November 1998
Intermediate to advanced
220 pages
7h 42m
English

“Untitled,” by Fred Newman. Courtesy of the photographer.
The purpose of testing materials is to find out what their characteristics are and what they can be made to do. Of course, the manufacturers have done extensive testing of this sort, and their testing procedures are considerably more sophisticated than yours. That, in fact, is the reason why personal testing is valuable: Your darkroom environment, your equipment, your water supply, and your working habits are all different from the closely controlled standard conditions used by manufacturers for their tests. Because of this, films and papers may work differently ...