Contact printing
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Contact printing is a method of producing a photographic print from a negative. In the dark, or under a safelight, the printer places an exposed and developed piece of photographic film, emulsion side down, on a piece of photographic paper, briefly shines light on the negative, then develops the paper into a print. The print that results is a contact print.
Because the light does not pass through air or lenses in going from the negative to the print, the contact process can preserve all the detail that is present in the negative. Photographers also prize the beautiful gradation that results from making prints in this way. However, the print is only the same size as the image on the negative. This makes contact prints from large-format negatives, especially 5x7 and larger sizes, most feasible for fine-art work. Smaller contact prints, from films and formats such as 135 film cassettes (35 mm) and 120/220 rollfilm (6 cm), are useful for evaluation of exposure, composition, and subject qualities; the photographer then prints selected negatives using an enlarger.