Printing Woodland 6x9 Negatives on a 6x6 Enlarger

Introduction

One problem with cameras that shoot 6x9 negatives come when you find your enlarger is only 6x6. I like my Fuji GSW 690 with a 65mm lens on a wide negative. I do have a 4x5 enlarger but it is so large it sits on the top floor and is inconvenient to use. In the past I have printed 6x9 negatives on my 6x6 enlarger and indeed have printed 6x17 as well. The strategy is two-fold. 1) Crop a smaller (say 6x6) portion from the larger negative, make a diptych or triptych or more with multiple images. 

Today I start with two images from a pre-lockdown holiday in North Wales. I will print these on Ilford MG Art 300 paper that is quickly becoming my current favorite paper. The first image was straight-forward because of the way I composed the photo in camera as I didn’t really intend to use the full negative. I wanted to make this image in the style if Michael Kenna. Below is this first image. 

Scanned full negative

I cropped to the upper 2/3 of the image. It is quite a high contrast negative which I intended when I took the photo. I wanted the tree trunks mostly black in silhouette with the gray cloud apparent. The light area of the sky to the left was problematic and I ended up flashing the paper for 2 seconds. I also had some difficulty judging how to balance the hard and soft filters. I settled on less soft filter and more hard filter.  The tree branches lose contrast with too dark a sky. I think the final image got the balance about right. 

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• Flash 2 seconds
• 00 filter 22 seconds
• 5 filter 32 seconds
• Burn left 00 filter 22 seconds

The second image was a pine forest arrayed below the trail we were on. I was shooting handheld and the canopy made the scene very dark. I ended up shooting at f5.6 at 1/30th. The Fuji has a leaf shutter so can do pretty well at 1/30th handheld. I focused on the closer trees and hoped depth of field was good enough for the more distant trees. It may be a problem with a very big enlargement however. As I pursue my woodland project the tripod is looking less optional, especially when the trees are in full leaf.

Scanned full negative

This one would print well at the full 6x9 negative size. I chose two different treatments. A 6x6 crop and a diptych. I crop each half at 7 1/2 x 9 inches which is printed on half sheets of 12x16 paper I cut to 8x12 inches. 

This negative was very thin due to the darkness of the scene. This always makes for a difficult time in the darkroom. I ended up soaking the the negative in selenium toner at 1+3 concentration to intensify the image. This brought about a half stop lightness and more contrast to the image. It made it a little easier to print. 

Another challenge I always face is getting the right level of exposure. My darkroom lights I have learned are too bright. When I get a print I like in the darkroom and hang it on the wall I find that the print is actually quite dark. I have since started checking the print exposure by looking at the fresh prints on walls in various parts of my house. In this case I liked a darker print for the local contrast but only under brighter lights. So I printed a lighter version as well. After the prints dried they lightened slightly. I think the darker one still looks better when viewed on a wall. 

After washing with Hypo Clear and water I gave a very light sepia tone that I experimented with in a previous post. I found a subtle sepia tone of 2 minutes at 1+100 concentration gives a light warmth I was surprised to find looked better 

Here are the two versions. 

Light Version

Left image exposure

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• No Flash
• 00 filter 4 seconds
• 5 filter 27 seconds
• Burn left corners 5 filter 22 seconds

Right image exposure

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• No Flash
• 00 filter 4 seconds
• 5 filter 27 seconds

Dark version

Left image exposure

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• No Flash
• 00 filter 4 seconds
• 5 filter 27 seconds
• Burn left corners 5 filter 7 seconds

Right image exposure

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• No Flash
• 00 filter 6 seconds
• 5 filter 8 seconds

The next version of this print I made as a 6x6 crop right out of the center or the negative. It isn't obvious when the above images are viewed together but the left and right sides have the trees leaning away from the center due to perspective. It looks good when balanced together. Hence any single crop needs to come from the center of the negative. 

For this print I went with wider borders and a smaller image set at 6x6 inches inside an 8x8 inch piece of paper. These look very nice and I was inspired by the photographer AWOS. Here are two versions. The first with the light 2 minute sepia tone and the last with 14 minutes for the full sepia treatment. This last image was one that printed too dark and the sepia rescued it. 

Normal tone image

• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F16
• No Flash
• 00 filter 6 seconds
• 5 filter 38 seconds
• Burn corners 00 filter 8 seconds

Full sepia of a darker print

Conclusion: 

I think these will make good additions to my woodlands series. I am noticing a slight warmth or yellowing in the paper and it seems related to sepia toning. I perform a water wash and Hypo Clearing and additional water wash afterwards. I have found with additional washing the emulsion does clear more. I think in future soaking for an hour or more may be required to get good results.