ENLARGING BY DAYLIGHT This method gives greater opportunity for varied methods of working to suit the conditions of different photographers than does enlarging by artificial light. The apparatus and the man ner of using it may range from the simple and inexpensive fixed-focus enlarger up to a per manently arranged apparatus in which the dark room itself forms the camera in which the enlarge ment is made. The general principle is illus trated in the article " Enlarging." It is the method of adapting that principle to the require ments of the worker that varies. The most simple is the fixed-focus enlarger, a piece of apparatus in the form of a double box, which allows one degree of enlargement only. This is an inherent disadvantage of a fixed-focus instrument, but it has the advantage of great convenience ; it is ready for use at a moment's, notice, without any focusing or arranging. The negative is placed film downwards at N (see illustration A), the paper put in position at P ; the apparatus taken out of doors, so that the light from the sky overhead falls directly on painted board is fixed so as to reflect the light from the sky through the negative. Inside the room the camera is supported on a table opposite the opening in the shutter. The negative N is placed in the camera back, film the negative, and the exposure made by operating the shutter that closes the lens r. This apparatus gives enlargements of one uniform size only, this size varying with its construction and the size of the negatives for which it is intended.
A second form of apparatus is an enlarging camera (which see). Illustration B shows how the apparatus is used : N is the negative, r, the lens, and r the sensitive paper.
A third arrangement is one that is frequently adopted by those who do much enlarging, and who wish to have a much larger range in size than that which can be obtained in an enlarging camera. The dark-room, or a room that can be darkened by closing the window with a specially-made shutter, becomes the enlarging camera. The camera in which the original negative was taken, and an enlarging easel, are towards the lens, and a focusing cloth wrapped round the camera back so as to prevent any light leaking into the room. On the table an easel holding the paper p is arranged to slide in guides, the image being projected by the lens r in the usual manner.
A difficulty in daylight enlarging is the ever varying character of the light. A test should always be made by a meter immediately before making an exposure. It is only by this method, and small test pieces as described in " Enlarging by Artificial Light," that correct exposures can be secured. Any negative that will give a good contact print on bromide paper will yield an equally satisfactory enlargement by daylight.