Introduction

Explain the purpose of vignetting and show examples of texture screened prints.

Vignetting -- Vignetting is a printing technique used to eliminate distracting or unwanted backgrounds. This technique is used primarily in the enlargements of people. Vignetting is more popular for printing high-key portraits -- portraits of a subject made up mostly of light gray tones.

You can easily vignette a print by projecting the image from the negative through a hole in an opaque cardboard. Cut the hole in the cardboard the same shape as the area you want to print. The hole should be the size that will give you the effect you want when you hold the cardboard about halfway between the enlarger lens and the paper. Feather or rough cut the edges of the hole so that the image fades gradually into the white paper. In vignetting, keep the vignetter in continuous motion during the print exposure.

You can use the vignetting technique to print portraits from more than one negative on a single sheet of enlarging paper. Assume you want to print from three negatives. Decide where you want each image to appear on the final print, and draw circles on a sheet of white paper on the enlarger easel to indicate the location of each image. Put the first negative in the enlarger and adjust it so that the image you want fills its circle. Remove the white sheet of paper and make your exposure test for the first negative. It isn't necessary to use the vignetting technique for your exposure test. Using the vignetting technique, make the first exposure on the enlarging paper that will be your final print. (It's a good idea to put a small "x" in one corner on the back of the enlarging paper to help keep it properly oriented.) After you make the exposure, put the sheet of enlarging paper back into its lighttight storage place. Put the paper with the circles on it back into the easel and adjust the enlarger for the second picture. Follow the same procedure as you did for the first negative. After you've printed the second negative, follow this same procedure for the third negative. Then process the print.

Instruction

Demonstrate vignetting with an appropriate negative. Demonstrate the use of a texture screen. (You will find that at this point you will be able to move fairly fast with the remainder of the class. They have a grasp of the fundamentals of darkroom technique and use of the equipment, and you need do no more than make quick demonstrations before you let them get to their own projects.)

Have students make some experimental prints using the techniques discussed above and the negatives from the assignment made at Meeting No. 8. Vignetting is especially effective for portrait printing. You will find that texture screens help to make unusual landscape prints.

Assignment

Have the students take some pictures of tall buildings or other structures with the camera tilted up or down to show distorted, converging lines. (Aim up at a building. The lines of the building will appear to converge more in the picture than they do to your eye.) Have students try to get some good cloud photos that they can use with negatives of cloudless landscapes to make combination prints. The building and cloud negatives should be processed before the next meeting.