Digital BW, The Print

What size mattes and framess do you usually use 
with them, Sanders? I'd appreciate any thoughts 
you and others have about the presentation of 
relatively small prints. Thanks.
--
Sam


>Scott, you don't have to go to 8x10 and Azo to work with contact prints.
>
>I am contact-printing my 4x5 and 5x7 negatives. 
>They are lovely.  In the SuperSized world
>we inhabit, people are infatuated with all 
>things huge.  The advent of inkjet printing has
>enabled people to print at sizes that would be 
>prohibitive in most darkrooms, so in the
>past few years there has been a shift upward in size expectations.
>
>In that environment, a 4x5 contact print is a 
>rare and beautiful thing.  It is sweet and
>modest and jewellike.  Big is clichéd.  Think 
>different!  An 8x10 rig is more expensive and
>more difficult in many ways than a 4x5.  You'll 
>shoot more negatives with a 4x5, and
>become adept more quickly at large format 
>photography as a result.  And you have a 4x5
>camera at hand already -- don't be seduced so quickly by the larger format.
>
>Azo ... there is a legion of Azo adherents. 
>Honestly, any paper will do.  Azo is nice, but
>there are many other papers.  Sticking blindly 
>to Azo is akin to sticking blindly to Photo
>Rag in the inkjet world.  Different images 
>require different papers, in the darkroom as on
>an inkjet printer.  Get your friend to give you 
>his enlarger -- you won't be enlarging your
>negatives but you can use it to control the 
>amount and color of the light for contact
>printing.  The latter is important because 
>variable-contrast papers are controlled by the
>color of the light by which they are exposed. 
>
>Have fun!  If your friend is in New York and 
>looking for a home for his darkroom stuff, let
>me know.
>
>Sanders McNew
>www.mcnew.net
>
>--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Scott McLoughlin wrote:
>
>  > [snip]