Hi,

I want to have text below my black and white prints (on the print itself). What is the best /easiest way to do this? I want this text to be in black? Help me out please.

Thanx!!!

-- Marc Gravel (gravelmarc@videotron.ca), July 15, 1999

Answers

Create a "text" negative, separate from any image negatives you want to print. Use your computer and favorite wordprocessor. Select the font and size, type desired text, and then print. I would place the text as close to the middle of the sheet as possible because you want lots of white area surrounding the text. Next, photograph what you printed, preferrably on a slow speed B&W film, like Tmax 100 or Agfa 25 or Kodak Tech Pan. A pro lab will be able to make a negative for you, but you can do it yourself just as easily. Make sure to keep your camera as level as possible over the text. A copy-stand is ideal, but you can make do without one. Frame the text in approximately the same location that you would desire it on your finished prints, maybe toward the bottom and centered. The resulting negative can be used to expose the paper as whatever magnification you want. I would expose the image first, then carefully replace the "text" negative, and expose the text. For the text, you want the bare minimum exposure that will produce solid black. Use the highest contrast possible so as not to expose any defects of the surrounding white area of the text onto the already exposed image. You'll need to experiment with the exposure of the text, but assuming you have about a 5x enlargement of the text, I would try grade 4 or 5 (or the highest you can manage) and about 6 seconds at f/5.6 but that's only a starting point.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), July 16, 1999.