Black and White developing
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Dark room
A dark room is not, as now a days some people believe, a room in a seedy little sexbar, but it is the place where Photographers dreams come true.
It is the place where we developed our pictures before the great technical revolution, in a time when it was necessary to learn how to take good pictures and before the computers did all the work.
A Dark room is mostly made up of a very dark room(what a surprise), an enlarger, a few deep plastic trays, a red light and a lot of drying racks or washing lines, lots of exiting chemical bottles (well really they are quite harmless) and many different sized cardboard boxes containing photopaper.
So to number one, which is actually number two, but most people don't listen to one and want to jump right to two, So to number one, how do I get the photo off this little negative on to a peace of PE-paper.
Well that is not to difficult.
1. you need complete darkness, then when you are sure that there is not the slightest bit light in the room you can put on a red light. Not any old red light, ask your local photostore to give you one tested for B/W photography.
2. Then you need to place the chemicals in the trays, put them in the following order:
1. Developer
1. Stopper
2. Fixative
3. Water
Follow the instructions on the bottles as the mixing quantities are different by make.
1. When you now put your negative in the enlarger and switch the light switch on your enlarger on, you will find that you receive an unsharp copy of the photo on the bottom board of the enlarger. You should now be able to find a wheel of some kind, probably on the right hand side of you enlarger, turn it until the picture comes in to focus.
2. Chose a time on the time switch, you will need to experiment a bit on the times try 1.5sec for a start, and switch the enlarger off. Now you put the red filter in front of the lens, you really cant miss that. Switch the enlarger on again and place the photopaper under the enlarger. You can see the basic features off the photo, so you can still chose the part of the negative you want on the photo. Once you have placed the paper where you want it you switch the enlarger off again
3. Take the red filter away from the lens!
4. Now you can press the switch on the time clock. The light on the enlarger will go on shortly.
5. Place the paper in basin No1 now, ...wait and watch, when you think that the picture will not change any more, take it out of the basin, let it drip for a moment,
6. and the place it in basin No.2. 10 seconds should do the stopping, but read the instructions on the chemicals first.
7. The place it in No.3. here you will need to leave the picture for a bit (read the instructions on the chemicals first.) until this moment no light may fall on the picture.
8. Well then rinse the photo in plenty ove water for a bout 5 to 10 minutes,
9. Dry and Finished a perfectly beutifull B/W photo!!!!!!!!!!!
Well now to No.2 (which is really number one......) To develop your negatives you don't need much, you need a developing tank and a bit of practise in getting your film on two the spiral inlay in the total dark. And when I say totally dark I mean it, if your eyes start to get used to the dark after 15mins or so and you suddenly can see anything else except for black, you should start thinking about buying a new film.
Once you have got it in and the tank tightly sealed you just add the chemicals as directed in the instructions. The order is:
1. Developer
4. Stopper
5. Fixative
6. Water
Dry and finished!
If you are looking for cheep suplies in Europe try www.phototec.de.
So that is how easy developing a B/W picture is!
A dark room is not, as now a days some people believe, a room in a seedy little sexbar, but it is the place where Photographers dreams come true.
It is the place where we developed our pictures before the great technical revolution, in a time when it was necessary to learn how to take good pictures and before the computers did all the work.
A Dark room is mostly made up of a very dark room(what a surprise), an enlarger, a few deep plastic trays, a red light and a lot of drying racks or washing lines, lots of exiting chemical bottles (well really they are quite harmless) and many different sized cardboard boxes containing photopaper.
So to number one, which is actually number two, but most people don't listen to one and want to jump right to two, So to number one, how do I get the photo off this little negative on to a peace of PE-paper.
Well that is not to difficult.
1. you need complete darkness, then when you are sure that there is not the slightest bit light in the room you can put on a red light. Not any old red light, ask your local photostore to give you one tested for B/W photography.
2. Then you need to place the chemicals in the trays, put them in the following order:
1. Developer
1. Stopper
2. Fixative
3. Water
Follow the instructions on the bottles as the mixing quantities are different by make.
1. When you now put your negative in the enlarger and switch the light switch on your enlarger on, you will find that you receive an unsharp copy of the photo on the bottom board of the enlarger. You should now be able to find a wheel of some kind, probably on the right hand side of you enlarger, turn it until the picture comes in to focus.
2. Chose a time on the time switch, you will need to experiment a bit on the times try 1.5sec for a start, and switch the enlarger off. Now you put the red filter in front of the lens, you really cant miss that. Switch the enlarger on again and place the photopaper under the enlarger. You can see the basic features off the photo, so you can still chose the part of the negative you want on the photo. Once you have placed the paper where you want it you switch the enlarger off again
3. Take the red filter away from the lens!
4. Now you can press the switch on the time clock. The light on the enlarger will go on shortly.
5. Place the paper in basin No1 now, ...wait and watch, when you think that the picture will not change any more, take it out of the basin, let it drip for a moment,
6. and the place it in basin No.2. 10 seconds should do the stopping, but read the instructions on the chemicals first.
7. The place it in No.3. here you will need to leave the picture for a bit (read the instructions on the chemicals first.) until this moment no light may fall on the picture.
8. Well then rinse the photo in plenty ove water for a bout 5 to 10 minutes,
9. Dry and Finished a perfectly beutifull B/W photo!!!!!!!!!!!
Well now to No.2 (which is really number one......) To develop your negatives you don't need much, you need a developing tank and a bit of practise in getting your film on two the spiral inlay in the total dark. And when I say totally dark I mean it, if your eyes start to get used to the dark after 15mins or so and you suddenly can see anything else except for black, you should start thinking about buying a new film.
Once you have got it in and the tank tightly sealed you just add the chemicals as directed in the instructions. The order is:
1. Developer
4. Stopper
5. Fixative
6. Water
Dry and finished!
If you are looking for cheep suplies in Europe try www.phototec.de.
So that is how easy developing a B/W picture is!
