What does “pre-flashing” mean?
Pre-flashing is a technique that can be used if you need help with decreasing density in your highlights. It is a little boost to the reaction on the photographic paper, intended to improve the detail of your print within the highlighted parts. It is useful when assessing negatives with highlights that are too dense to burn in with standard processing.
When we have a very dark negative, even if there is information, it might be difficult to recover such an image when printing. To get the details out and visible in the print, it can be helpful to push the paper’s sensitivity to its limit with pre-flashing.
When you flash this little burst of lights onto the paper you are pre-exposing the silver, therefore the purity of the white is advanced until its threshold, just before it starts to show a tint. This way, you will get the paper to react faster once you are ready to expose the full frame. Pre-flashing is done to the entirety of the paper, without compromising its whiteness.
To achieve this you first need to make a series of test strip exposures with no negative of about one second using a small aperture. Then, develop the paper and check at which exposure you see some color, looking like off-paper white. Pick the exposure time just before the one where you start to get a tone, and use that threshold to print your image on that paper.
When using fiber paper you must let the test strip dry before you can clearly see if the paper is showing any sign of tone.
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How to make a darkroom at home?
When setting up a darkroom, it is crucial to find an adequate space and purchase a good enlarger. Every other tool can be easily found online.
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What is a test strip?
A test strip is a piece of paper with which the correct exposure time for an image can be determined by dividing it into sections of different exposures.
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What is a contact sheet?
A contact sheet is a printed photographic paper that includes on a single page all the photos taken on the roll.
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What is split grade printing?
Split grade printing refers to the use of more than one filter when printing your photos in a darkroom, in order to properly expose the highlights and shadow areas.
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How and where to find a darkroom to use if you don’t have space at home?
In many cities you will be able to find darkrooms that you can use. These spaces are often part of a university, college or photography center.
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What are the different types of photographic paper?
Photographic paper is coated with a light sensitive solution to make it possible to create a darkroom print. Different papers are distinguished by categories such as fixed grade, variable contrast, resin coated, and fiber base.
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How to make a darkroom print
Work in a fully equipped darkroom. Select a negative, put it in an enlarger and focus the frame. Then expose the image for the correct time on the photographic paper. Finally develop, stop, fix, wash and dry.
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What is an enlarger?
An enlarger is a light projector used to make a print of an image that is larger than the original negative or transparency.
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What is Dodging and Burning?
Dodging and burning are darkroom techniques used to make adjustments to different areas of our prints. Dodging lightens an area, while burning darkens an area.