# Printing several negatives.



## PlasticSpanner (Nov 12, 2005)

If I've got a good print with the exposure and filters adjusted correctly will that stay the same for all the frames I print from 1 film or will I have to keep adjusting it for each print I want to do?

Are the filter setings relevant to the paper or the negatives I'm printing?


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## Hertz van Rental (Nov 12, 2005)

Are we talking b&w or colour?
For b&w the exposure and filters only stay the same if you have total control over your exposure and processing. Differences in the two between negs occur in order to compensate for variations in film exposure and processing.
It's the same for colour printing but you have the variations caused by colour temperature and such to complicate the whole thing.

As for the last q. For b&w you are trying to match the contrast curve of your neg to the contrast curve of your paper. You can either do this by changing the grade of paper, or by using multigrade and changing the filter. The end result is the same though.


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## PlasticSpanner (Nov 12, 2005)

I was kinda hoping for a yes/no answer! 

Sorry, I should have said this is for colour film prints.

So if I have a lot of reds like a sunset the exposure is likely to be different than if I have a lot of blues like a moon shot?


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## Hertz van Rental (Nov 12, 2005)

Theoreticaly you should be able to set up a 'neutral' filtration for a given film and it will print the negs all the same - a bit like setting up a colour profile for a scanner.
Problem is that colour is very subjective and you can give two negs the same neutral filtration but because of subject matter and such one will look washed out and the other will look oversaturated or have a colour cast.
Each neg has to be assessed individually I'm afraid - one reason reason I stopped printing my own. A good colour analyser will help you, though - but it will only give you a starting point.


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## PlasticSpanner (Nov 12, 2005)

So when I come to process my astro photographs they should be more or less the same settings if they are the same general subject!


The prints I'm doing right now were taken by my wife in her compact camera and I was beginning to wonder how she had got so much variation.
One print she wants was taken in a conservatory with the sun shing in through the door which I have got good settings for but the other print was shot in her friends dining room, still with the same sunlight shining through the window but that one came out under exposed by about 2 stops.

Thanks for your prompt replies Hertz!:hail:   I can get back into my TARDIS again! (It's gonna be another late night! )


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