# Paper Grades and Multigrade Filtration

Photography I · The Black-and-White Analogue Laboratory · https://tryals.app/learn/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration

## What a Grade Is

A paper grade indicates the density range converted into full print tones. A **soft** paper accepts a wide negative range. A **hard** paper accepts a narrow range.

The measure is the useful **log exposure range**. One stop equals 0.30 in log exposure.

| Grade | Approximate log exposure range |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1.50 |
| 1 | 1.30 |
| 2 | 1.05 |
| 3 | 0.90 |
| 4 | 0.75 |
| 5 | 0.60 |

Each whole step shortens the range by roughly half a stop. For a successful print, **the negative's density range must fit the paper's exposure range**.

Paper **Surface** choices also affect maximum black.

## Variable Contrast

Variable-contrast papers like Multigrade carry **two emulsions in one coating**. One emulsion has high contrast, and the other has low contrast. Enlarger filtration controls the balance between them.

- **Yellow** light exposes the soft emulsion.
- **Magenta** light exposes the hard emulsion.
- **No filter at all** gives roughly grade 2 under tungsten.

Filters span from 00 to 5. Crucially, **grades 00 to 3½ all need the same exposure**. However, **grades 4 and 5 need twice as much** exposure. A 12-second base at grade 3 becomes 24 seconds at grade 4.

> **Common pitfall:** reaching for a hard grade when a print looks dull. Dullness usually stems from underexposure, not low contrast.

## Practice questions

7 of this lesson's 12 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. A grade 5 filter and a grade 00 filter require the same print exposure on Ilford Multigrade paper.

**Answer:** False

**Why:** **False.** Filters 00 to 3½ are speed-matched to each other, but grades 4 and 5 need twice the exposure, a whole stop more. Forgetting the break is the usual reason a hard filter yields a print that is not merely contrasty but hollow, with no black at all.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/a-grade-5-filter-and-a-grade-00-filter-require-the-same-print

### 2. Complete the account of paper and filtration.

**Answer:** A paper that accepts a wide range of negative densities and renders it gently is called a **soft** paper. A variable-contrast emulsion carries a high-contrast component sensitised to **blue** and a low-contrast component that also responds to green. Filtration towards **magenta** hardens the print. Building a print from a hard exposure and a soft exposure is called **split**-grade printing.

**Why:** The second and third blanks belong together: the hard emulsion is blue-sensitive, so a magenta filter, which removes green, leaves it alone to do the work. Every filter colour in the box is really a way of choosing between the two emulsions.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/complete-the-account-of-paper-and-filtration

### 3. Why does split-grade printing give control that a single intermediate grade cannot? Select every statement that is part of the reason.

A. It reduces the total exposure the paper needs
B. The two emulsions can be exposed separately, one through a hard filter and one through a soft
C. The blacks and the highlights can be set by two independent decisions
D. Dodging and burning can be applied to one of the two exposures and not the other

**Answer:** B. The two emulsions can be exposed separately, one through a hard filter and one through a soft; C. The blacks and the highlights can be set by two independent decisions; D. Dodging and burning can be applied to one of the two exposures and not the other

**Why:** The fourth is simply false, two exposures need more light, not less. The gain is in independence: the hard exposure sets where the blacks land and the soft one fills the highlights, and local control can be applied to either alone, which is impossible when a single filtered exposure fixes both ends at once.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/why-does-split-grade-printing-give-control-that-a-single-intermediate

### 4. Arrange these paper grades from the softest to the hardest.

**Answer:**

1. Grade 0
2. Grade 1
3. Grade 2
4. Grade 3
5. Grade 4
6. Grade 5

**Why:** The run from 0 to 5 is worth about three stops of negative density in total, or roughly half a stop per grade. That is the whole latitude the paper offers, and it is why a negative two zones outside what the paper can hold has to be fixed in development rather than at the enlarger.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/arrange-these-paper-grades-from-the-softest-to-the-hardest

### 5. The log exposure range falls from about 1.50 at grade 0 to about 0.60 at grade 5. On average, how much does one whole grade change it by?

**Answer:** 0.18 (within ±0.03)

**Why:** **About 0.18 in log exposure**, which is a little over half a stop per grade. That is the honest size of a paper grade: useful, and much smaller than the difference between an N−1 and an N+1 development. Contrast is mostly won in the tank and only trimmed at the enlarger.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/the-log-exposure-range-falls-from-about-1-50-at-grade-0-to-about-0-60

### 6. A printer finds that a flat, dull print lacks both deep shadow tones and clean paper whites. Why is switching to a harder grade filter usually the wrong first correction?

A. Hard grades compress mid-tones, making the tonal range narrower
B. A harder grade will compress highlight values into unprintable grey
C. The fault is usually base exposure rather than paper contrast range
D. Hard grades require yellow filtration that weakens shadow densities

**Answer:** C. The fault is usually base exposure rather than paper contrast range

**Why:** Printers often mistake general underexposure for a contrast fault. Moving to a harder grade narrows the usable scale and exaggerates harshness across the mid-tones without fixing an insufficient base exposure that fails to drive maximum black.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/a-printer-finds-that-a-flat-dull-print-lacks-both-deep-shadow-tones

### 7. Sort each negative by the paper grade it is likely to need.

**Answer:**

- A soft grade, 0 or 1: High-range sunlit scene, Blocked, over-developed
- A normal grade, 2: Normal overcast subject, Correct exp, 0.56 index
- A hard grade, 4 or 5: Thin, flat foggy subject, Flat, under-developed neg

**Why:** The pairing is always the same question: does the density range of the negative fit the exposure range of the paper? A long negative range needs a soft paper to fit it in, a short one needs a hard paper to stretch it out, and everything in this unit has been a way of arranging that the answer is usually grade 2.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/photography-i/paper-grades-and-multigrade-filtration/sort-each-negative-by-the-paper-grade-it-is-likely-to-need