developed that
there is a fair amount of density in the shadows. I have never been able,
with bromide paper, to get the detail in the shadows of under-exposed
negatives, such as we see in a good print made on glossy printout paper.
For this reason the use of bromide papers with under-exposed negatives is
not advisable. But there are a great many negatives which, while
unsuitable as they come from the drying rack, can be easily adapted to the
process by slight modifications. A very dense negative, for instance, may
be reduced either with the ferricyanide of potash or persulphate of
ammonia reducer; and a thin negative with proper graduations can
frequently be intensified to advantage in the print. While, as has been
said, there is great latitude in the matter of the negative, this latitude
should only be availed of when necessary. Local reduction or
intensification of the negative is seldom necessary, as better results can
usually be obtained with bromide paper by dodging in the printing.

CHAPTER II

THE QUESTION OF LIGHT AND ILLUMINATION

Thus far we have gained a general understanding of the different papers
and the characteristics desirable in negatives. Before we take up the
actual manipulation of bromide paper there are a few elementary principles
bearing on the important detail of illumination which we must master.
These may necessitate a little thinking, but a practical grasp of them
will make our after-work much easier, and ensure that fairly good prints
from poor negatives will be the rule instead of the exception.

In the first place we have often read that a strong light overcomes
contrasts, while a weak light increases them. Yet how many of us realize
when we come to make prints by any process exactly what this means; in
other words, how many of us apply the rule in everyday practice? It is
very easy to see what is meant by the rule if we will take an ordinary
negative, such as a landscape with clear sky, and hold it first six inches
from a gas-flame and then six feet. It will be found in the first case
that the sky portion is translucent while the clear glass will, of course,
be clear; in the second the sky will be opaque and the clear glass still
clear. The contrasts have been rendered greater by removing the negative
further from the light-source. As this is true in the extreme case given,
so it is true in a smaller degree where the distances are only slightly
varied, as well as where we deal w