To begin printing our negatives, our tutor first taught us how to create a contact sheet.
We first took our film strip off the drying rack, and cut them into strips of six, so they would fit in the contact sheet printer nice and evenly, fitting them in the slots so they are perfectly aligned with each other, with the matte side up.
To create our contact sheet we need to test how long our photographs need to be exposed to the light, as each photograph may be slightly different.
To do this, we turned off the lights and applied a small strip of the light-sensitive paper underneath the window, and we placed the contact sheet printer on the film scanner, aligning it with where the light is projected.
We set the timer for 5 or 10 second intervals so that the paper could be exposed to the light, creating a small replica of our negatives. with each 5 or 10 second exposure, we would set a piece of opaque card on top of a section of our light-sensitive paper, this is so we can see what would look better as an exposure before we waste an entire sheet of the paper, as it is quite expensive.
We first took our film strip off the drying rack, and cut them into strips of six, so they would fit in the contact sheet printer nice and evenly, fitting them in the slots so they are perfectly aligned with each other, with the matte side up.
To create our contact sheet we need to test how long our photographs need to be exposed to the light, as each photograph may be slightly different.
To do this, we turned off the lights and applied a small strip of the light-sensitive paper underneath the window, and we placed the contact sheet printer on the film scanner, aligning it with where the light is projected.
We set the timer for 5 or 10 second intervals so that the paper could be exposed to the light, creating a small replica of our negatives. with each 5 or 10 second exposure, we would set a piece of opaque card on top of a section of our light-sensitive paper, this is so we can see what would look better as an exposure before we waste an entire sheet of the paper, as it is quite expensive.
We then repeated the previous process.
To develop our contact sheet, and make sure it is no longer light-sensitive, we had to 'set' it using a developer, a stopper and a fixer. This changes our negative to a positive.
After developing, we looked at the results of our contact sheet, and we had to decide individually how long of an exposure we should use for our final contact sheet, we then used the squeegee to remove any excess water and we placed our prints in the drying rack.
To develop our contact sheet, and make sure it is no longer light-sensitive, we had to 'set' it using a developer, a stopper and a fixer. This changes our negative to a positive.
After developing, we looked at the results of our contact sheet, and we had to decide individually how long of an exposure we should use for our final contact sheet, we then used the squeegee to remove any excess water and we placed our prints in the drying rack.
My contact sheet swatch had a strange stain on it, which was most likely due to contamination when developing the film.
You can see that on the very left of the swatch that the photographs are rather light, whereas the photographs on the far right were very dark.
When creating my contact sheet I would definitely pick somewhere within the middle of my swatch, which I think was around 15 seconds so my print won't be too under or over exposed to the light.
We then proceeded to repeat the process again, but with a full sheet of light-sensitive paper, instead of our swatch strip.
Here is how mine turned out:
(I had a difficult time photographing my prints as there was a lot of glare)
You can see that on the very left of the swatch that the photographs are rather light, whereas the photographs on the far right were very dark.
When creating my contact sheet I would definitely pick somewhere within the middle of my swatch, which I think was around 15 seconds so my print won't be too under or over exposed to the light.
We then proceeded to repeat the process again, but with a full sheet of light-sensitive paper, instead of our swatch strip.
Here is how mine turned out:
(I had a difficult time photographing my prints as there was a lot of glare)