SAFETY IN THE DARKROOM!
The darkroom can be dangerous.
Dark room Design And Layout:
Major hazards in the darkroom layout are due to Dim lighting.
• Avoid anything which could get in your way in the dark or which might cause injury.
• Don’t leave bas where people can trip over them.
• Don’t wear white (reflects light and could cause unwanted reflections of light) or black because then know one can see you.
• Always clean up if you spill anything straight away. If it is a big amount inform the teacher or technician.
The combination of electricity and solutions
• Make sure all electrical is wired correctly and earthed if necessary.
• Keep the ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ areas as far as possible. Don’t carry wet prints to the enlarger area. Will prevent other paper becoming contaminated.
• Avoid working with wet hands. And don’t let the floor get wet.
Poor ventilation
• Stop bath and fixer and toning solutions if you use them give off hazardous vapours. Always make sure that the ventilation system is switched on.
USING CHEMICALS
Treat all photographic chemicals as potentially hazardous. Find out those which are especially poisonous by making sure that you read the data sheets packed with them.
Following the general rules:
• Never allow your fingers to come into contact with the solutions. Always use tongs or rubber surgical gloves.
• Never eat or drink in the darkroom. Never take it in either. Never lick your fingers or taste the chemicals. Only use cylinders for measuring out solutions.
• Make sure that all bottles are labelled. This is especially important if you buy special chemicals for use in college. These may only be used if approved by a lecturer and subject to the arability of the correct data information sheets.
• Take care when making solutions from solid chemicals not to breathe in the fine powders. Eye protection is advised when making solutions. (PROTECTIVE SPECTACLES ARE AVAILABLE IN ALL COLLEGE DARKROOMS)
• Get help if it gets in your eyes!!
Different Film Types
There are a wide spectrum of black & white films available, in different formats, brands and ISO's. They express different qualities to the feel of the images you can create with it. Here are some examples of these types;
Black and White Film Brands and Types:
Black and White Film Brands and Types
Brand | Name | ISO | Grain | Notes |
Ilford | Pan F | 50 | Extremely Fine | Very fine detail and lack of grain; good for fine art photography. |
Kodak | T-Max 100 | 100 | Extremely Fine | General purpose film, narrow exposure range. |
Ilford | Delta-100 | 100 | Fine | General purpose film, wide exposure range. |
Fuji | Neopan 100 | 100 | Fine | General purpose film, wide exposure range. |
Fuji | Neopan Acros | 100 | Very Fine | Fine grain quality for a wide range of photography applications. |
Kodak | Plus X | 125 | Fine | General purpose film, slightly flexible. |
Ilford | FP 4 | 125 | Very Fine | Can be underexposed by 2-stops or overexposed by 6-stops. |
Kodak | Tri X | 400 | Fine | Ideal for low-light or outdoor scenes, can be pushed 2-stops. |
Kodak | T-Max 400 | 400 | Fine | Dim lighting or fast action, can be pushed 2-stops. |
Ilford | HP5 | 400 | Fine | Ideal for low-light or outdoor scenes, can be pushed to 3200. |
Ilford | Delta-400 | 400 | Fine | Flexible film for fine art photography. |
Fuji | Neopan 400 | 400 | Fine | Wide exposure latitude, push processing capability to EI 1600 |
Kodak | T-Max | 1200 | Grainy | Designed to be pushed to 3200 film speed. |
Ilford | Delta-3200 | 1200 | Grainy | Designed to be pushed to 3200 film speed. |
Film types I am compareing
Ilford Pan F ISO 50 is one of the slowest of ILFORDS films, but the image quality, and devoid of grain is much more important than the film speed. This film is appropriate for subjects, such as architecture to still life, portraiture and medical. With the pan F negatives it shows wonderful range of detail and tone, when the film is carefully exposed and processed.
Kodak T-Max ISO100 is a continuous tone panchromatic black and white film. It is particularly suitable for detailed subjects. It has very high sharpness, extremely fine grain and very high resolving power. It also allows some degree of enlargement.
Ilford Delta ISO 100, with this film you are free from the grain and are able to see the sharpest ISO 100 speed black and white film. Outstanding lucidity of detail and precise image rendition. 100 deltas emulsion allows various levels of enlargement never before possible without the loss of fine detail this meaning a radical change from any other black and white film.
Fuji Neopan 100 is a medium speed and ultra high quality image, black and white film that brags high standard grain quality among ISO 100 films. It has striking sharpness and rich gradation. With these features it makes and excellent choice for a very wide range of photographic purposes; this includes portraits, landscapes, architectural subjects, photomicrography and product photography.When comparing these Black and White films you are able to see what quality’s they can individually give to your chosen photography need. The grain, speed, enlargement needs all submit to the final prints.
Pushed and pulled process
When looking at 'pushed' and 'pulled' process it means you can expose the film at a higher or lower ISO rating than it was designed for.
Push processing in tale’s developing the film for more time, even the combination with a higher temperature than they recommend. The outcome of this technique results in the effective over development of the film.
Pull processing involves under development and over exposure effectively decreasing the sensitivity of the processed film. This is achieved by developing the film for a shorter time, and possibly a lower temperature. Looking at pull processed film will display the opposite change in its visual aspect.
Terminology
When you push a film it means that you have underexposed your film. This can happen in a number of ways:
- You may have intentionally set your camera meter at a fasterspeed. In practice this may mean that you have loaded a roll of for example, Kodak Tri-X 400, but set the camera meter to 1600. In this case your film will be underexposed by two stops (400-800-1600).
When you pull film it means that you have overexposed your film. This can happen in a number of ways:
- You may have intentionally set your camera meter at a slower speed. For example, you may have loaded a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400, but set the meter at 100. Your film will then be overexposed by two stops (400-200-100).
- You may have unintentionally shot a whole roll of what you thought was Kodak Tmax 400, but turned out to be 3200. Your film would then be over exposed by 3 stops (3200-1600-400).
Reciprocity Failure
“As film is exposed to light, it becomes less and less sensitive. The longer it is exposed, the less sensitive it becomes.”
(Rodsmith Photographic glossary)
It affects both very long and short exposure times, mostly longer than a second or shorter than 1/100th sec.
http://www.darkroom.ru/info/manuals/ilford_hp5_manual_eng.pdf
http://www.darkroom.ru/info/manuals/ilford_hp5_manual_eng.pdf
When developing the film, there a number of things that could go wrong, such as:
•Negatives are very thin/ faint.
Underdevelopment. Developer too cold, too short development time, developer too dilute or insufficient agitation.
•Negatives are very dark.
Overdevelopment. Developer too hot, too long development time, developer too concentrated.
•Film is cloudy. Insufficient fixing. Too short fixing time, fixer exhausted or fixer too dilutes. Return to fixer solution or if necessary re-fix in a fresh solution.
•Uneven development. The film is lighter or underdeveloped along one side. Not enough developer to cover the film in the tank. Negatives have denser areas mirroring the shape of the sprocket holes. Undeveloped patches or patches of film which have been unaffected by any processing solutions.
•Surface damage. Dust embedded in surface. Dirty water or, most likely, dust settling on film while it is hanging up to dry.
Scuff marks or scratches; Caused by rough handling. Straight scratches extending the length of the film, ‘Tramlines’. Caused by dirt either on the felt light trap on the film cassette or on the film plate in the camera.
Solutions:
· Film retriever or bottle opener
· Adjust spool before going into the dark room so you know its all ok.
· Measure temp of developer first then adjust water mixture when both make up 20 degree Celsius
· Find tom if you need help to mix
Materials you need for film developing
• your black and white film
• dry counter top
• bottle opener/ film retriever
• scissors
• film developing tank with all accessories
• reel (one per roll of film)
• thermometer
• developer, stop and fixer mixed up (dev with correct temperature)
• timer/ stopwatch
• funnel (to return chemicals back into containers- STOP and FIX ONLY!
• Wetting agent to remove surface tension and get even result (squeegee to
remove water from the film- but might leave scratches…)
• clips for hanging negatives
• negative bags
Developing my film/ Evaluating.
When developing my own film I found quite hard to keep to the timings; I did make the mistake of diluting my developer buy about 50ml so we added extra time and it didn’t seem to affect the negatives. In the end it came out better than expected. When examining the contact sheet I used a loupe to magnify my negatives, I find using this it helped me see if there where any imperfections, e.g. watermarks, sharpness, stains and the grain.
On my negatives I can’t see any watermarks, I found no scratching, the sharpness is good, all the negatives are coherent and evenly exposed. Over all I find that they came out fine, but next time I will try to keep everything precise.
Different Paper Types.
Multigrade IV RC DeluxeMultigrade IV RC Deluxe is a premium quality Pearl finish paper with a bright base tint. The image colour remains cool to neutral whether viewed in daylight or fluorescent light. This paper has a standard weight (190 gsm) resin coated base. It is available in different surfaces.
ADOX MCC 110 Fibre Based Paper
The paper dries easily and tones nicely."
Information from http://www.adox.de/english/ADOX_Papers/MCC/MCC.html
Multigrade Art 300
ILFORD MULTIGRADE ART 300 has a textured matt surface with an eggshell sheen. The new base has been specially produced for HARMAN technology by Hahnemühle. The fine art base with a MULTIGRADE silver gelatine coating has a cool base colour and warm image tone. Compared to ILFORD FB (baryta) papers slightly shorter wash times are achieved, and the paper can easily be handled in large sheets thanks to its 300 GSM weight.
HARMAN DIRECT POSITIVE Fibre Based Paper.
"HARMAN DIRECT POSITIVE FB paper is primarily suited for use in pinhole cameras where exposure and processing in conventional black and white photo chemistry achieves a unique positive print - without the need for a film negative or inter-negative.HARMAN DIRECT POSITIVE FB paper can also be successfully used in other applications such as direct exposure in large format cameras or by cutting small sheets for exposure in LOMO type cameras. Creative and unusual effects can be achieved when used to make photograms or perhaps substituted for standard photo paper when printing from negatives in an enlarger."Information from www.ilfordphoto.com
FOMATONE MG CLASSIC – on baryta (FB) paper base (double weight) in
surfaces: glossy, matt and fine-grain
FOMATONE MG is a variable-contrast photographic paper working in a warm tone. It is specially designed for portrait photography and retro style works. Its contrast can be varied in a large extent from extra soft up to ultra hard by using colour filters at exposure. The paper is manufactured using a special silver chlorobromide emulsion that gives the silver image a brown-green to warm-brown tone that can further be influenced by the type of developer used. The paper base involved is coloured in compliance with the tone of the developed silver. This accentuates rich scale of warm halftones ranging from light cream up to saturated brown -to-green black ones. Regarding its low speed, the paper is designed primarily for contact work, it can be, however, used as an enlargement paper as well. Special silver chlorobromide emulsion of this paper enables the consumers to use creative methods within so called „lith“ processes.
These are taken from the website' but I have used Ilford Multigrade IV RC Deluxe resin coated paper and FOMATONE MG CLASSIC Matt myself and feel that the overall finish between the two papers are completely different. The resin coated paper is glossy, shiny, thinner, I thought that the prints came out more contrasting. The FOMATONE MG CLASSIC paper is a bit rougher, and has an antique look about it which i adore; the image is slightly richer with blacks and browns; excellent candidate for the Lith printing process. Personally, I thought that the resin coated looked more professional and the FOMATONE MG CLASSIC would be a perfect paper to use if you wanted to show great tonal separation.
Contact sheet.
A contact sheet is a useful way of seeing which are the best images on a film so you can decide which ones to make enlargements from. when i create my own contact sheets i have two methods: the first one is to get my enlarger set up, then get my photo paper and place my negatives on top. I then get a glass sheet and place it on top; or contact proof printer, where the negatives are slotted inside and a piece of photo paper is laid under the negatives. The reason for creating a contact print is so I can look at all the shots I have taken and be able to choose and evaluate them. When creating a contact print (same with any print) a test strip must be done to see how long it must be exposed.
SCAN MY CONTACT SHEET TEST STRIP
Grades
Different grade filters can be used in the enlarger to produce a different effect. Grades range from 0 – 5 where Grade 0 will result in a soft image and Grade 5 will produce an image with harder and greater contrast. The higher contrast is a result of the filter omitting some of the mid-tones in the negative. Paper itself can be multigrade and therefore can be used with all filters or specific grades where a filter is not necessary.
A contrast test can be completed for the same negative image to illustrate the difference in results. This is simply done by producing images at different grades by first completing a test strip for each grade and then a final print. A split grade print can be produced where all the paper is exposed to light at grade 5 and then the lighter area of the image is exposed to light at Grade 0. The benefit of this print is the enhanced detail in both the darker and lighter areas which is a result of the application of the filters.
http://www.guidetofilmphotography.com/pushing-pulling-film.html
