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Old 10th July 2011, 06:16 PM
Mark Barendt Mark Barendt is offline
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Default Contrast Control

The biggest struggle I had with learning contrast control was actually exposure.
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Old 10th July 2011, 06:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Barendt View Post
The biggest struggle I had with learning contrast control was actually exposure.
That is the reason for using yellow in combination with magenta, although the theory does not often work in practice. I find that contrast control can often be a diversion from the more important control of exposure. If you have the neg exposure right, with reasonable lighting ratios and correct development, then quite often contrast control is not necessary. Where possible I try to avoid it.
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Old 10th July 2011, 06:45 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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New subject new thread please.
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Old 10th July 2011, 07:26 PM
Mark Barendt Mark Barendt is offline
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Well oky-doky, new subject then.

Cliveh, I think you are absolutely right. Once I started getting exposure right my contrast issues became minute.
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Old 13th July 2011, 06:52 PM
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How do You determinate the right exposure ?
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Old 13th July 2011, 10:05 PM
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At the most basic level, adjust exposure to get the highlights correct. Then if the shadows are muddy increase the contrast, or if they're blocked up (too dark) reduce the contrast. Generally, when you change the contrast you'll need to tweak the exposure as well if you're printing at grade 3 or above.
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Old 13th July 2011, 10:44 PM
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This is a very good question and I’m sure many photographers have many different ways about how they go about their own method of operation for printing. My own method would be to use test strips with the filtration turned off and then if I need filtration, to turn it on and guesstimate the desired contrast and continue to use test strips with variations of exposure until I get the desired result, with perhaps using test strips on highlights, mid-tones and shadows. This may require fine tuning of both exposure and contrast. I would be interested in Trevor Crone’s modus operandi for this.
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Old 16th July 2011, 11:40 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is online now
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The basic rule of printing is :-

i) Expose for the highlights

ii) (Paper) Grade for the the shadows

In practice, as you choose different grades of paper you need to keep adjusting the base exposure

Knowing how much change to base exposure and how much change of grade is generally a matter of (hard won) experience.

Individuals tend to have personal preferences on whether they like softer or harder looking prints - within limits there is no right or wrong - just what looks right to you

Ansel Adams always recommended starting off with a soft (low contrast) grade of paper and working toward a harder (high contrast) paper grade

It is always worth trying to go too far with experiments of paper grades when printing - the results often still pleasantly surprise me

If you want a device to help you choose what exposure and paper grade you need - help is at hand - http://www.rhdesigns.co.uk/darkroom/...master_ii.html

Martin
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Old 17th July 2011, 02:45 PM
Mark Barendt Mark Barendt is offline
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I tried to follow that advice Martin but struggled, have much better results when I peg skin or a middle tone first then adjust contrast. Second best for me is pegging a black.

This, I think has more to do with the subjects I like best, people, the tools I have, a Beseler PML2, and the style of result I like, detail in the subject is important in the subject but not so much in the background.
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Old 19th July 2011, 04:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Barendt View Post
I tried to follow that advice Martin but struggled, have much better results when I peg skin or a middle tone first then adjust contrast. Second best for me is pegging a black.

This, I think has more to do with the subjects I like best, people, the tools I have, a Beseler PML2, and the style of result I like, detail in the subject is important in the subject but not so much in the background.
If you have a method that works for you then stick to it

Practice, practice and practice are the main things to concentrate on to improve your technique.

However, you might want to approach another darkroom user to spend a day printing with you - it would probably help enormously.

I would expect anyone you ask would be delighted to help another darkroom worker getting themselves up to speed

Martin
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