I recently took many pictures at i concert i attended. I am in a graphic arts class at my high school and photography is a major part of our class assignments. I was hoping to use these photos as one of my projects but i am running into many problems with developing the prints in the darkroom. The major problem i am having is that my prints are turning out extremely light . When i adjust the f-stops to allow more light in the subject, which is a lead singer, becomes to dark. Overall no matter what i do i dont believe i have enough contrast in the pictures because to get all the backround the print has to become to dark. I was wondering if perhaps i could use a filter to add more contrast to the print. I am hoping to fix these prints because i have great composition in the pictures but they are not printing right. In our class we have red filters from 1 -4 . If you have any suggestions on how i could fix my photos they would greatly be appreciated.

thank you,

erica

-- erica pawlik (roxy6424@yahoo.com), December 06, 2001

Answers

It sounds as though your negatives were underexposed or underdeveloped, or both. You mentioned something about red filters, that doesn't really make sense. If you are printing on a variable contrast (VC) paper, you should be using a magenta filter to increase the contrast of your prints--if that isn't working you will have to resort to intensifying the negatives. This can be done by soaking them in a solution of selenium toner diluted 1+2 or 1+3 with water, but that will not increase your shadow densities, only the high values. Concerts are difficult to photograph even under the best of conditions--they are inevitably very contrasty situations. Maybe some of the other forum contributors will have other suggestions.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), December 06, 2001.

I'm guessing when you say 1-4 red filters you mean magenta as Ed points out. Have you tried a 4? Maybe you need to dodge (give less exposure by reducing how much light falls on them) the singer a little to get the overall balance that you're after. What you describe sounds like the singer was out of the main light sources and the background was lit up (back to front to usual situation in these scenarios). I's also suggest to alter the exposure time rather than the f-stop. This will allow you to make much finer alterations.

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), December 06, 2001.

I sense that you are new to printing; so you need to learn how to print, using easier negatives. Concert shots are often very contrasty, with the featured performer in a followspot and everything else much darker. Some manipulation of the image may be needed, such as dodging and burning, i.e., reducing or adding exposure time to parts of the picture. Get help from the photo instructor at your school or from a student who's more experienced at printing.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols1@mindspring.com), December 07, 2001.

Erica,

First, run a test print. Set your enlarger to one f-stop and leave it there (for now). If the singer is the main subject, cut your paper into smaller strips. Place them on the easel (one at a time) and expose them at different times (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 seconds) and mark the strips with the time (for later reference). Process all of your paper strips. Find the one strip that gives you the highlight detail that is acceptable (don't worry about the shadow areas yet). That time is the time you need to expose. Once you anchor your highlights, then you can bump up filter settings to dial in the contrast that you'd like. Again, run with test strips, this time keeping the time of exposure the same and changing filters (don't forget to mark your filter settings on your test strips!). Find one strip that looks right to you. Once you've dialed in both time and filter, run a complete work print. After processing, check to see if there are any areas that could use a little more or a little exposure. From there, you can dodge and burn to come up with your final result. When you're done, WRITE DOWN ALL OF YOUR SETTINGS! This will serve as a good starting point for some of your other negatives. Chances are, they were exposed in a similar fashion. Once you are done, you will understand the satisfaction (and frustration) of 'working a print'. Good luck!

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown+bwwworld@att.net), December 07, 2001.

Ooops! I forgot to mention that when you are placing the small strips of paper on the easel, place them where the lead singer is in the photograph!

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown+bwworld@att.net), December 07, 2001.