ENLARGING--DAYLIGHT METHODS
In taking up enlarging a full knowledge of what has been said as to the
manipulation of bromide paper will be necessary, as the principles
governing exposure apply here as in contact printing, errors being even
more serious, owing to the greater waste of material.
For the illuminant used in enlarging, we may employ either daylight or
artificial light. The former is cheap, but variable; the first cost of the
latter is quite a little sum, but the light is uniform. A daylight
enlarging apparatus can be made for a dollar or two, and hence is within
the reach of all; and if the process be given up, the loss is not serious.
If the cost is of little or no moment, very serviceable enlarging cameras
can be bought for about twenty-five dollars. Such a camera is adapted for
reducing as well as enlarging, and so will be found useful for lantern
slide making, copying, etc. As a matter of fact, few things are as useful
to the amateur as a good enlarging outfit.
We will first consider enlarging by daylight with home-made apparatus. For
this purpose a room with at least one window will be needed. It should
preferably be convenient to the dark-room. If the window of this room
commands a view unobstructed by buildings, trees or the like, so much the
better. I personally prefer a south light. With this one can get soft
enlargements from the most contrasty negatives, while by shielding the
negatives from the direct rays of the sun we can work from negatives which
are quite flat and lacking in contrasts.
[Illustration: Fig. 3]
But whatever the room chosen, all windows but the one at which we are to
work must be blocked up. This can be done by heavy dark curtains, or by
specially constructed frames covered with light-tight material and made to
fit closely in the windows. If there are any transoms these should
likewise be covered. White light entering under the doors can be shut out
by placing a rug along the bottom of the door. Care must be taken that the
window-frames fit closely, as the light from openings at the windows would
soon fog a sheet of bromide paper if it fell upon it even for a few
moments.
[Illustration: Fig. 4]
Assuming that the room chosen can be made practically light-tight, we will
need some arrangement to hold the negative. The details of a box for this
purpose can best be shown by a diagram (Fig. 3). ABCD is a strong and
neatly made box open at both ends, and about two inches larger each way
than the largest negative from which enlargements are to be made. E
represents a section of a board which forms part of a window frame, a
general view of which is given in Fig. 4. Reverting to Fig. 3, F is an
opening cut in the side of the negative box two inches or a little less
from the back of the box, AD, and wide enough to admit the free passage of
a negative in a kit or other holder. On the inside of the box are tacked
strips, GGGG, to serve as a guide to the kit when placing it in the box.
An opening similar to F should be made in the other side of the box to
permit lateral adjustments when we come to use the apparatus, besides
enabling us to put the negative in or withdraw it from either side. A
convenient modification of the strips, G, is found by placing the front
ones a short distance further forward, to wit, toward BC, as they are
shown in the cut (Fig. 3), and tacking to them a piece of watch spring, H,
this then serving both as a guide and as a means of pressing the kit or
negative holder against the other strips, GG (Fig. 5).
[Illustration: Fig. 5]
J is a sheet of ground-glass, which is tacked over the opening when the
box is firmly set in the board, E. It is well to have this ground-glass
fixed in place so that it can be readily removed if desired.
[Illustration: Fig. 6]
The necessity for having the box at least two inches larger each way than
the largest negative from which enlargements are to be made is shown in
Fig. 6. Here AB represents the negative in place, CA, DB and EG represent
rays of light entering the box. It will be seen that the rays CA and DB
strike the ground-glass at an angle, but nevertheless at an angle which
results in their passing through it in a considerable degree. They strike
the negative AB, but if the negative were the full size of the box, to wit
FG, it will be seen that while the section AB would be fully lighted, the
sections AF and BG would receive no oblique rays at all, and hence the
negative would not be even approximately uniformly lighted. This point is
too often overlooked in the construction of apparatus of this character,
but is necessary in all cases of daylight enlarging and especially when
direct sunlight is used. Now with the negative box in place, some
arrangement must be made for holding the lens, which can be the lens used
for making the negative. This for enlargements of a fixed size from
negatives of a given size can be accomplished by simply extending the
section BGGC Fig. 3, to a proper distance and placing the lens in the end
of it; but this permits too little opportunity for adjustments and is not
advisable. A double box, one sliding within the other, would be better,
but still not quite satisfactory. It is far better to adapt one's camera
to the apparatus, and this can always be done; it being very simple with a
reversible back camera, which can be backed right up to the opening, and
more difficult but always possible with others. Fig. 7 shows the entire
apparatus in place, and the manner in which it is used. AB is the window
board, C is the negative box, D is the camera adjusted to the latter, E is
the enlarging screen on an easel to hold the bromide paper, and F is the
reflector. The screen on the easel can be made either to rest on the floor
or on a table. It can be made to run on a track or otherwise, and it can
also be made so as to admit of either vertical or lateral adjustment or
both, or it can be nothing more than an ordinary box set on a table. But
however constructed it must be considerably larger than the largest sheet
of bromide paper which is to be used, thus allowing for nearly all
necessary adjustments of the paper. It is preferably covered with white
paper or fine blotter to aid in focusing. The reflector F is considerably
larger than the negative-box, and adjusted at an angle which will reflect
the light from the sky or sun evenly upon the ground glass. It is best
covered with good white blotting paper. G is a hood which I have found
useful in sunlight enlarging, especially in summer when the sun is almost
overhead. It is placed on the outside of the window-frame, some distance
above the ground-glass, and shields the latter from the direct rays of the
sun, which would otherwise cause uneven illumination owing to their too
great obliquity. The direct sun on the white reflector will give a light
of high intensity. In winter, however, when the sun is low, it will fall
directly on the ground-glass, and this, if the negative box be constructed
as advised, is not objectionable, but on the contrary an advantage. In
Fig. 4 the opening, FGHI, represents a sheet of ruby glass, and can be
screened while focusing if found to interfere with the worker's
convenience in that operation.
[Illustration: Fig. 7]
The apparatus as sketched will suffice for all ordinary work.
Modifications of it will depend upon the ingenuity of the man who attempts
to design or construct one. It should be noted that the distance of the
ground-glass from the negative has its influence in the strength of the
light, and it is better to have this distance not over two inches. If less
than one inch, however, the diffusion of light is not so good. When the
light is weak the ground-glass can be removed entirely; the negative will
thus be viewed directly against the white reflector. Very strong negatives
giving undue contrasts may also be dealt with in this way. Or, if the
light is too strong for flat negatives, the reflector can be removed
entirely, or to the same end a sheet of yellow glass can be substituted
for the ground-glass, thus increasing contrasts. In fact, a very useful
and easily arranged modification of the negative-box consists of an
opening in the top of the box inside the room through which can be dropped
an extra sheet of ground-glass or opal to cut down the light, or of yellow
glass to increase contrast. This opening should be at the point K, Fig. 3.
I have referred to a kit as being the proper arrangement for holding the
negative. This, after much tribulation in working with home-made
contrivances, I have found to be the best arrangement. They come a size or
two larger than the negative with which they are to be used, and can
easily be cut down to the proper dimensions. With it, also, other kits to
hold smaller negatives can readily be used. It is also simple with them to
fasten the negatives in place. If they extend beyond the box on either
side so much the better; greater lateral adjustment can then be made. The
negative box, Fig. 3, is best painted dead black inside in the section
GBCG, and white in the section AGGD. The reasons for this will be obvious
at a glance.
In enlarging from films it is well to place them between two sheets of
glass of proper size, and fasten the whole in the kit or negative-holder.
For this purpose use thin glass without flaws or scratches. If the films
are smaller than the opening in the kit, it is well to paste a black mat
on one of the glasses, when, after proper adjustment, the film will remain
in place between the two glasses with very little pressure.
Enlarged negatives are very easily made with the apparatus described. A
contact positive can be made, preferably on carbon transparency tissue,
and from this the enlargement made, or an enlarged positive made first,
and from this a contact negative. The latter plan is preferable, since it
admits of retouching on both positive and negative. Slow plates should be
used throughout. For those who do not care to go to the expense of
experimenting with large plates, I would suggest that good contact
positives be first made and from these negatives on bromide paper,
_Standard A_, _soft_. These negatives are treated as already described.
The best positive for this purpose is a thin one with full gradations of
tone from clear high light to deep shadow, without veil or fog, but free
from any suspicion of flatness.