[Leica] Split printing - was Focomat V35 enlarger

[Ian Stanley <ian@mos.com.np>]

Mark Rabiner wrote

>My own personal and perhaps not common take on this might be the fact
>that I've gotten really enamored with this whole split printing
>approach... two consecutive exposures, one for the highest contrast, one
>for the lowest. With the Aristo it is a blue softlight for the high and
>the green for the low; you just flip a switch. I've been doing it for
>several years but am unaware how much this technique is catching on in
>the outside world. Sexton apparently isn't doing it as I see those
>magazine articles he is always doing. It would be great if I could hear
>from someone out their who has switched to this inspiring or head
>turning approach. I would recommend it to the darkroom workers out there
>who are getting frustrated with the mystique of the whole process and
>want something more controllable.
>

Hello Mark & all,

	I have been using the split printing method for about three years now with
a Zone VI enlarger and VC cold light head.  Graded papers have always been
my favourite but the practicality of brining in a supply of paper in
various grades and sizes into Nepal was too much so I switched over to VC.
I am very pleased with the results and the printing control that this gives
me.  What works best for me is to do the high contrast first and do the low
contrast second.

	My wife just came back from New York and brought in some books that I had
ordered.  One of them is The Variable Contrast Printing Manual by Steve
Anchel and it has some very interesting information on VC papers and split
printing.  I haven't had a chance to read through it all yet but so far
this is one of the best books on the subject I have come across.

Ian Stanley,

Kathmandu, Nepal