You guessed it! More cards.

It has become a bit of a habit now. After a session in the darkroom I take my better images and make notecards with them. Originally I did this as I had offcuts and scraps that were too numerous to become mere test strips. Now I make the notecards with more intent. They are useful and make good gifts.

This time around I made some on Ilford MGFB Classic paper and I cut three sheets of 12x16 paper into six 4x8" strips that I will fold in half to make 4x4" cards. My latest negative was already in 'The Beast' from yesterday's printing session. I had to raise the easel up to the lens to get an almost 1:1 image. At 3.5 inches (8.9cm) long the print is basically the same size as the 6x9cm negative. I could have contact printed it but that is a lot of trouble without a frame and I worry about handling a negative too much. 

One criteria I have for cards is to make the printing simple. This means I avoid images that require a lot of dodging and burning.  

Enlarger Setup

It is strange to use a 4x5 enlarger to make a 3.5 inch wide image but the control panel says it is good to .9 magnification so why not? I used my cheap 8x10 LPL easel which is what I got my start in the darkroom on. It is small and light and easy to handle. I had to put it on stacks of box files to get close enough to the lens to get the small image. Once focused I turned to exposure. I knew from the last print I need 1 stop of ND at f32 (min aperture) and an 8 second exposure. I would have to reduce the light even more. I opted to change the 150W bulb for a 60 watt bulb. Then I measured the Ev and set the aperture until I got to Ev 7.1. This was f22. Next some test strips.    

The Test Strips

These I made as full images on card-sized pieces of the Ilford Classic paper. I chose a bracketed range of exposures in half stop intervals, 11, 8, 5.6, 4, 2.8, 2 seconds. I placed a different exposure at each end of the card hence the inverted images. They are below.   

Test Prints (Top 11, 8, Middle 5.6, 4, Bottom 2.8, 2 seconds)

Surprisingly the 8 seconds is too dark so I opted for batches of 4, 5.6, and 2.8 second exposures. I did not bother dodging the copses. 

I had also made some cards from an earlier image of a field maple leaf on an oak tree. Here are the final results. 

Finished Notecards