Making Contact Prints with a Bare Bulb - Large Format Friday

[@travelingtriathlete446]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the image "magically" appear during developing

[@MatMarrash]

It will always be magic! :)

[@fepatton]

This is the holy grail for me. As a kid, I loved Angel Adams’ work most, but there was something about the purity of Edward Weston’s bare bulb contact printing of 8x10 negatives that really appealed to me. I’ve never persuaded myself to spend the money on all the 8x10 equipment and supplies, but I am finally starting to shoot on a 5x7, and I think contacts will be next. Thanks for this!

[@LarryManiccia]

Super impressive results for a simple darkroom set-up Mat! Loved the look of those prints.

[@Agedwheel]

Another well done video. Super useful for those of us without a darkroom. Thanks again

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Michael! A dedicated space is nice, but optional. Made plenty of make-shift spaces in hotels and maintenance closets over the years.

[@jimgoodin-analogphotography20]

Thanks Matt - encouraging. I have been using a homebased DIY darkroom for paper negatives and tray processing of late. I don't have an enlarger and have been wondering atleast for contact prints if i couldn't successfully improvised with some kind of bare bulb and you just proved so thanks very much for this episode! Great work!

[@MatMarrash]

Glad to hear the episode helped Jim, contact printing is simple and fun!

[@ackamack101]

The Edward Weston style of making prints lol. This was great to see you do this. Thank you.

[@donmacdonald5863]

That's great. Amazing how things can be done with minimal equipment.

[@MatMarrash]

It's really satisfying and feels like something is being made by hand.

[@Digibeatle09]

Great illustration of how simple things can be !

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks! Large format is only as complicated as you make it. :)

[@MichaelWellman1955]

This was great and one reason why I chose LF. All you need is a simple bare bulb to print. Like Weston and Michael Smith. The tonality of a contact print is superior to any other type of printing. I laughed seeing your bulb size. I do a lot of my printing on Lodima which requires a lot more power to keep my exposure under 20 seconds. If you keep the shade on you can build a filter holder out of foam cord board so you can use MG paper. Thanks for making my Friday

[@MatMarrash]

Oh man, you're reminding me that I need to find some proper contact printing papers to use! Been forever since I've used AZO and Lodima papers. The list of things to talk about on the channel never seem to end. Cheers Michael!

[@SilntObsvr]

You can also split-grade print by using theatric lighting gels -- a pure blue (or magenta, if you can find one with the right green cutoff) for grade 5, maybe 5.5, depending on your light, and a green or yellow (again, with the right blue cutoff) for grade 0. These are easily obtained in sizes to just lay on the printing glass -- I bought mine, years ago, rolled up in 30x40 inch sizes for a few dollars each. Holding the filter by the corner and moving it around during exposure will prevent creases and dust spots from showing in the print.

[@MichaelWellman1955]

@@SilntObsvr Great suggestion. Don't know why I didn't think of it. When I use MG paper for contact printing that is what I do. I use split grade printing with #0 & #5 gels using those gels.

[@Foxglove963]

@@MichaelWellman1955 Gels? These are filters, surely?

[@darrenwall5439]

Thanks a million great video💚

[@MatMarrash]

Glad it was helpful Darren!

[@Nat.ImagesLarge.F.Photographer]

Perfect tecnical information ,excellent video Mat,thank you very much for great contribution to the Large and Ultra Large Format community !!!

[@hughsydney2620]

awesome staff

[@MatMarrash]

Appreciate it!

[@chevy2die]

Don't think I didn't notice that subtle old school Simpsons reference..."Little from column A, little from column B"

[@jaytayag810]

Great video! Exactly what I was looking for.

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Jay, hope this motivates you to make some prints!

[@jaytayag810]

@@MatMarrash I'm definitely working on it!

[@JamieMPhoto]

Oh hey, this is exactly what I've been thinking about! Perfect demonstration for me.

[@MatMarrash]

Super barebones and easy to set up, you should go for it!

[@toulcaz31]

You really don’t want to leave us any excuses not to try 🙂

[@MatMarrash]

I'm once again asking you to print your pictures! ;)

[@brineb58]

Great info!!! Love the low-tech aspect of it ... when I started developing film in the 70s, always used just a piece of glass for contacts ... bought some antique glass and wood thing in the 90s when I started doin cyanotypes!!!

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Brian, it's a great reminder that the simplest of tools can help create art!

[@stefanmelzer9943]

Thank you so much. That was so inspiring!

[@MatMarrash]

Glad it was helpful!

[@neilpiper910]

Thank you Mat. Seriously that was very inspirational to me as this is precisely something I've been struggling with this past few weeks.

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Neil, glad to hear the video was helpful! :)

[@RodUSMC75]

That was an awesome episode. I've been contemplating doing this experiment, and lucky day I found your video!

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Jaime I say go for it! :)

[@ML-rm3vk]

Contact printing just like Weston did.i visited his darkroom with the friends of photography in calif.note Weston used a 20.dollor lens with many of his shots

[@gemista]

This is great! I do a very similar process with ferroprussiate chemicals in my darkroom with my large format prints.

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks! Are those chemicals you mentioned for cyanotype?

[@gemista]

@@MatMarrash indeed they are. Ferroprussiate is the term that was historically used for the process in the commercial setting. I do all sorts of cyanotypes and I love the way they look! It is definitely worth making a video on if you are into that sort of thing.

[@spagettysnaps]

Gives me ideas. That I shouldn’t do but probably will.

[@_H_2023]

Looking up the Kodak 7watt bulb there are quite a few types; is this a LED bulb (equivalent to 60watts) or an old fashioned 7 watt bulb?

[@MatMarrash]

The bulb used here is a Jr. 7w incandescent bulb. If you use red LED's try to make sure they are very weak, like 1-2W and preferably narrow spectrum to the red wavelengths around 600nm.

[@davidottman9501]

Mat, THANK YOU! Your results are inspirational, great work! It's really helpful that you cover topics at all levels so we can see how to get started, develop our skills, and see where we're eventually going. Perfect timing... This is exactly what I'm just starting to do, in a small bathroom no less. Remodeling into a darkroom conversion isn't realistic. I'll bring in a small table lamp, the overhead bulb is 50W and can't be changed. (The socket is an oddball size, so there's only one choice locally.) So far, I've got one pretty good exposure at eyeballed 1/4 second. Yeah that's way too fast, but sometimes beginner's luck helps. Today's video has opened up new ideas. With availability of LED bulbs in different color temperatures, I'm wondering if that might be a way to give at least a little control over contrast? I'll experiment with that. Graded paper is probably the way to go but inventory cost will rise. How do you get prints to dry flat? Simply hanging them results in a curly mess but wouldn't putting them into some flat screen or binder get them permanently stuck or leave a pattern across the surface? Thanks again!

[@MatMarrash]

Hey David, if you're getting exposure times < 5 sec., I'd recommend adding some type of diffuser like a sheet of white plastic. Otherwise, you could buy a dimmer to place between your light and the wall plug. LED's capable of changing spectrum from blue to green wavelengths will help with contrast, but will need a logic board and driver to operate effectively. Check out the end of these two videos for tips on drying prints: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaGxeoSVgpWgiZI kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJCbdIqFmJiChZI

[@Murgoh]

"It's not a photograph untiI it's printed". Yes! My thoughts exactly! Maybe someone good at digital photo editing can get a scan to look as good as a print but I sure can't. For me the whole idea of film photography is doing it all the old school, fully analog way from a fully manual camera to a real darkroom print. I use a scanner to replace contact prints though, to decide which negatives I want to print.

[@ML-rm3vk]

edward weston revisited.old school but great results look at weston prints .

[@MatMarrash]

Oh man, Weston contact prints are truly something to behold! Had a chance to see and handle a few at a gallery several years back and still wowed by what he accomplished with mastery of simple tools.

[@nickfanzo]

I make contacts with my 4x5 but the size really needs as simple composition. Gonna move up in size soon. Ed Weston used a bare bulb and they say his negatives were bullet proof, meaning very dense.

[@MatMarrash]

With contact printing and alternative process, I like a very dense negative. When it's in the enlarger, that's a different story completely!

[@nickfanzo]

@@MatMarrash yes it depends. I don’t like short exposures in the enlarger either. But not too long!

[@Harrya_07]

Hey love the video, i want to do this as i cant afford a enlarger but have a contact frame used for cyanotypes and have the chemicals and paper, i don't shoot LF but can make digital negatives, would this still work by using a digital negative instead of an LF negative

[@stevebills2427]

Matt, have you thought about doing a large format workshop? I'd be interested.

[@MatMarrash]

Tricky to arrange something in-person at the moment, but workshops are something on the horizon in 2021 for sure! Right now, you can arrange One-on-One instruction via my website: marrash.com/one-on-one

[@stevebills2427]

@@MatMarrash Cool! I will check it out.

[@ImperiousImages]

Great follow up video. I’m curious how a small led panel (video light, at low power) would give different results compared to a single point light source? Less contrast?

[@MatMarrash]

Contrast difference may happen due to spectrum emission differences in the lights. Typically though, LED sources are more efficient with power and may need diffused for controllable exposure times.

[@flipflopsleica]

I'm in. About how far between the bulb and the negative for this case, i.e. ~4'? Gotta love the LFF.

[@MatMarrash]

Haha not quite 4", today's setup was about 24"/600mm from the contact frame. Such a teeny bulb needs some distance to have even coverage across the negative.

[@laurentbaig6059]

Ok, but can you do it in a bathtub? Inspiring!

[@MatMarrash]

The silver stained tub in my old apartment can confirm this!

[@ML-rm3vk]

edward weston like many early folks did the same.doint forget tissue for the glass.

[@PBosco]

Maybe I missed it, but did you use a variable contrast filter?

[@niall_o_donovan]

...and don't forget the safety- light!

[@MatMarrash]

Safelight not 100% necessary, but helps moving around in the dark.

[@Francois_L_7933]

On many sheets of large format film it says "retouchable base". With those you can actually use a graphite pencil to lightly add density to the image on the back of the film. That's how they used to do it in the old days.

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Francois! I'll admit it's a scary thought to take a pencil to an original negative. Maybe one of these days I'll give it a try.

[@stealthvanlife6867]

Simple is always great. Question. Looks like you were using 8x10 negatives. What size was that paper you were using?

[@MatMarrash]

8x10 negatives, you got it! I took some 11x14" paper and trimmed it down to 10x12", giving me some off-cuts for test strips. You can also purchase Ilford MG Classic FB paper in 9x12" for 8x10 contact printing.

[@mathieubauwens9759]

It make me think I need some photolab chemistry...

[@MatMarrash]

Thanks Mathieu, you should totally get some. I'd love to see some of your portrait work made into contact prints!

[@mathieubauwens9759]

@@MatMarrash Hey Mat, thanks for your answer. You can a quick look at my intro page of y website to see 8x10 portraits. Thanks for your video and all the inspiratuonal work !

[@notyourtipicaltechguy6438]

You can also use a speedlite at 128th power with a good nd filter

[@joecomeau6111]

Couldnt you still use multigrade filters under the bulb?

[@MatMarrash]

Assuming you have MG filters wide enough to cover your reflector/diffuser, yes.

[@michamakowski9558]

Edward Weston's great-grandson 😉

[@MatMarrash]

I'll gladly accept that title! :)

[@ErnstGeorgLorinser]

Thank you Mat, this was perfect 👌 ! You mentioned the pin point light source. I was wondering, isn‘t better to have a more even light source? I am thinking of reflecting it from a wall to have a weaker intensity and more even light. Question comes up: does photo paper also have a reciprocity behavior? BR Ernst

[@MatMarrash]

Hey Ernst, your email was what sparked all of this! As long as you give the point source a good distance, typically 2x diagonal of the print size, the point source should be fine. If you're reflecting the light, make sure it also has enough distance to travel to reach the print evenly. Paper does have a minimum exposure threshold it needs to start holding a latent image, but I've never made prints that required exposure times of > 60 sec. Thanks!

[@aryanquentin6301]

I dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know of a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid forgot the login password. I appreciate any help you can offer me!

[@alexanderwells2884]

@Aryan Quentin Instablaster =)

[@aryanquentin6301]

@Alexander Wells i really appreciate your reply. I found the site on google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@aryanquentin6301]

@Alexander Wells It worked and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my account!

[@Beano_z]

Couldn’t be quicker!

[@gromitdaddy]

Edward Weston printed with a bare bulb. Of course he used Azo and Amidol.

[@MatMarrash]

Love the simplicity of Weston's setup coupled with the gorgeous "look" of Azo in Amidol.

[@jmtubbs1639]

Ilford still make fixed grade papers

[@MatMarrash]

Yep they sure do!

[@nickfanzo]

Update I found sodium chloride paper like azo made by Adox. I strongly recommend anyone contacting printing to try this paper, it’s beautiful and it’s low iso so you don’t need a tiny bulb to print on it

[@arty2917]

I think there may be a Polaroid in your door frame...

[@MatMarrash]

There's a few! :)

[@Denik-mf5ej]

How to make a contact print using a digital photo on iPad?

[@MatMarrash]

Hey there! Kits are available to make enlargements with an image projected from a digital screen. Never heard about one being able to do a contact print. The biggest problem I see using a screen would be the pixels from the screen showing up sharply on the print.

[@Denik-mf5ej]

@@MatMarrash Hi 👋 . If I use, for example, an iPad Air 10.9-inch (diagonal) 2360 x 1640-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi), and make a 1:1 (10.9”) print, will the pixels be visible?

[@ashleyhoff7561]

Hey? What? I bet there is a blocked drain, full of hair somewhere :D

[@MatMarrash]

The beard lasted long enough, but keeping it tall on the top! :)

[@ashleyhoff7561]

@@MatMarrash stretch goal for me.

[@keithpage8672]

For the guys who have not printed ever. They need to know that there is an optimum time the paper should be in the dev. tray. Don't whip the print from the dev. before it is fully developed ! Depending on the dev. and temp. at least one minute in the dev is necessary. I usually take all my prints to a three min in the developer.

[@MatMarrash]

Good call Keith! I go for minimum two minutes with fiber, but know a few folks that take it to three.

[@TimGreigPhotography]

Ideally when it stops developing

[@chiefdispatcher]

Когда уже будут цветные фотографии?

[@MatMarrash]

I don't do much color printing, but I am working on a different process using color RA-4 paper: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2SXYmZsgpJrhLc

[@creepyloner1979]

if you have a camera, you have an enlarger.

[@MatMarrash]

It can be a bit of hassle to convert, but that is an option with a sturdy LF camera. Thanks for the reminder!