Making Christmas photo greetings

PSA Journal, Nov, 1996 by Keith I.P. Adamson

Christmas is coming.

There are the cakes, puddings and turkeys to cook, presents to buy and Christmas cards to send. Here, the photographer is in a privileged position. He or she does not have to make do with a mass-produced greeting but can send a unique and personal card displaying one of his or her own photographs.

A great-looking card can be made by the method described here; the picture and the greetings are printed on a single sheet of 10 by 8 inch bromide paper, which is then folded twice. When carefully made, the finished card looks neat and would grace anyone's home during the festive season.

There is a certain amount of preparation before the cards can be printed. First there is the picture to be selected or taken. Suitable subjects include: landscapes, still-lifes, or panels and windows from churches--Christmas is, after all, a religious festival! Family portraits can also be used, especially if they show a special event of the year, like a graduation, a wedding or a new baby.

Next, greetings negatives and printing masks have to be made. After a few years, however, a collection of these is acquired, and they can be used repeatedly. The lettering is an important feature of the card, for it can make or mar the final result.

One method is to use "instant lettering," which is transferred to a thin transparent support, like cellophane or the emulsion side of a piece of fixed but unexposed film. Some very effective greetings can be made from a mixture of letter styles, which provides a means of using some of those oddments we have been reluctant to throw away. Alignment of the letters is made easier if the transparent support is pinned to a sheet of lined paper. The letters may not adhere easily to film, even the emulsion side, but, with care, it can be done, though some wastage must be expected. This procedure gives black lettering on a clear ground, just as it should finally appear. The layout is contact printed onto sheet film to produce the printing negative of clear lettering on black. For good contrast, lith film and lith film developer are best, though adequate contrast can be obtained with lith film developed in an ordinary developer at contact print strength (1 to 1). It is convenient to make the exposure in a printing frame, laid on the baseboard and exposed by the enlarger light. If a printing frame is not available, a substitute can be made from a sheet of glass and a piece of strong card held together by bulldog clips.

The exposure time will depend on working conditions but will probably be of the order of 5-20 seconds with the enlarger lens at f8. Too long an exposure should be avoided as the light tends to creep 'round the edges and produce "fuzzy" lettering.

Opaque originals can also be used, such as the greetings on commercial cards or printed in newspapers or magazines. These can be photographed by an ordinary camera; or, all the work can be done in the darkroom by using the enlarger as if it were a camera (see diagram). With the original laid on the baseboard, the enlarger is focused using a good. sharp negative. The lens is stopped down to a middle aperture and the negative replaced by a piece of unexposed film. The lamphouse is then removed from the enlarger and, to prevent stray light entering, the open end is covered with a piece of card, preferably black. A piece of black paper behind the film also helps eliminate bounce light inside the enlarger head. The enlarger bulb is then switched on and its light played over the original, still on the baseboard. Reflected light is picked up by the enlarger lens and focused on the film. Again, lith film is to be preferred for its high contrast and exposure is not too critical--one of about 20 seconds at f8 usually being sufficient. If the lamphouse cannot be easily removed a flash gun can be used to provide the light.

Used in this way, the enlarger gives a reduced negative, which can later be enlarged to any desired size. Of course, the negatives can be enlarged straight onto the final card, but it will probably be found more convenient to work with larger negatives and contact print these onto the cards. So the reduced negative is next contact printed onto a piece of lith film. The positive so obtained is finally enlarged to give the final printing negative.

The picture and the lettering must be accurately positioned on the card. To help in this, masks are made from sheets of opaque paper, preferably black, of the same size as the bromide paper to be used (see diagram). Each mask is carefully ruled out beforehand and the components placed in the correct position. One mask has a rectangle the size of the picture cut out. The other has two or three rectangles removed and the wording negatives firmly taped in position.

All is now ready to start printing and the first step is to make test strips to determine the exposures required by all the negatives being used. In the case of the lettering there should be considerable latitude in exposure. Clear black letters are required on the card and this should be easy to obtain with a good high contrast negative. Again, too much exposure must be avoided as this will give "fuzzy" lettering at this stage too. Often as little as two or three seconds is all that is required.