Paper Negative Photography

[richard_downey]

I would appreciate information and advice on paper negative

photography in a 4x5 camera. Can 4x5 paper be slipped into a

negative carrier? If so, can it be inserted in less than total

darkness? What type of paper? And processing .. any particular

chemicals? Any input would be welcome. I rather like the idea of a

paper negative, not having a fully equipped dark-room, and the

intention of never doing more than contact printing when using film.

By the way, thanks for come-backs on other issues.

 

Richard

[richard_downey]

oops! I mean't into a sheet film holder.

Richard

[ole_tjugen]

Why - of course!

 

It may be difficult (at least it is in Norway) to get 4x5" paper, but 10x15cm can easily be cut down to size (that's 4x6", or close enough).

 

Use any single-weight paper, do all work in safelight - red or amber or some such. Graded paper is better than multigrade, which has some surprising (well - they shouldn't have been...) contrast differences depending on the colour of your subject.

 

Photographic paper can be considered to be blue-sensitive only, so you'll get the washed-out skies of early photography.

 

Developed in paper developer (like Neutol), I have used a ISO 3° as a starter sensitivity. Some papers are faster; few are above ISO 9°.

[tim_atherton2]

there have been long discussions on this before - check out the archives

[neil_poulsen1]

I tried this recently, and got decent results. It's a neat process that gives a unique appearance to the final print.

 

My process was to print a negative at whatever contrast appeared best for the given photograph. Then, I contact printed this positive against another sheet of paper to obtain the paper negative. My final step was to contact this paper negative with yet a third sheet of paper to obtain the final positive.

 

As for tips, the paper negative tends to exaggerate contrast. So, I generated this negative at a grade 1 contrast using the older style Ilford 6" contrast filters. Then, I printed the final print from the paper negative at grade 2 contrast. I used Agfa Classic F VC FB paper. Given your filters and/or paper, you may need to experiment a little.

 

I have a Patterson foam rubber contract printer which works well for contact printing negatives. But, it did not work well for paper negatives. While I didn't try it, I thought that it might be worth using one of the old-style contact printer, like those made by Premier. (There's currently one up for auction on EBay.) I suspect it requires a fair amount of pressure to between two sheets of paper to get good results.

 

If you are really serious about this approach, there's a decent reference. I can't find my copy, so I can't recite the publisher and author. But, the title is something like "The Making of Paper Negatives". I found mine as a used book in a local bookstore.

[dr5 examples]

If you really want to get into paper negs, there is a book called "primitive photography". It tells you how to make your own cameras, lenses, film holders (for wet and dry processes), and paper emulsions. The author's idea was to be able to do photography even if (when?) manufacturer's stop making products for photography. It's a good book, but it takes some dedication to try out his approach!

 

Isaac

[robert_kennedy]

I second the recommendation. Great book. Shows you how to do everything! Even make your own lenses!

[patrick_ingram]

You may or may not know this, but this month's issue of Black and White Photography Magazine (the British one) has an article on paper negs.

[john_sutherland]

Just curious, what kind of effect do you get from negative paper?

[richard_downey]

Thanks everyone. I picked up my Sunday paper at Border's today. While there I ordered a copy of Primative Photography and managed to find a copy of B&W Photography, Brit. edition, December issue. Page 63 photo of Will, Grannie, and Alice is wonderful. What a timeless photograph. Good examples of the results of paper negatives.

[joe_hunt1]

Richard

If you go to my slim portfolio in the gallery on photo.net I've got a photo self portrait taken with a paper neg. Some details are there - Ilford MG4 exposed at ISO 3 - about 1sec at f/16. Don't forget to print the neg face down, otherwise the light goes through the paper fibres after going through the image - not good!

 

p.s. I just realised I could upload the image here - so, hopefully, here it is.<div></div>

[richard_downey]

Very well done, Joe. Your cottage windows seem to be European in design, and I think I detect a bubble cable release.

Regards, Richard

[wally_hess]

I never would have thought of using paper as a negative until I read this post. Thanks

I played with it today using Kodak RC paper cut down to 4"x5".

Print was exposed at F11 for 90 seconds using existing room light.

Rather than reprint onto paper, I scanned the paper negative into photoshop, added the brown tint and cropped image. Image is attached.

I'll admit its not a great artwork, but I will have fun playing with this technique over the new year holiday.

[richard_downey]

Good shot, Wally. And, congratulations on keeping your kitty-cat still enough for a ninety second exposure. I would suggest obtaining a copy of the Brit edition of B&W Photography, December issue, for some tech info and fine paper negative illustrations.

Richard

[tacocharly]

well, this is about a year late, but i was shooting lots of paper negatives well before this thread was started, wuth an 8 by 10 camera i borrowed. i just scanned and uploaded them to the web a few days ago and was doing some research for an upcoming project with paper negatives. if its any help to anyone in the future, you can take a look at these, shot mostly on ilford miltigrade rc, or kodak polycontrast rc. http://ethan.sadmensclub.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=8x10granddaddy,ofpaperplates