I did another batch of contact prints from my set of Large Format (LF) negatives last night, mainly because I wanted to do a reasonable set of prints of the 'family portraits' I did of my sister and her family before they emigrated to Australia. The plan is to get a set of decent prints and send them off to their new address.
Yesterday also coincided with my receiving a 5x4 negative holder from ebay (I have a plan to construct my own 5x4 enlarger, so a neg holder seemed like a good place to start). The holder itself had two detachable 5x4 'frames' which looked like they may come in handy - as indeed they did. Placing two LF negatives on a sheet of 10x8 paper, I was able to use the 'frames' to both hold down the negative without using a sheet of glass, and to give a nice broad white border.
The addition of the broad border really makes a difference which is quite amazing. The shots themselves are not all that great unfortunately (if I were able to do them again, I would - using a lens hood etc. - but that's the way it goes I guess).
However, the real revelation was my first 'still life'. The negative scan (reflective scan, so not a great start - shown here) is flat and lacking - but the print is full of bite and detail - perhaps it's just the physical object, but I feel that it's a promising sign for things to come :-)
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Submitted by namcom on Wed, 23/01/2008 - 11:12
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