Focusing your negative (and more)

1. Go into the darkroom, gently RAISE the lamphouse and slide the negative carrier into place in the enlarger. Gently LOWER the lamphouse onto the carrier.

2. Turn the lens aperture ring to its brightest setting to increase edge sharpness and give more even illumination.

3. Place the easel on the enlarger base horizontally (for a wide photo) or vertically (for a tall photo).

4. Adjust the enlarger height so that when the image is focused, there is a narrow white line (1/16”) on all sides of the projected image. This is to insure full-frame printing of the entire negative. When sizing the image on the easel, it is helpful to have the aperture set at its widest setting.

5. Use the grain focuser to insure the sharpest possible focus of the image.

6. Once the image has been focused, turn the lens aperture ring to its darkest setting. If the image is too dark, change the f/stop one setting at a time. A slightly dark image will give you a longer exposure time, and longer times are easier to print accurately.