LESSON 2
(6) If necessary, run a new series of test exposures with a different
contrast filter.
4. Controls in contact printing. Since any number of prints may be made
from one negative, and the results can be varied by exposure and light
dodging, it is possible to correct errors that may exist in the negative.
To use correction measures successfully, you must have an extensive
knowledge of both the materials and the procedures that are available to
you. Starting with only an average or even below average negative, it is
possible to make good photographs in the laboratory. If you know how to use
printing controls, it is possible to improve the appearance of the final
print.
a. Many camera exposures are made under less than ideal conditions and
may result in wide variations in density in different areas of a single
negative. That is, the exposure in one area is greater or less than that in
other areas of the negative. Because of a wide variation in tones or
reflective qualities of the subject as a result of poor lighting on the
subject, this is often unavoidable. Since the objective of photography is
to produce an accurate, detailed representation of the subject, such
negatives require special treatment.
b. If you expose the print long enough to bring out detail in the
highlight areas, but the shadow areas become overexposed or if you expose a
print of the same negative for a short enough time to bring out the detail
in shadow areas, but the highlights are underexposed and show no detail,
then a corrective action must be taken. This action is referred to as
dodging. If only a straight print is made, detail will be sacrificed in the
highlights or the shadows, or possibly both areas. Dodging is controlled
exposure in specific areas of a print, giving one area less exposure than
another.
c. Dodging techniques are varied according to the type of printing that
you are doing. Two of these methods are described in the following
paragraph:
(1) The easiest method to use for the EN22A is to turn out
individual lights under parts of the negative that print too dark. This
leaves the lights burning under the areas of the negative that have greater
density and gives these areas of the print more exposure. If turning the
lights off for the entire exposure time lightens these areas too much, they
may be extinguished for only a portion of the total printing time. If
turning the lights off for the total printing does not hold the light back
enough, the lamps surrounding the thin areas of the negative may have to be
turned off in addition to those directly below the thin area.
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