Yesterday darkroom did not went that well. Of total 11 papers used I got only 2 prints that I consider good enough. And that seems too wasteful for me. I don't know what is usual dial-in prints/done prints ratio, but five papers for one final print just feels too much.Too much wasted material and time.
So, I was not happy. Which is great! That's how I got lot of info about what feels wrong and can try to move things forward, try to make them better.
What I think was wrong and needs to change:
- I definitely need to lower light output of the enlarger. Get a weaker lightbulb or put some diffuser in the head. I tried regular white printer paper, but that's too much. My exposure times are too short, between five to ten seconds, and that gives me too little room to find needed exposure.
- Once I have let's say twenty seconds room to move, I have to do that five (or whatever) seconds gradual test print. You know, cover part of the print - five seconds expose - move cover - next five seconds - move cover again - and so on. To better see various exposure times results. Test strips doesn't work that well for me.
- I was rushing too much and not thinking out of the box as they say. It was only after the session that it occured to me to measure the developer temperature. It was 17 celsius. Recommended temperature is at least 20 celsius. That's another unpredictable variable, more wasted prints. In colder months some warming is needed.
- I need to make some simple print mask. To make nice black borders and also importantly - to keep the paper flat. On longer times the paper lifts to its curled state and it is very visible on the final print. Until now i made the borders with carrier movable slides, but that is kinda hard to set up precisely and doesn't help to hold paper down.
- I need to make better system to wash and dry the prints. System in my case means bigger container with clean water for washing. For drying I'm not sure. I don't like clothes pegs I use now - they leave marks on paper. And cord with pegs is too short.
That might do it for starters.