Test strip method

[jstraw]

I use one narrow strip for the test and move the paper. 10 strips of ten different areas can prove meaningless. Whenever possible I put the chosen highlight and the chosen shadow within the strip. In any case I only use the single strip easel for the soft exposure.

 

[Blighty]

This book also got me hooked on split-grade printing, so I follow the same process that Blighty describes. The only thing that's a bit painful for me is switching from grade 00 to grade 5 filters between every strip, when you're overlaying the hard exposures on top of the soft one - I initially thought, no problem, do all the soft ones first and then the hard ones, but this causes registration problems because you're moving the paper for each new strip.

Erich,
I know what you mean about this method of test-stripping being slow, but there is a way to speed it up a little. Let's say you've established a soft exposure of 12 secs and you're now going to test with hard exposures of 6, 12, 18, and 24 secs. Do the first soft exposure followed, as usual, by the first hard exposure. Next, instead of replacing the hard filter for the soft, just keep the hard filter in place and make your next exposure (obviously at the longer time), then make the soft exposure. Repeat the first step. So, you will have the following sequence: Soft 12s/Hard 6s; Hard 12s/Soft 12s; Soft 12s/ Hard 18s; Hard 24s/Soft 12s. Now I'll happily admit that it sounds way too complex, but it ain't and you're making quite a few less filter changes. If it helps, write out your test-strip sequence and tick 'em off as you do them (this is what I do)

 

[erich potgieter]

Thanks - yes that is what I do too. Only thing is, if your concentration goes then you can mess up the sequence, so ticking off on a list sounds like a good idea!

 

[nze]

I do the following test strip. 32 - 16 -8 -4 -4 or similar (16-8-4-2-2) etc...It gives me a full step deifference between each step and find it more interesting than my older 8-8-8-8 x-x-x-x test strip . SO just try x-x/2-x/4-x/8-x/8 .

Good printing