ABSTRACT
The students of my photography class and I had started our second day in the darkroom. We had just developed contact sheets from previously processed film and were about to select a negative to learn basic photographic printing. The negative I proposed had never been printed before, and therefore, it was a bit of an experience for all of us. Most instructors shy away from using a ‘new’ negative in this situation. They feel that exploring the potential of a negative and teaching basic printing at the same time may conflict. It may also generate confusion and may lose the educational value, which comes with a prepared and well-organized session. I cannot disagree with that viewpoint, but I feel confident enough to believe that a structured operating sequence will tackle any negative. This particular negative did not seem to contain any unusual challenges. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780240816265/ffb21561-2f2c-4dca-99ec-f086fc154d4d/content/fig_chp2_sec3_u1_OC.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
