Question on B&W developing in darkroom

[Calligirl]

I have a photo I took of my two kids, vertical orientation, one looking down, the other looking up. I want to make the space in between completely black. How do I burn this?

Do I cut out the faces and try to hold them as a dodging tool during exposure time? Or do I cut a tiny mask and put on the negative itself (which I don't know how to do)?

It's the end of my photography class and this is not a part of my assignment, I just have extra paper which I won't ever use again if I don't use it now and a lot of good camera shota that could be potential Christmas gifts if I can get them developed right.

[Jackimalyn]

what i would do is create a sheet to put over the exposed paper with the spot you want black cut out. Expose the photo for the correct time, then place your sheet with the hole in it over it and reexpose that sliver, either for an extended period of time or with the f-stop open so that it completely overexposes. (did that make sense?)

[cornfed]

Do a normal exposure onto the paper to get the photo on the paper. After that, cover the exposed parts of the kids and burn a long exposure onto the part that you want black. Basically what Jack said, now that I reread her post!!

[Virgo Nightingale]

I'll third that....

[Steve Buchanan]

Cutting a mask by hand like that is VERY diffcult. You can also try cutting a loose mask in the general shape of the space you want to burn. Then position it a few inches above the paper (after an initial normal exposure) and burn in while continually moving the mask around. This will result in soft edges of the burned area. If you want the area between them to be completely black, you're probably better off doing this electronically. Good luck

Steve

[Jackimalyn]

No its not heres an easy way if youve got a piece of paper to waste. Develop a copy, cut the shape out of there using an exacto knife, and bring thaat into the darkroom to use as your "mask". Plus, you'll be able to line it up perfect with your 2nd print. Just dont take your negetive out in between :)

[Calligirl]

I'm not ignoring your posts, I'm taking note and will see what works when I go back in on Tuesday. Thanks for the info!

[Drazan]

http://thephotoforum.com/ I've been part of that forum for years. I don't post much, but you will probably find a wealth of information on what to do there.

Don't be shy they are a nice bunch.....usually. ;)

=)
Jade