By Cheryl Jacobs

 

So you've caught a wonderful moment on film – great expression, wonderful light, beautiful image. Congratulations! You're halfway done. Now the fun begins!

The printing stage is when you have the opportunity to interpret the image to say what you want it to say. There are literally countless ways to print your negative, and the result will depend on the experience and interpretation of the printer. For that reason, I prefer to do my own printing whenever possible.

Everything about the final print will affect the way viewers see and feel your image; tone, texture, contrast, brightness, sharpness, cropping, and many other factors play an important part. So, first you need to decide what you want to convey with your image. For this article, I'll use my image "Alone" as an illustration. When I made the image, I wanted to convey the dreaminess of a little girl lost in thought, content to be alone in her own little world.

Before You Start Printing

Before you set foot in the darkroom, there are some decisions you'll need to make. First, how will you crop the image? Keep in mind the 'rules' of composition, i.e. the rule of thirds. In this image, I've broken a few compositional guidelines because I felt it helped to interpret the image in the way I wanted. Typically, a subject looking out of the frame should be allowed room to look into, which makes her appear to be involved in something going on outside the frame. In this case, I wanted to enhance the feeling that she was lost in thought, not watching anything in particular, so I broke the rule. The image is slightly tilted, and I've cropped her fingers; to me, this composition looks more haphazard and candid. For these reasons, I decided to print full frame, which also allowed me to print with rough borders, using a filed-out negative carrier.

You'll also need to decide on your basic materials. This is especially important if you plan to tone and / or handcolor your image. Some papers handle toners and paint better than others. Keep in mind that your materials all impact each other. Different combinations of film, chemicals, and papers can yield very different results. The best way to figure out what you like is to play! Remember to keep detailed notes so you can remember what worked for you. For this image, I decided on Ilford warm-tone fiber paper.

The Basic Print

In the darkroom, you'll start by getting a good basic print from your negative. A good working print should be correctly exposed and cropped to your preference. It should be printed on the paper you chose for the final print. It should, in most cases, contain some deep near blacks and bright near whites, with a full spectrum of grays in between. Again, this is open to interpretation, but following this guideline will help you avoid getting a print that looks muddy or dull. Adjust your contrast until the print is right. Don't go on in the printing process until you have a good basic print – it will save you time in the long run. Be sure to note all your times and settings at this point so you have it as a frame of reference. Be sure to dry your working print completely before you judge its quality, as many papers look significantly different (usually darker and flatter) when they dry.

Figure 1

Next, identify any areas on the print that need dodging or burning. (Dodging means blocking light from an area of an image briefly to lighten it; burning is the opposite and means allowing more light in an area of an image to darken it. My image did require some burning in to gain detail and balance. Figure 1 is a rough (OK, very rough!) work print, with marks to indicate the general areas where I want to dodge and burn. The sky was burned down a little just to take the glare off. The girl's left side was too bright, which drew attention away from the face, so I burned it down a little, too. The lower corners were a bit blown out, so they were burned down significantly. Her eye was a bit dark in the socket due to the shadow from her hair; I dodged it slightly to lighten it. The hair and shirt were dodged slightly to bring out some detail.

The tones are now correct, but can still be improved. The light tones of the shed were bright enough to be a little distracting, so I lightly burned down the top and right edges. It's easy to overdo this, so be careful to use a soft touch. Dodging and burning should never be obvious. I'm happy with this print, but I still think the mood can be improved. (Figure 2)

Figure 2

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The Fun Stuff

My print corrected print was well balanced and technically good, however it still looked too straightforward to me. My goal was to convey 'dreaminess.' To accomplish this, I decided to diffuse the print.

Diffusion in the darkroom can be used for several purposes. It softens the image and reduces the appearance of grain. It also reduces fine detail, contrast, and texture, so it's important to use it with discretion. It's helpful to start with a fairly contrasty negative with good detail (Tri-X and TMAX are good films for diffusion) and the larger the negative is, the better. When I diffuse, I normally increase the contrast by at least a half of a grade, sometimes a full grade, to prevent muddiness. My high-tech diffusion technique consists of cutting a two-inch circle out of a tan-colored nylon stocking, stretching it over my enlarger lens, and securing it with a small rubber band. In cases where I want to diffuse only lightly, I diffuse for half or even a third of my total exposure time. I'll occasionally diffuse everything except the subject's face by cutting a hole in the nylon and positioning it over the face on the print. There are many different diffusion techniques, e.g. a smudged filter over the lens or printing through tracing paper. In a pinch, I've even used Chapstick on a piece of glass to soften edges. Experiment to figure out what you like the best.

Figure 3

In my image, the loss of grain and detail will contribute to the dreamy effect I want. I wanted a fairly strong diffusion effect, so I diffused the entire time. The result is just what I had envisioned for this image. I have decided not to tone this image because I like the feel of the image as it is. (Figure 3)

Although the prints in Figure 2 and Figure 3 are both technically good, I prefer the latter because it conveys the moment as I intended it to be seen, or rather, felt. Which do you prefer?

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