The third workshop that I attended at #iopSymposium18 was a black and white printing workshop. Each participant brought along negatives to print.
The facilities at Falmouth include an entrance chamber that prevents light getting into the darkroom if printing is in progress. The wet darkroom has chemical baths in a central section surrounded by booths with enlargers.
The negative to be printed is placed in the carrier shiny side up. This is best done in the light as it can be tricky to see in the red light. Borders are set with the paper easel. A lens was fitted to the enlarger (50mm lens used for 35mm film). The aperture can be set on the lens and the contrast is set on the enlarger. Contrast 5 is the hardest and 1 the softest – generally start around 2.5 or 3.
Once the negative is loaded, it needs focusing. The focus is checked using a microscope (you should be able to see the grain). A contact sheet is produced first (figure 3) to check what exposure is needed.
HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS:-
sensible closed shoes
wear non latex glove when dealing with chemicals
wear safety specs when dealing with chemicals
laboratory coat to be worn
Figure 1: Enlarger parts (Forstørrelsesapparat 2018)
Figure 2: Processing prints for resin coated paper – followed by a wash tray for 2 minutes (Hackshaw 2018)
Images from the darkroom:-
MY PRINTS
Figure 3: Contact sheet. f4. 5 seconds for initial section then 2 seconds for each additional section of image. Contrast value 3
Figure 4: Contact sheet. f4. 24 seconds at contrast value 3
Figure 5: f4. 20 seconds at contrast value 3
Figure 6: f4. 24 seconds at contrast value 4 plus 18 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky. Added an additional 2 seconds at contrast value 5
Figure 7: f4. 24 seconds at contrast value 4 plus 24 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky. Added an additional 2 seconds at contrast value 5
Figure 8: f4. 24 seconds at contrast value 4 plus 30 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky. Added an additional 2 seconds at contrast value 5
Figure 9: f4. 21 seconds at contrast value 4 plus 30 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky. Added an additional 2 seconds at contrast value 5
Figure 10: f4. 21 seconds at contrast value 4 plus 30 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky.
Figure 11: f4. 21 seconds at contrast value 3.5 (dodge ponies for last 8 seconds with fast moving card) Then 30 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky.
Figure 12: f4. 21 seconds at contrast value 3.5 (dodge larger pony head for 4 seconds and then both ponies for last 8 seconds with fast moving card) Then 30 seconds at contrast value 3.5 to burn in sky.
Figure 13: f4. 21 seconds at contrast value 3.5 (dodge larger pony head for 4 seconds and then both ponies for last 8 seconds with fast moving card) Then 30 seconds at contrast value 4 to burn in sky.
The darkroom experience was great fun and reminded me of my ‘O’ Level Photography days. This practice development session will certainly help me in the future and encourage me to use more film on shoots.
IMAGE SOURCES
Figire 1: Forstørrelsesapparat. 2018. No.wikipedia.org [online]. Available at: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forstørrelsesapparat [accessed 17 February 2018].
Figure 2: Hackshaw, A. 2018. “Pinhole Photography: Developing the Darkroom Photo”. Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo [online]. Available at: https://www.lilblueboo.com/2015/07/pinhole-photography-developing-the-darkroom-photo.html [accessed 17 February 2018].
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