The Smooth Guide to Photography
              How to get started ...
  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W
MAKING A CONTACT SHEET
Picture
Too Dark. 11 seconds
Picture
Passable. 6 seconds
Picture
Too light. Acceptable. 3 seconds
Picture
Acceptable. 11 seconds
This is a positive print of all the frames on the film and made by exposing the whole film in contact with a single sheet of print paper.  Each print will be the same size as the negative.

As well as being an easy to file source of reference, a good contact proof shows 'at a glance' which images are not worth printing.  Close inspection through  magnifying loupe will repeal the quality of the negatives.

A fill 36-exposure roll of 35mm film will fit onto a 10" x 8" sheet.
  • Use it to gain all the information you need to make the best print from each negative.
  • Use an old slide mount or a magnifying loupe to view each frame, undistracted by and in isolation of the rest of the frames.
  • Mark up the contact proof with wax or chinagraph pencils and circle the best images.
To expose the black and white negatives
  • Under the safelight illumination, insert a sheet of printing paper - shiny-side up - onto the enlarger's baseboard.
  • Make sure the light is as bright as possible.
  • Raise the column to obtain a good spread of light.
  • Focus the light.
  • Lay the strips of negative on the paper - matt side down.
  • Hold the negatives flat so that they come into contact with the paper.
  • Place a sheet of clean glass on top of the negatives.
  • Stop the lens down three stops.
  • Set the enlarger lens to an aperture of f/8.
  • Make sure that the enlarger head is high enough for the light from it to cover the sheet of negatives.
  • Expose the paper - try an exposure of six seconds.
  • Process the print.
ACCESSIBILITY AND FONT ADJUSTMENT
SITE MAP
Acknowledgement:  
Tutor:  Peter Perry

These notes are an accumulation of those written by myself - or obtained from the College during the course.
  • Putney Public Library
  • Wandsworth Reference Library
  • Earlsfield Library

​This is not a commercial site.
Polly Healy  - Course Work :  2000
SOUTH THAMES COLLEGE,  LONDON, SW18 2PP
______________________________________________________
Copyright:  THE SMOOTH GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHY - How to get started ...
pollyhealy@live.co.uk
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  • Basic Camera Equipment
    • Standard Camera Lenses
    • Equipment and Materials
    • Etiquette
    • Camera Care
    • Picture Elements
  • Health and Safety
    • Responsibilities
    • What the Law Requires
    • Safety in Photography
    • Safety in the Darkroom, Processing Room + Studio
    • First Aid
  • Film
    • Shutter Speeds
    • Aperture
    • Exposure
    • Lighting Conditions
    • Film Processing
  • Black + White Film
    • Developing Times
    • Processing
    • Tank, Spiral + Core
    • In the Darkroom
    • Printing Papers
    • Exposure for Multigrade Paper
    • Assessing Negatives
    • Printing Film
    • Making a Contact Sheet
    • Making a Test Strip
    • Processing the Print
    • Using the Enlarger
    • Film Cropping
    • Burn-In and Dodging
    • Photograms
  • Technical Term Glossary
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G - H - I
    • L
    • M - N - O
    • P - R
    • S
    • T - U - V - W