Exposure latitude of photographic paper for shooting?

[Patrick]

Sometime before too long, I plan to expose some photographic paper inside a pinhole camera to produce a paper negative. Although I will be using the various exposure recommendation charts online for pinhole photography, I am betting that I will probably make quite a few stuff ups with regards to exposure.

Out of curiosity, how much exposure latitude would you have with paper (say Ilford Multigrade) compared with negative film? Is it very forgiving? Of course I could bracket but that would mean making at least three cameras and varying the exposure time of each one in turn. Actually, I have exposed one paper negative in a pinhole camera I made several years ago out of a tissue box. The image turned out black – too much light! If I recall, I think I was hoping to get something out of it with contact printing but I never got around to doing that.

On a similar note, you reckon it's a good idea to give paper a little bit of overexposure like with negative film?

[robbie]

i would slightly over expose the paper , which would provide a denser black, providing you have a "good" exposure idea. in my experience with Ilford paper, like motion picture print stocks, photo paper has small latitude and an asa/iso of 5 or so. last time i created pinhole with such, it was at night with an hour exposure. i believe the pinhole f/stop was estimated at f/128.

[Patrick]

last time i created pinhole with such, it was at night with an hour exposure.

Cool. Ive often done long exposures of lightning on 35mm film. Would be fun to shoot the same subject with a pinhole camera.

Regarding exposures, I'll take a light reading with my 35mm at the time of shooting and write the settings down. And if I am off with my paper exposure, I'll see how much I am off in the darkroom with contact print test strips. Based on all this, I hope I can devise some sort of formula that will incorporate a light meter.

[Patrick]

By the way, I think I'll make my camera out of a tin can with the paper wrapped around inside. I like that 'distorted' look I see in the photos taken with that circular shape.

[Angus]

Ye gods....I had a kit pinhole camera when I was about 7 years old which used positive paper. Not sure how the speed of the paper would reflect modern print paper for making a paper negative but I remember some pretty long exposure times, especially for anything indoors....30 minutes in some cases. This would have been circa 1980.

My mother remembers finding me crouching at the bottom of her wardrobe, using two roasting tins as my developing and fixing trays. I guess that wardrobe was my first darkroom.

Assuming you're developing it yourself in a darkroom with a safelight, you'll have a fair amount of latitude. If the image isn't dense enough to your liking then develop it a bit longer. Experiment, and above all have fun.