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Developing Black and White Photographic Paper

Most Black and White photographic paper is capable of producing tones all the way from the "whitest white" to the "blackest black". We should take this into consideration when we "take a photo" and expose the negative so that we can print a photo with the greatest possible range of tones. So that we can understand how a camera measures the light and exposes the film, we must understand the workings of the light meter in the camera.

Basically the camera meter is adjusted to photograph a scene so that everything in view will average out to "middle grey". This means that a photograph of a white wall will be automatically metered to give an exposure that is grey when it is printed, and a photograph of a black wall will be the same shade of grey in a print. In both cases the camera has averaged the light and produced an inappropriate exposure. Once you understand what is going on, you can make decisions about the settings you choose so that the white wall will appear white and the black wall will appear black.

A photograph of a Chessboard which is half black and half white would average to grey, and so the camera would expose it correctly and the print would have both black and white in the range of tones. This is how the meter averages everything. Most of the time the exposure will be acceptable, but sometimes you might want to make some decisions of your own.

The following is a guide to exposure based on the above, using the reading of the camera when pointed at each of the following:

White Surface, white sand

open up lens 2 f-stops

Light skin tones, light coloured walls

open up lens 1 f-stop

Average, ordinary scene with a mixture of shades and tones

use the camera readings

Dark greys, grey clothes

close the lens 1 f-stop

Black surfaces, black cat

close the lens 2 f-stops

To make the most of this exposure guide you should test your camera, lens and film to work out a more exact exposure system.

 

 

Paul Wright
Photographer
Black & White & Digital Images
Magpie Photo
Copyright 2007

www.magpiephoto.com.au www.dimboola.com.au www.lefty.com.au