Re: How to judge your negative (was Re: Times and

[boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Long)]

On Tue, 29 Oct 1996 23:47:04 +0000 (GMT), you wrote:

|Oh, my point is if you develop your negatives (which does not require a
|darkroom), how can you judge that your processed film is OK by simply =
look
|at it?

You can't without some experience of how a given quality of negative
relates to a given quality of print.  If you print your own, you will
learn more than if you let someone else make your prints, because you
will know what choices of paper grade, for example, were required by
which negatives.  But the principles are the same either way:  Examine
the negatives--paying particular attention to the highlights (the
blackest parts) and the shadows (the most transparent)--and compare
them with the print.

It's tricky, because different films produce different kinds of
negatives.  For example, high-contrast, thin-emulsion films processed
in compensating developers generally produce negatives that seem very
lacking in contrast and density if you compare them with a standard
film like, say, Tri-X.  And staining developers often create negatives
that print with considerably more contrast than you'd expect if you're
not used to them.  In the case of HIE, it's particularly tricky
because the image itself is so different from what one expects in
normal picture-taking.

Bob Long
(boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx)

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Topic No. 5