two aren't post printing but I wanna ask them.

2. If I make a print with a few MINISCULE white spots (I know its dust on the neg) would it hurt the neg to blow them off using compressed air, held away from the neg so as not to assault it with a gust?

3. I have an OLD two board easel that gives fuzzy edges to the image I can crop but the paper doesn't lay PERFECTLY flat on the easel. Short of laying a piece of glass on top is there a trick to flattening the paper out for focus' sake? A small piece of tape affixed to the back perhaps?

More questions as I think of them. I just might set up again this weekend. I know now I didn't buy enough paper. 250ct sheaf will be gone in a couple of months if I keep this up.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Also, I printted at relatively short times. When I start to print control (dodging/burning, etc) should I lengthen my time to facilitate no rushing it? And if I double time, is that reciprocated by stopping down one stop on the enlarger lens?

 

[mike c]

Hello Chris,Yes the paper goes fast when you are having fun. I keep a box of the more inexpensive paper like Arista Ed U. (about $33.00 for 100 shts box from Freestle) to make work prints to figure out contrast and exposer, and all so neg proofing. Then the more expensive stuff for the final print. All so I just bought (here is that money thing again) a DA enlarger meter that has the potential to save a lot more paper,which should off set the price of the meter($100.00).
1.I squeegee the print face down on a sheet of glass the hang the print form a rack with clothes pins and let them air dry over nite.

2. I use a static brush first then caned air fairly close with stubborn dust, put in enlarger turn lie on with head in the up position to check again

3. Some paper has more curl than others,hopefully the depth of field will keep things in focus,well maybe two sided tape,maybe it's the easels fault?

I hoped that helped,

mike c.
.

 

[mike c]

I don't like to get in a hurry printing if there is some dodging or burning going on ,I get confused very easily. F stops are I think are called a geometrical progression .Opening One f stop would be like doubling the previous time of exposer. example in exposer seconds to equal whole f stops would be 1sec-2sec- 4sec-8sec-16sec-etc. Does that make sense to you Chris,I hope I haven't confused you.

mike c.

 

[ann]

make yourself some drying racks from screens, cheap . the slower the print dries the flatter it will be. ( i am assumng fiber paper here), if it is Rc paper, you can hang them from a wide variety of things withsome clothes pins for easy drying.

 

[mike c]

Hey Chris, on the f stop and seconds relationship wait for other posts in case I gave the wrong answer,I don't wish to confuse anyone.

mike c.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

It is perfectly OK to use a negative brush, and canned or compressed air to dust off a negative, you can use it quite close, it won't hurt the negative.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

The length of time a print needs to dry is immaterial. You don't have to worry about them drying within a short amount of time. Various methods of drying produce different times to dry. Your local temperature and humidity also affects drying time. Once the print is fixed and washed, all you are doing is evaporating the moisture from the print. There are many ways to dry a fiber print. You may experience some curling of the print, but they can be easily flattened in a dry-mount press with a modest amount of heat.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

If you have any remaining white dust spots on your prints, even after you dust off, or blow off all the dust you can on the negative, you can use spotting colors and a fine artists brush to dye down the little white spots to match the surrounding tone. Once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy to do.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you.

 

[srs5694]

Does it hurt any to leave the prints in an EVER-SO-SLIGHT state of being damp overnight?

No. In fact, the only time I ever attempt to speed the drying of paper is when I need to evaluate it for color (for color prints) or exposure/contrast. Typically, I use the "high-tech" drying apparatus pictured in the attachment. IIRC, each of the racks was about $5-$10, not counting the trays underneath (which I clean up and use on the occasions when I want to make big prints).

FWIW, every source I've read (books, on the Internet, etc.) says that when air drying, fiber paper should be dried face down on plastic screens or something similar. I've recently discovered that I get better results using the same vertical drying position I use for RC paper.

2. If I make a print with a few MINISCULE white spots (I know its dust on the neg) would it hurt the neg to blow them off using compressed air, held away from the neg so as not to assault it with a gust?

I know that many people do this. I myself use a negative blower brush for cleaning negatives. It's got a squeeze bulb that squirts a little air out, but not nearly as much as a can of compressed air. Mostly it's the soft bristles that get rid of the dust.

3. I have an OLD two board easel that gives fuzzy edges to the image I can crop but the paper doesn't lay PERFECTLY flat on the easel. Short of laying a piece of glass on top is there a trick to flattening the paper out for focus' sake? A small piece of tape affixed to the back perhaps?

My trick is to counter-roll the paper prior to exposure -- that is, I roll it into a tube, forcing it against its natural curl. This helps keep it flat, at least for the short time it takes to make an exposure.