Jeffrey D. Mathias (jeffrey.d.mathias@worldnet.att.net)
Tue, 06 Apr 1999 08:13:36 -0400
Hamish Stewart wrote:
>
> Just wanting people's thoughts on the positive and negative sides of two
> approaches to making enlarged negs indicated below - all feedback
> appreciated.
>
> 1. Enlarged positive on lith film, dev in Dektol, high dilution - contact
> to produce final neg (I currently use this method and get good results
> for my gum prints - but I am thinking of making some changes!)
>
> 2. Enlarge positive to 4x5 on commercial film or equivalent (probably a
> Bergger film here in Europe) Develop in D-19 or similar. Then enlarge 4x5
> positive onto lith film in the high dilution dektol mentioned above.
> ...
Hamish,
Dave S. has given some good points. I personally do not prefer either
of the approaches you indicated. I consider both to be incomplete and
have found the resulting prints to be lacking. (Let me qualify that I
have only been printing in Pt/Pd and not Gum. I am not familiar with
the negative requirements necessary for gum.) I build an enlarged
positive and shadow mask and then contact print a negative and highlight
mask. Materials and procedures are written up in the guide on my web
site.
I am responding because I have seen many photographic prints from
enlarged negatives and have many times been quite disappointed. One
just cannot get good results with enlarged negatives by taking short
cuts. Building negatives is a laborative process by nature.
My advise would be to line up some prints from enlarged negatives with
some contacts from the original negatives and compare. If there is no
improvement in some qualities or aspects other than the size, then I
would suggest that the effort is futile. On the other hand, if there is
some improvement or cherished quality, then it is time and effort well
spent. Such a comparison should be valuable in deciding on a method or
approach.
-- Jeffrey D. Mathias http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/
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