Printing on Black and White Paper

It is well worth concentrating on one type of paper. When you become familiar with how the paper responds ot different negatives, you will much more eaily be able to make decisions about how to obtain the best print. If you standardise your chemicals and always use the same temperatures and times, you will find you learn to understand the process much more quickly and will be able create excellent prints with a minimum of waste.

Developing a Print

The photographic paper may only be unwrapped or opened in a darkroom, when all lights, with the exception of the safe-lights provided are turned off. To achieve the best results, the following processing should be carried out.
All liquids should be at 20 C.
All steps must be accurately timed.

Creating a test strip and developing the print

Whenever you are going to make a print you must start off by making a Test-Strip. When making a test strip you should ensure the enlarger is set at the height at which you intend to make your print. Use standard times to create your test-strip and this will indicate to you the best exposure for that negative. Process the strip as set out below. When you have found the best exposure-time for that negative, then make a full size print, and process it the same way as the test strip was processed.

A. Paper Development

The paper used is Ilfospeed (a resin coated paper which allows rapid processing). The developer used is Ilfospeed Developer, which is made-up by adding 100 ml of concentrate to 900 ml of water. The paper should be continually agitated in this solution for 1 minute.

B. Stop-Bath

The Stop-Bath is used at a rate of 12 ml in a litre of water. The paper should be agitated in this bath for 30 seconds.

C. Fixer

The Fixer is Ilford Rapid, which is made up by mixing 200 ml of concentrate with 800 ml of water. The paper should be agitated in the fixer for 1 minute.

D. Wash

The paper must be agitated in running water for at least 5 minutes. (Do not try to cut down the time on this very important section, as any trace of chemicals left in the photographs will invariably cause them to deteriorate - this is where the biggest waste of materials occurs.)

E. Dry

Lay the freshly washed paper face-up on clean paper, and it will be dry in about 12 hours.

Judging the quality of the print

It is a little difficult to judge the quality of a wet print. When the print dries the dark areas dry-down to deeper, richer tones. You can speed up the drying a little by using a hair-dryer to dry out the test strip and this provides a good guide to the dark tones achieved in the photograph. The real tonal depth in the image is not really evident until the print dries fully and this could take many hours. The difficulty with this is that you have to leave the darkroom to dry the print. This is not what you want to do when you set up the darkroom. Once you are in there it is best that you stay until you finish the tasks you had set out to achieve.

So, if you are to make judgements about the quality of your prints in the darkroom, you must have a white-light to view them by. It is important to use a light that is not too bright when you make this judgement as a bright light will make everything look too pale and you will finish up printing photographs that are too dark. So, use a low power bulb to view your work.

Whenever you change something, such as the enlarger height or use a new negative you must make another test-strip. After you have made a test-strip, look at the highlight areas and find the time at which they have been printed properly. That is, find the areas in which the tiniest amount of tone is produced on the paper - the highlight areas should be white or very nearly white. This is the time you should use to make a proper print. From this print you should be able to tell by looking at the darker areas of your print if you should change to another grade of paper.

*** It is very important to use the same amount of time and the same amount of agitation with each piece of paper you develop. Don't pull a print out of the developer before the print has completed developing. If the print doesn't work out as you hoped, make another test strip and then make another print.***

It costs just as much to make a poor quality print as it does to create a fantastic print. Take your time, work everything out and make the best print you can.