Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/09/06

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Subject: [Leica] Getting into printing.. need advice?
From: freakscene at weirdness.com (Marty Deveney)
Date: Sat Sep 6 21:34:36 2008

Either a condensor or diffusion enlarger will work fine.? There is rigorous 
study by Ctein published in the first and second 1999 issues of Photo 
Techniques (you can buy them here 
http://www.phototechmag.com/back_issues2.htm).? The main measurable 
difference is that a condensor enlarger will print the middle and shadow 
values slightly lower (darker) than a diffusion enlarger.? It's important to 
remember, however, that there is a huge range of light sources between a 
true point source condensor and a completely diffused cold light.? These 
individual differences will influence the outcomes of your own printing.  
You can always tailor your negatives to your own enlarger.  I like enlargers 
that have a large frosted bulb and a condensor, which lies in about the 
middle of the spectrum, but that reflects how I work.

Many people will recommend Ansel Adams' "The Print" as a definitive text on 
darkroom work, but I found that he rarely wrote in a way that I found 
absolutely clear.? Kodak offers a decent basic set of instruction for free 
here: 
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/education/lessonPlans/darkroom/fullCourse.shtml
  I'd recommend David Vestal's 'Advanced B&W Printing' (you can get it here 
: http://www.phototechmag.com/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=10 for $5) 
,'The Craft of Photography' or 'The Art of Black and White Enlarging' - I 
found these excellent and clear.

One recommendation - learn one film, with one developer, on one paper, with 
one print developer.  Learn how and why certain changes change the results 
and then change if you want to.  If you switch around trying to find the 
material that will make your work special, you won't learn the craft as well 
as you should.  

In the US, Freestyle is your friend.  Mail me offline if you'd like.

Marty

Gallery:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene


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