So you’ve read on the internet you can use photo paper in your camera instead of film, and you want to shoot paper negatives. This can be a lot of fun, and not that deep a rabbit hole to dive into. It just requires a little effort like most things.
You just have to devise a system..
What you have is a camera, paper, light and developer. the only real unknown are the paper, light, developer and camera.
You can use any camera you want it really doesn’t matter. Box cameras can be found at 2nd hand, and junque stores for not much money, just get one and get used to it. You won’t really be using more than the B or T setting. Usually the Fstop is about f10 for box cameras. Maybe it is a different Fstop, it really doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change and it is what it is, its a constant.
Photo paper comes in all sizes, speeds and “grades”. If you buy old paper it’s kind of a crap shoot. Some people try to sell paper that has been damaged through heat and humidity so buyer beware. “multi grade paper” means it is modern and you dont’ need to adjust your film very much to get good prints, if you need to adjust the over all contrast of your final print you use filters and the paper adjusts the contrast accordingly. “graded” papers are different paper, they are “contrast-graded” so instead of using a #4 filter if you have a thin negative you would use a Grade 4 paper &c. If you are following me into the rabbit hole, you can make your own photo paper by making emulsion yourself or coating bottled emulsion on paper ( http://thelightfarm.com ) is well worth the visit, and Denise Ross’ books are extremely valuable resources. Emulsion making is really not rocket science, but like anything it can be as complicated as you want to make it. I’ve made a handful of different emulsions and they worked great but, I prefer not very complicated so I settled on one with only a few ingredients that takes me about 1/2 hour to make.
When you find your paper you’re going to have to play with it a little and figure out how to expose it. Years ago I did an ISO test with all the paper that I had. It was probably 15 different varieties. Just made sure the time of day and light is consistent and if it is different, make note of what was different ( hard direct light vs indirect / open shade &c ). You will notice that new paper like Ilford MG is around ISO 24 in direct sunlight, open shade it’s slower (open shade has less BLUE light which photo paper is sensitive to) .. Your situation may be different, so it’s just a ball park figure. Make “test strips” in your camera if you are using a big camera. if you are using a 35mm just drag something in front of your lens to increment your exposures and develop the prints.
So now you have 3 things taken care of .. the camera, the paper, and the light … you ‘re almost there.
Photo paper is inherently full of “contrast” so keep this in mind when you make your exposures. Paper will render the world differently than your cellphone converted to black and white or even using regular black and white film, so keep this in mind. Everything might look different from red bricks, to skin tones to plants and THIS all leads us to the DEVELOPER you will use.
Some folks use film developer for their paper negatives, others use dilute paper developer, it’s all a matter of taste and what you are looking to do. If you want paper negatives with less contrast use film developer, if you want a little more contrast use paper developer. For a while I was doing a 2 bath system. I’d use a print developer that was “fresh” and a print developer that was very used. I’d put the exposed paper in the fresh developer until the image barely appears (that for me for Fiber Paper is about 45 seconds, for RC paper that is about 20 seconds ) and then I put it into the expired / used developer so the mid tones can develop and I’d put it back into the fresh developer and go back and forth a few times until I got the results I wanted. (and after a couple of times it was what I expected ).
Too many people who are beginning with photography do things haphazardly. They might use 4 or 5 different papers and films, and 5 or 6 different developers and 5 or 6 different cameras, so there is never any consistency and they can’t learn from their mistakes. Photography really isn’t very hard it just seems hard because sometimes there are a few moving parts and it makes us think about what we are doing, and we are excited to do something new.
I’ve been changing around how I work with non-film emulsions as I type this blog entry, and I am putting into writing what I am doing myself. For the longest time I developed my paper negatives in a darkroom under a red light for the prescribed full development ( 2 mins FB 1 min RC ). I’ve photographed in open shade and overcast days mostly because I love flat light, it really allows the subject to have its own contrast. but lately I’ve been shooting in bright sunlight and developing my negatives with the room lights on.
Dont forget to have some fun.
coaching and lessons available.
