Page 107 - The Wellington photographic handbook

When the negative has been focussed on the easel it is taken out
again and the position of the light altered until the screen shows
a perfectly even illumination. Some forms of enlarging lantern
have the position of the light fixed once for all, but in most there
is scope for a little adjustment to get the best result. The negative
is then put back and focussed as sharply as possible, the red cap
is put on the lens and the exposure made.
The processes which have been described up to the present
are those which differ according to the form of enlarging apparatus
in use ; what follows applies to all enlargements on bromide,
B.B. or S.C.P., unless otherwise stated.
Focussing should be done on a sheet of white paper the same
size as that which is to be exposed. This makes it easy to select
with certainty the exact part of the original negative which is to
appear in the enlargement.
It will be found that little pinholes or specks in the negative
are the best guides to the sharpness or otherwise of the focussing,
because the details of the original may not be quite sharp, but
the edges of a pinhole are sure to be.
It is a mistake to use a smaller stop than is necessary to get
the required definition. It not only prolongs exposure, but with
some forms of illumination it makes the lighting uneven.
In enlarging either with the camera by the method first de-
scribed or with an enlarging lantern, the photographer can stand
beside the sheet of paper on the easel and by means of cardboard
can shade parts of the picture so as to let the rest have longer
exposure and thus print darker. This is a very valuable power,
and a great deal can be done to improve the result, with compara-
tively little skill. The card must be held well away from the face
of the paper on the easel, or must be kept moving, to prevent its
edge from showing as a hard line. If all but a small piece of the
picture is to be darkened in this way, a ball of cotton wool may be
fastened to the end of a wire, and used to shade the one part that is
not to be darkened, while if only one small portion is to be darkened a
card with a hole cut in it may be so held that the light passes through
the hole, while the card screens the other part of the image.
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