Hello Photographers!

You have all learnt a lot in the last 2 weeks. Here is a quick run down on some of the points:

• The purpose of making a test strip before you make a proof sheet of all your negatives is to see which is best time to expose your negative onto the photographic paper. You do this by exposing your photographic paper small strips at a time in 5 second increments.
• When you are developing anything you always begin with a Filter 2# in the photographic enlarger.
• Once you have made the test strip you expose your whole negative sheet for the ideal time. The proof sheet allows you to see all your  photographs "in mini" and from here you can choose which ones you want to develop into prints.
• On your proof sheet each photo will look different because each frame you took will have had varying light conditions.
• If your negative looks pale it means that your photos may be over-exposed. in order to counter-act this in the development process you may need to experiment with stronger filters and varying apertures on the photographic enlarger.
• Experimentation with filters can also increase the contrast of dark and light tones in your prints.
• If your negative is quite dark then it means that it could be under-exposed which will require a larger aperture on the enlarger (remembering that the smaller the number eg 4.5 the larger the aperture) and longer exposure time on to the photographic paper.
• To make a single print you place your chosen negative in the negative holder of the enlarger, lining your chosen shot up with the window. You then set your enlarger at the correct height (standard photographic size is 12.7cm wide & 17.8cm long) with your easel. Then you focus your image. The you follow the same process as before making a test strip of the single print, this time in 3 second increments. From this you choose the ideal exposure time and develop a single print.
• Again you may need to experiment with the aperture and filters to get the best result.