Need Help on printing in the darkroom

Warrior · Feb 22, 2006

Ok so i have developed negatives. I made the contact sheet. The negatives looked in focus then when i made a print it was not out of focus that bad but it was a bit. This happens with my other negatives too. My professor said they were out of focus. I take forever focusing the camera just to make sure i get it. I am not sure what is going on. Anyone got any ideas? I have 5 prints due next tuesday and it is my first critique so I would like them to be in focus as good as possible.

alexecho · Feb 23, 2006

Negatives do tend to look sharp even if they aren't quite, but it is worth checking if it's the camera that's a little out of focus or the enlarger? If you aren't quite getting the enlarger focused properly it would make a sharp negative look fuzzy when you get the print. Do they look sharp to you? Enlargers are hard to focus by eye.
Could you try printing from someone elses neg or getting them to print one of yours to check the enlarger focus?
If it is the neg thats not sharp, you could try a different lens/camera to check your focussing. If the camera and lens are OK, try an optician...

It really is just a case of testing all the variables to see where the problem is arising. Good luck.

PlasticSpanner · Feb 23, 2006

Are you using a focuser with the enlarger? It's like a tube at an angle with a morror at the bottom and a lens eyepeice at the top and you adjust the focus on the enlarger until you can see the grain nice & sharp through the focuser.

Is the paper completely flat on the easel and is the negative flat in the holder? Either of these curling at the edges will produce out of focus prints.

The other question is are your eyes good? if you need to wear glasses do you use them when using the camera?

Torus34 · Feb 23, 2006

This is basic, but focus the enlarger with the lens wide open and then stop down the lens by at least a couple of stops to print. This increases the depth of field of the enlarger lens and can correct for slight focussing errors.

If the image on the negative is not sharp, though, nothing in the enlarging process will help much. There are masking techniques, but as the old song goes, that topic is beyond the scope of this reply.

You can check the negative itself with a 10x or greater magnifier.

jakes#onedodgeangel07 · Apr 6, 2006

You could try using a tripod. They usually let you check them out at the college. Are you in college?
I know I had trouble getting it into focus too. What kind of camera do you have? I have a Pentax ZX-M.