Hello!

Is it possible to print 6x6 medium format 120 without an enlarger? What do i need to do that? Thanks!

-- eric kong (erickong@avnet.com), December 14, 1999

Answers

You can contact print them. All you need is a piece of glass, a light bulb, and a timer.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), December 14, 1999.

6x6 contacts make nice miniatures for things like lockets, watch cases, jewelry boxes, etc. Lots of possibilities.

-- Tony Brent (ajbrent@mich.com), December 14, 1999.

I would be careful not to do 6x6 contact prints on anything larger than 5x7" paper, because anything larger looks pretentious and screams "look at how good a photographer I am!". That's just my opinion, though. Having said that, I like contact sheets from MF and LF negs, as long as the paper size is kept at bay.

-- shawwn gibson (s_g@stu.wdw.utoronto.ca), December 15, 1999.

A few more thoughts: (1) Try contact printing and mounting your prints in a series, for example, three prints in a row, closely spaced. This enables you to make a larger work from small prints. The choice of which prints to put together can be an artistic statement in itself. Or you can photograph "panoramas" and mount them this way. (2) It's probably obvious, but simple images with strong graphic design elements (as opposed to lots of detail) may work best for such tiny prints. (3) Contact printing allows you to experiment with alternative processes. Small platinum/palladium prints can be very beautiful. You can buy a palladium kit with everything you need from Bostick & Sullivan. For about $60 you can print dozens of 6x6 negatives. See http://www.azstarnet.com/platinum/plat.html for a good description of how to get started.

-- Chris Patti (cmpatti@aol.com), December 16, 1999.