[LargeFormat] paper negs

[Stein]

Dear Don,

     Delighted to hear that someone else is crazy too. I mean someone doing
paper negatives. I use a yellow filter taped to the inside element of my
Symmar S when I am taking paper negs to reduce what otherwise I find to be
unprintable contrast. Remember I am dealing with daylight sunny exposure
here in West Australia where we have long dispensed with the ozone layer and
are running on pure UVA and UVB. Eggs come out of the chicken ready-fried...

    That is an exxageration, but I must say that the old exposure rule of
f.16 and the reciprocal of the ASA speed for a normal sunny day exposure
will generally yield a half to a full stop over with standard film these
days. Now I run f.22 and the reciprocal and get a good negative.

    Back to the paper. I use Agfa MCP 310 for my negatives and I think it
has inherently a little more contrast than the Ilford materials. Please
don't hit me on the head with a densitometer but that is what I find when I
am printing here. I can print through it on a contact in just a few seconds
and if I am prepared to stay awake in the dark by whistling to myself I can
even enlarge through it. That is more novelty than utility.

    All this having been said, I think that paper negatives contribute a
real charm to older subjects. If you can get the costumes, early Victorian
photography is possible. I have space and props in my studio for just this
and I delight in setting my friends up a-la Hill and Adamson  with head and
hand props and producing the out of time results. I also have an orientalist
set that lends itself to oriental dancers and their like. Bare feet! Ankles!
Acres of tulle! Oh, the humanity....

     Uncle Dick