Printing the Holme Fen continued

I started to printing again from my earlier Holme Fen images. I decided to pick up the ‘Down the Path 1’ image from earlier when I printed it on 12x16 RC paper and reprint it on fiber-based 16x20” paper. Because the photo was taken with my 6x12 SINAR Zoom film back on my Intrepid 4x5 camera so the print is 10x20”.  The paper is Adox MCC 110 variable contrast paper. I print this on ‘The Beast’ 4x5 enlarger as the negative is 12cm (5 in) wide.

Original 12x16 Ilford MGIV RC Print

I learned a little something about the 150mm enlarger lens on The Beast. My first test strip indicated 3 second exposure at f22 so I decided should close the aperture to f45 to stretch out the exposure! Since I started at f22 this was 2 stops difference. I made my next test print with the #00 filter at 4x (12 seconds) my best guess exposure from the test strip. It turned out very light, as if the aperture was even smaller. I readjusted to 16 seconds which I was still quite light but I decided I might like this high-key look if I mixed in some higher contrast.

Serendipitous low-key test #00 filter

Next I made a base print on the #00 filter then ran a #5 filter test strip across it to judge where I would get the best contrast, again at f45. Here I found there was virtually no effect until I got to the full 64 second exposure section. Even so the 64 second section was quite light in contrast. I decided to print again with the same #00 filter as before and 64 seconds 5 filter but at f32 for the #5 filter (an extra stop of exposure). Result below...(not what I expected...)

Lens f-stop error blows out the contrast. Makes for a sooty looking print. Got to like those Adox blacks!

Here is where my discovery came. The 5 filter was very strong! More than a stop difference I thought. When I went to move the aperture back from f32 to f45 for the next print I notice some of the markings I had overlooked. (I should mention the detents in this lens are very subtle.) For the f45 setting there is a small line over the 45 which seems to direct one that the dot marker should be placed there not directly over the 45 as I had done before. I believe this is due to how crowded the numbers become at that end of the scale.

Lens aperture scale the ‘wrong’ f45 setting (note L-shaped line above the 45).

So by placing the dot over the center of the 45 as I did to start with I was likely at something like f64. This explains why my first test print was so much lighter than expected and why when opening to f32 I got more than a stop on the #5 filter. This introduces a new problem of not knowing exactly what the aperture/exposure was that I was using for those first test prints. Never-the less by inadvertently following David Kachel’s theory of ‘going too far’ in terms of exposure I hope to uncover a different print than the last time I printed this negative.

So I went back to the darkroom. What was I to do. I decided I needed to start over. Start over because not being on the f45 mark mean I did not know where I was... f50, f64, f66. At least one stop out from f45 looking at the exposure but perhaps 2 stops. Hence I could never get back to the same place reliably.

I went back to what I last knew and made a new test print with a base exposure of the ‘real’ f45 now at 12 seconds on the #00 filter. I then added a full stop burn according to the plan from the 12x16 print from the previous post. Then made my #5 filter test of none to 64 seconds in 1/2 stop intervals.

Original burn plan

A note about my test strips. I normally run from 8-64 seconds in half stop intervals. Some people use a simpler formula of increments of say 2 seconds or 5 seconds which is easier to count out in the darkroom. Indeed I started out this way. Using stop-based intervals allows one to think around aperture changes and more consistent changes of light when working through a print. My automated enlarger setup I programmed with these intervals so I just move the covering paper over the print when it beeps at me. The intervals are... 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64 seconds. On ‘The Beast’ I do not have the same setup just a simple Paterson enlarger timer where I set a time, hit start, then the lamp comes on, it counts down the preset interval before it turns the lamp off again. Now I am not about to set each interval in the timer manually. Instead I set it for a 64 second countdown and have on the wall behind the enlarger a small chart of the times the LED counter will show corresponding to each of my normal intervals.

Countdown timer intervals for test strips (1/2 stops). 

The #5 filter test print was difficult to judge but it seemed if I wanted my high key print tone I should try for 22 seconds. So that is the next print #00 at 12 seconds burn #00 12 seconds as above then #5 at 22 seconds. It comes out very much as I expected. It looks to me recognizable and yet the scattering of black has an almost abstract quality to it. I think the upper left margin could use a little burn to even out the tone overall.The print at the start of this post was the original version you can decide which one look best.

Final print at this point...