Briefly defined, a standard negative is an average color negative that has been properly exposed and processed and makes an excellent print. In other words, it has been printed previously, and an accurate record of the filter pack required and other printer settings for a particular type of paper is available. A standard negative is used as a reference for comparison purposes. The standard negative is useful in several ways:

Comparing the printing characteristics with those of other color negatives

Comparing different paper emulsions

Checking processing

Programming color analyzers and automated printers

The standard negative is typical of the majority of negatives to be printed. When most of your negatives are outdoor shots on Kodak Gold 35mm film, the standard negative should obviously be an outdoor shot on Kodak Gold 35mm film. The standard negative must be normally exposed, normally processed through your imaging facility, and a typical subject with typical lighting; that is, the lighting ratio and light direction should be similar to most of your production negatives.

A gray card included in the image area of a standard negative is extremely helpful. The gray card can be used to determine whether the negative received the correct exposure; for example, a Kodak Vericolor III negative is properly exposed when the gray card density in the negative is between 0.65 and 0.85 when read through a red filter on the densitometer. For other types of film, consult the Photo-Lab-index to locate the proper density measurements. When used in a standard negative, the gray card must receive the same exposure as the subject.

One good practice is to have a standard negative for each general category of photographic assignments produced by your imaging facility. These standard negatives should be produced with the equipment, light-sensitive materials, and lighting conditions commonly used in your facility; for example, when awards presentations are commonly photographed using syncro-sun techniques with a medium-format camera and Kodak VPS film, then your standard negative should be taken under the same conditions. The same applies for studio portraits, indoor on-camera flash photography, and so forth. A basic enlarger filter pack should be determined for each negative.