Now all of these considerations may make very dry reading, but the reader who has followed them closely will see how vital they are to successful work. It should not be thought, however, that every exposure on bromide paper must involve an arithmetical calculation. On the contrary, once the proper distance from the light for the normal negative has been ascertained, it will be found that nine negatives out of ten will require no change in the distance from the source of light. This, of course, presuming that we classify our negatives and enlarge from those of the same quality at the same time.
One great objection to the use of bromide paper is that it must be handled in a dark-room. But this objection is not as serious as it may seem. An ordinary living room at night furnishes a delightful place in which to make prints, if we handle our solutions with reasonable care. The ruby glass can be removed from the dark-room lamp, and the orange glass used alone. But in this case, as indeed with the ruby light, care must be taken to guard against too much light. Development should be conducted at a distance of several feet from the light, and when almost completed, the tray can be brought close under the light to enable the worker to stop it at exactly the right moment. Ordinary bromide paper is about as sensitive as the process or slow dry plate or the average lantern-slide plate, and requires as much care as either, but not nearly so much as the most rapid dry plates. If fogging is noticed, of course additional precautions should be taken at once.
Chapter III
CONTACT PRINTING ON BROMIDE PAPER
Nothing more than will be found in an ordinary dark-room will be found necessary in bromide printing by contact, unless it be some arrangement for determining readily the distance of the negative from the source of light. For this purpose and with an oil-lamp, use a board a foot wide and about three feet long placed on the developing bench against the base of the dark-room lamp. It should be marked with black lines six inches apart. See Fig. 2.
Greater uniformity in lighting will be gained if a piece of white cardboard be placed immediately behind the flame. Some lamps have reflectors, in which case the card is unnecessary, provided that they reflect the light uniformly; otherwise such reflectors are worse than useless.
Having arranged the needful apparatus to our satisfaction, the last preparatory step before manipulation is the making up of a developer. Almost any of the modern developers (pyro excepted) will give good results with bromide paper. In every package of paper will be found the developers advised by the manufacturer of the paper used. Invariably there is among these a formula for ferrous oxalate developer. This is probably the best of all developers for pure black tones, but I cannot advise the novice to take it up in the early stages of his work with bromide paper.
When this developer is used an acid clearing bath is necessary, and this invites complications which may be disastrous to the prints. When experience has been gained, and a large number of prints are to be made at one time, it will be found advantageous as working longer with greater efficiency and more uniformity than some of the other developers. It is troublesome to prepare and does not keep well, apart from which there is the disadvantage that it does not permit of control in development in as large a measure as other developers.