Darkroom Vs Digital Darkroom week three ...

Darkroom Vs Digital Darkroom ...

part three

Its that time again when we compare Darkroom with Digital Darkroom techniques. Over the next few weeks in the running of the Easter Holidays, we will be experimenting with different techniques between Darkroom and Digital Darkroom... 

Mondays: Darkroom Techniques 

Tuesdays: Digital Techniques

Which Technique works best for some than others? Let's find out ...

In the third week of doing Darkroom techniques I tried Combination printing again and this time changed my images for the two prints.

Landscape with Flower surrounded by trees

Tudor Grange house with stone wall in the sky

These two prints came out better then my last print from stratford. I wanted to create something different from before and this time I selected different images that would work better together. 

My First attempt was the trees with a church tower in the background with the flower in the centre of the print. I printed the trees first before blocking out the trees and directing the light to expose the flower after changing the negative. To get the flower blended well within the trees I moved the black piece of card up and down and slightly left and right to blend the two negatives together.

My second print is a combination of Tudor Grange house and a stone wall. I selected these two images to try someting different again. I like how the stone wall looks like it's crashing into Tudor Grange. once more I stenciled out the sky and printed the house with using black card to block out where the stone wall was going. when the house had been exposed I reversed the process and printedthe stone wall. 

Both combination prints worked well and both have strong contrasting images. 

I am happy with how each combination print has worked out second time around. I learnt from the pervious week and I am glad I decided to change negatives.

I also tried two different white borders with two single prints. My prints are very contrasting which I like about these two images, the style of both works well for each border.

The Stone wall fitting well with uneven border because the stone is unever itself while the Flower print works well with the even border because of the style of the print it needs a frame.

The difference between these two white borders is the way they are exposed, one image is printed normal in the centre of the paper without anything blocking the light and setting a frame whereas the other one is more framed by opening the frames to create a straight even frame. 

Uneven white border of a stone wall

White even border on a flower

After printing my white borders I had a go at doing a black border. The process is the opposite of producing a white border but using a piece of card to block out the size of the print as you'd have to develop the border first. I had to set the enlarger higher for more light before printing.

Black Border of the Eiffel Tower - Pairs

My last Darkroom technique of the day is a sprocket frame. I did however had trouble with this one.
My first attempt didn't go so well even thought I got the basic idea of a Sprocket Frame ...

Attempt two

Attempt one.

My First attempt at this Technique worked fairly well the only downside was covering too much of the frame and ended up having a thick and thin white borders, so I tried again but ended up with worse results. My second attempt got the idea of the frame but no picture, this was my own fault as I had left the red filter in the way so I ended up doing a third try at the Sprocket frame...

Third time lucky ...

Attempt three

My Third attempt was a success... I got the frame right and the image fitted nicely within the frame and even catching the side of the negative and part of another image. 

This process took me the longest out of all the others I have done so far. To get the sprocket frame I used a larger negative holder with a negative inside that held a blank space. Next I replaced my orginal negative holder with the image of the Eiffel Tower and used tape to mark out where to place the card to cover the sides so my image would fit in perfectly without having white edges and making it look like the image is part of the negative. 

Out of the techniques I have learnt so far, this week I would want to try more combination printing in the near the future as I like the style of what can be created with the two correct negatives.

I would be really grateful for feedback for future purpose...