PRINTING PROCESSES 439 



Black borders around prints are secured by trimming the negative so that only the 

 picture area is left. The printing paper is somewhat larger than the image, and the 

 negative is not masked. The edges of the paper which are fully exposed will become 

 full black in the developer. 



Diffusion. — Pictorial and portrait prints are frequently enhanced in appearance by 

 printing the negative through some diffusion medium, such as a piece of thin silk, 

 linen, etc. If the material is laid on the paper during the exposure, the texture of the 

 material is impressed upon the final print. If the material is interposed between the 

 printing paper and the lens of the enlarger and kept in motion during the exposure a 

 general lack of definition or diffusion of the image results. The amount of diffusion 

 depends upon the position of the diffusing medium with respect to the printing medium, 

 upon its motion during exposure, upon the weave or mesh of the diffusing medium, etc. 

 The desired result must be, attained by trial and error. 



" Printing-in" Clouds, Etc. — It is desirable, at times, to add clouds to the print 

 made from a negative in which no clouds appear. This is typical of another control 

 process in which experience is the best teacher; only trial and error will enable the 

 photographer to determine best conditions for the printing-in procedure. 



In general, adding clouds or other material without going to the intermediate nega- 

 tive process is carried out as follows : The picture should be fairly well divided between 

 foreground and sky. Let us suppose that the foreground is printed first. In exposing 

 the print, the sky is covered with an opaque mask so that no light gets to the sky 

 portion. After the foreground exposure is complete, this portion is protected from 

 further exposure, while the clouds from another negative, carefully placed in the 

 enlarger or printing frame, are allowed to expose the sky portion of the print. Proper 

 exposure of each portion to produce the desired density must be determined by 

 experiment. 



If the sky line is not straight or if trees or other objects protrude into the sky, 

 the process is somewhat more intricate. If the protruding element will print quite 

 dark it may be ignored because the cloud may then be exposed on top of the protruding 

 object without showing owing to the greater density of the object. But, if the object 

 will be light in density in the final print, perhaps of the same density as the clouds, 

 then greater care must be taken. An outline of the method is as follows: 



First project on the easel the lower, or cloudless, part of the picture. Make expo- 

 sure tests until the desired print density is secured. Make note of this exposure. 

 Now project the cloud negative on the easel and determine proper exposure time. 

 Finally make the foreground exposure by cutting up the preliminary cloud print so 

 that only the clouds remain. Remove the protruding objects from this cloud print, 

 and hold this print, more or less cut to the shape of the cloud outline, so the sky 

 portion of the final print is held back in exposure. 



Now trim the test print made from the foreground negative, leaving in the protrud- 

 ing objects, and expose the upper or sky part of the final print. 



All this sounds easier than it is in practice. It is difficult to avoid line of demarka- 

 tion between sky and foreground. One should learn the procedure by using negatives 

 in which the sky line is fairly straight and in which there are no protruding objects, 

 proceeding then to more complicated subjects. The negatives which are easiest to use 

 are those in which clouds do not go clear to the horizon but leave a short gap between 

 cloud and horizon. This gap may be used to bridge over the region between tree tops 

 and the point where the clouds are to appear in the final picture. 



True photo montages are made in this manner, although several negatives may be 

 made to produce the final print. Accurate and careful work is necessary to determine 

 the printing time of each negative so that violent clashes in print density do not occur; 



