Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why a darkroom print is a second exposure
The camera exposes the negative, and the enlarger exposes the paper as a separate act.
When the purchase is complete, return to the original window. It will refresh.
From the opening
A darkroom print is a second exposure because the camera made the negative and the enlarger then throws light through that negative onto a sheet with its own emulsion. The print is not the negative held to a lamp, but a new exposure with its own time and its own development. The opening covers negative first, paper second, dodging and burning are exposure, and a test strip of candidate times.
The rest of the brief — the later sections and the reading notes — opens after Stripe confirms payment.
Inside
- Negative first, paper second
- Dodging and burning are exposure
- A test strip of candidate times
- One negative, unlike prints
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Projection printing as a second exposure onto paper
- Dodging and burning as local control of that exposure