Printing Contact Sheets- Help

[maxbloom]

I'm really frustrated. I've got multiple images on the same sheet with very different exposures. Consequently, some are properly exposed and others are not. How do you guys deal with this exposure variation?

[David William White]

That should happen if you bracket, some frames will be under and overexposed.

The practice of doing the contact sheet is recommended precisely to help you strive and attain consistent exposure. Any noticeable variances in the resulting density and contrast will help you when it comes time to print. So it's all good.

[bdial]

Run a second (or as many as it takes) sheet exposed for whatever the duds require. As you gain consistancy, you'll need fewer sheets.
If you have multiple rolls, you can mix and match then store those strips together.

[fschifano]

What you see is exactly the point of making a contact sheet. By examining the images you get a rough idea of the exposure needed for printing any given image to its best advantage. I expose my contact sheets just enough to render the spaces between frames at the paper's maximum density. If you do this consistently, you'll soon get a pretty good idea of how much exposure, and which contrast filter to use with variable contrast papers, you'll need to print a "normal" negative. Make adjustments as necessary.

[MattKing]

Print two contact sheets, with one being "normal" contrast, exposed somewhere in the middle, and the other printed with very low contrast, but exposed for the highlights on the denser negatives.

Matt

[mcfactor]

dodge the darker areas.