AN INEXPENSIVE PHOTO ENLARGER

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Now, mount your camera on the tripod. with the lens facing down, open the imagemaker's back, and set one small end of the box on the opening. (This will enable, you to see how well the box will "mesh" with the tripod/camera assembly and to make modifications if necessary. For example, I had to trim the carton a bit to accommodate some inconvenient protrusions on my tripod!) When the components have been "custom fit" to one another, remove the box and — on the end that will rest upon the camera — cut out a centered 1-1/2" X 2" rectangle. (The light will pass through the hole and through the negative, projecting — by way of the camera's lens — the enlarged image on your photo paper.) On the opposite side of the container, trace and cut out a hole large enough for the socket of your light fixture (roughly 1-1/2" in diameter).

Once the openings are made, you can line the interior of the box with aluminum foil (dull side out), taping the reflective material securely in place. Then put the light fixture in position and screw the enlarging bulb into the socket from the inside of the box.

Before sealing the container for good (it won't be opened till the light burns out!), cut a 4-1/2" X 6" rectangle from the plastic milk carton and — by making slits in opposite sides of the box, slipping the plastic through them, and holding it taut with tape — install the homemade filter about halfway between the lowermost part of the light bulb and the bottom of the box. With that done, you have only to seal the container and cover its outside with tapedon foil (shiny side out ) ... before your homemade enlarger will be ready to go to work!

LET'S DO IT!

In order to use your new piece of equipment, you'll have to make sure that the shutter of your camera stays open . (On many 35mm cameras, the shutter can't be held open without using a cable release that can be locked — or taped down — to fasten the shutter in its light-admitting position.)

With the camera mounted on its tripod, set your negative strip on the open back and cover it with the scrap of plate glass. Then put the enlarger in place, being sure that it sits upright on the camera. I usually begin (after, of course, assembling my standard dark room equipment . . . including trays, chemicals, a "safe" light, and print paper) by cutting a sheet of paper into test strips . . . and then setting the camera's f-stop at f-8 and exposing the "trial" bits of paper for ever longer periods of time, increasing the amount of light by about four seconds with each strip.

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