This paper may be prepared by the amateur, but the ready-prepared papers
are so reliable and so inexpensive, that it is really cheaper to buy the
paper already sensitized. One great advantage of bromide paper over
printing-out paper is that in using it one is entirely independent of
day or sunlight. Strong "plucky" negatives are the best for bromide
printing, but very good prints may be made with weak negatives by
carefully timing the printing.
All the process of working bromide paper, except that of the printing,
must be conducted by a red or yellow light. Open the package of paper in
the dark-room, and the negative being already in the printing-frame,
adjust a sheet of paper over the negative. The face of bromide paper may
always be distinguished by its _curling in_. Cover the frame with a dark
cloth, open the door of the lantern, and get your timepiece ready, for
one must always print by exact seconds; never guess at the time. Uncover
the frame and hold the negative about fifteen inches from the flame of
the lamp, and if the negative is an ordinary printing one, expose to the
light for ten seconds. Cover the frame immediately, close the door of
the lantern, take the print from the frame, and if you wish to develop
it at once soak the paper in clear water till it is limp enough to lie
flat. Place it in the developing-tray face up, and flood it with
developer. One may use almost any kind of developer with bromide paper.
Eikonogen and hydrochinon are good developers, and do not stain the
hands; but ferrous oxalate is the developer most used.
The image on the paper should develop rather slowly, and come up clear
and brilliant. Develop till the detail is well out and the shadows deep
enough. Pour off all the developer, leaving the print in the tray, and
cover it with a solution composed of 1 dr. acetic acid, and 32 oz. of
water. Allow this to act one minute; turn off, and repeat the operation
twice more. Wash the print thoroughly, and place in a fixing bath of
hypo, 3 oz.; water, 16 oz. After fixing, wash for an hour in running
water, and hang up to dry. If prints are washed in running water they
should be taken from the bowl two or three times during the washing, and
the bowl filled with clean water. If running water is not used wash in
ten changes of water, allowing the prints to remain ten minutes in each
change of water.
In bromide prints one must be very careful to have all dishes used in
the operation strictly clean. Greenish tones in the prints are caused by
over-exposure and too much bromide in the developing solution. Yellow
prints are caused by under-exposure, and too long development. In
developing rock the tray in all directions. If it is rocked in one
direction only, the prints will be streaked. Do not let water run
directly on the prints, as it will cause blisters.
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