# Darkroom test prints **URL:** \ **Category:** General Film Photography\ **Created:** [February 22, 2024, 9:15am UTC](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/darkroom-test-prints/7486 "2024-02-22T09:15:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndyCoulson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58f4c7/32.png) [@AndyCoulson](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/u/AndyCoulson)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 9:15am UTC](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/darkroom-test-prints/7486/1 "2024-02-22T09:15:57Z")
Hello all, interesting community you have here. I’m new to B&W film printing in a darkroom, and I’m finding I’m wasting print paper and time with failed test strips (wrong part of the image, not optimal contrast filters, time ‘slicing’, etc). I know experimentation is part of the fun but I’m wondering if there’s some information to be gleaned from a scanned (.dng) uncorrected negative that I could use to infer print times. Something like ‘average brighness’ = xxx , ‘average darks’ = yyy , ‘average brights’ = zzz I could then use that to suggest a NN second test print with CC contrast value - as an initial guess. Any thoughts on whether LR or similar offers any such values ? Thank you, Andy ---
**Author:** ![Harry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@Harry](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/u/Harry)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:33am UTC](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/darkroom-test-prints/7486/2 "2024-02-22T10:33:45Z")
Do you make actual darkroom contact prints? If so then with experience you can estimate printing exposure times for other images on the roll once you’ve printed one successfully. A contact print is such a useful reference. You could do the same from a digital contact prints, i.e. photographing the whole roll on a lightbox or possibly using a flatbed scanner, but that’s not all that straightforward to achieve. I would also recommend those gadgets that allow you to expose the same part of a negative for different times, basically just a frame with ‘flaps’ that lift up, you move the whole frame between exposures (e.g. Paterson Test Strip printer), you can make your own in fact. I’m saying this because for me all that sounds easier than what you are suggesting. Even a simple (and inexpensive) averaging darkroom exposure meter should get you to the right place quite quickly I’m sure that the internet is awash with advice on printing but I came across these recently, seems pretty good advice to me: > **[Knowing Little, Aiming High – Darkroom Technique Part 2 – By Sroyon Mukherjee](https://www.35mmc.com/13/04/2020/knowing-little-aiming-high-darkroom-technique-part-2-by-sroyon-mukherjee/)** > > In Part 1 of my ongoing series about darkroom technique, I talked about how to set up a fully-functional darkroom for black-and-white printing – for less than £100, and in a small flat with no dedicated darkroom space. Of course, having set one up, I... There are actually 5 parts in all. ---
**Author:** ![AndyCoulson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58f4c7/32.png) [@AndyCoulson](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/u/AndyCoulson)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/darkroom-test-prints/7486/3 "2024-02-22T22:05:24Z")
Thank you, I’m reading this now, it’s very informative and well written. Andy ---
**Author:** ![Harry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@Harry](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/u/Harry)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://forums.negativelabpro.com/t/darkroom-test-prints/7486/4 "2024-02-22T22:46:11Z")
The other parts are a little tricky to find but they are here: > **[How to Build a Darkroom for £100 or Less - Darkroom Technique Part 1 - by...](https://www.35mmc.com/06/04/2020/darkroom-technique-part-1-how-to-build-a-darkroom-for-100-or-less-by-sroyon-mukherjee/)** > > I started darkroom printing just a year and a half ago, in autumn 2018. What took me so long? Two misconceptions, mainly – that it’s expensive, and that it’s difficult. > **[Cat-and-Mouse with Exposure and Contrast - Darkroom Technique Part 3 - by...](https://www.35mmc.com/20/04/2020/cat-and-mouse-with-exposure-and-contrast-darkroom-technique-part-3-by-sroyon-mukherjee/)** > > Part 3 is the most (only?) technical part of my ongoing series about darkroom technique. If you like technical, you’re in for some fun. If you dislike technical, maybe skip the bit about f-stop timing, and the exposure compensation tests at the end.... > **[Split Grade Printing – Darkroom Technique Part 4 – by Sroyon Mukherjee](https://www.35mmc.com/27/04/2020/split-grade-printing-darkroom-technique-part-4-by-sroyon-mukherjee/)** > > As I read and learnt more about printing, a mysterious phrase appeared on my radar – split grade (or split filtration) printing. Its advocates claim miraculous benefits – fast and precise control over exposure and contrast, fewer test strips,... > **[Dodge, Burn and Other Heresies – Darkroom Technique Part 5 – by Sroyon Mukherjee](https://www.35mmc.com/04/05/2020/dodge-burn-and-other-heresies-darkroom-technique-part-5-by-sroyon-mukherjee/)** > > So far in this series I’ve only talked about ‘straight printing’, which is to say, no part of the image was locally manipulated. I do recommend the princilple of ‘F-Stop printing’, at its simplest this means getting used to increasing exposure by multiples of 1/4 stop rather than a fixed number of seconds, roughly this means multiplying by 1.19 which can be entered as a constant on a simple calculator. I put something in the comments of this post, the text formatting got messed up unfortunately: > **[F-Stop Printing in the Darkroom](https://www.35mmc.com/02/02/2024/f-stop-printing-in-the-darkroom/)** > > The basic idea of f-stop printing is to control your print exposure the same way you control the exposure of the original negative