Question about making Color Prints

[gwendolyn_white]

I make black and white prints with ease, but color has always puzzled me. I've

heard that there are enlargers that do both B&W and color, but I never

understood how. Apparently you add different colored filters to the B&W enlarger

to get color?

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If anyone could explain to me just how these enlargers work (the B&W that can do

color as well), and give me any other information about producing <i>color</i>

prints, I would greatly appreciate it. I'd be more specific but <i>any</i>

information about making color prints is very much appreciated, so I don't want

to limit myself to just one question. Links to some good enlargers that do both

B&W and color would be great too.

[randrew1]

The Beseler 45M that I donated to a school earlier this year is primarily for B&W, but it has a filter drawer above the condenser. With 7 inch color compensating filters I once used it for color printing. (Anyone remember Ektaflex?) These filters come red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow in gradations from 0.025 to 0.50 density. For most color printing, only magenta and yellow are needed.

 

There are color heads for enlargers with dichroic filters that move in and out of the light path. These filter heads make it easy to adjust the color balance for color printing. By setting all of the filters to zero, it would be possible to use and enlarger such as this for B&W. There are some compromises. A color head is a diffuse light source that will produce slightly lower contrast with B&W negatives.

[robert_martin5]

If you want to print color it's best to use an enlarger with a color head, which is a diffusion enlarger. The color head has three adjustments - Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow. Getting these set for the correct color balance is the problem since it's a function of the film, paper, and chemicals - these have to be adjusted for each print that is taken in different light conditions. Color analyzers help, but it's still a trial and error process to some extent.

 

Processing color paper is also different than processing B&W paper. All processing is in total darkness, so all processing is done for fixed times, which means temperature must be controlled very tight (< 1 degree) to get repeatable resutls. I use a Jobo rotary processor which has good temperature control. Chemical temperatures are elevated, generally in the 100F range.

 

I have processed color film and paper for overy 40 years in my home darkroom, but now use digital processing. I find it's much easier to get things correct using Photoshop and inkjet printers (pigment ink). If a digital printer were available at a reasonable price, I would still like to use photographic paper for printing from digital since I like the look of real photographic paper better.

[James G. Dainis]

Basically all an enlarger does is shoot light through a negative to get the negative image on the photo paper. Using color paper and chemistry, the photo colors may be off. Then you have to add color filtration to correct the colors.

[craig_shearman1]

ALL enlargers can do either B&W or color. It's just a question of whether you use external filters or built-in filters. A traditional basic enlarger with a condenser light source is intended for B&W but will accept color printing filters either in a filter drawer above the lens or in a holder below the lens just the same as it will accept polycontrast filters. You have to determine the proper filtration for the print and put in the right combination of filters, which come as square gels usually about 3x3 inches (larger for larger formats). A "color" enlarger is usually the same enlarger with a color head. A color head includes built-in filters and/or mirrors with knobs where you can dial in the amount of filtration needed rather than having to put together a stack of individual filters. Much more convenient if you're doing color regularly, but you can print color with either.

[gwendolyn_white]

Thank you all very much for the replies. Color printing is pretty much as I guessed, but it's very helpful to have someone explain it. The processing part always puzzled me because I figured it would have to be in complete darkness, but I was not sure.