Page 61 - The Wellington photographic handbook

EXPOSURES AT A DISTANCE OF EIGHTEEN INCHES.

To an ordinary (" batswing ") gas burner 6 seconds.
To a duplex paraffin lamp with clear glass chimney 5 „
To an incandescent gas burner in good order ... 2
To a sixteen c.p. incandescent electric light ... 3
To a small acetylene burner ... 2
As the term " average negative " is of a very loose description,
one or two trials will have to be made. For this purpose a sheet
of paper may be cut into three or four pieces, different exposures
given to each and marked on them in pencil, and then all developed
together. One such experiment should be quite sufficient to give
the beginner at Bromide printing a perfectly clear idea as to the
exposure required.
The advantage of always working with the same light, and
at the same distance from it, is this : when once the exposure has
been found, the number of seconds may be written upon one corner
of the negative in pencil, and when another print is wanted it can
be made straight away, with the certainty that the exposure is
correct. There is no real difficulty in determining the exposure
any negative will want without this guide, but it is convenient to
have it, and it costs no trouble.

DEVELOPING THE PRINT.
This, of course, must be done in the dark-room. The exposed
paper is taken from the printing frame, or, if an enlargement, from
the enlarging apparatus—both contact prints and enlargements
are from this stage onwards treated in the same way—and laid
face upwards in a clean dish.

If the prints are small ones, say, up to and including 10x8
inches, the developer may be poured straight on without
first
wetting the paper in water. For larger sizes it is better to allow
the print to soak for a minute in clean water, to pour this off and
drain for a moment, and then to flow over the developer. While
in the water the print should be examined to see that it is wetted
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