Thread: an evening in the darkroom

some successful, some not very ... but starting to get a sense of what'll print and what won't ...

TIP: Don't listen to Coltrane on the radio while trying to count off seconds on a metronome ...

An evening in the darkroom by _loupe, on Flickr

Originally Posted by pdh

TIP: Don't listen to Coltrane on the radio while trying to count off seconds on a metronome ...

John Philip Sousa might work better

The prints looks great.... I need to
1. print more
2. get more shots worthy of printing
3. make more lists

Now my husband is telling me I should darkroom.. and process other people's film as well. Er.. baby steps. Good for you, contrast looks great on these

all except the square one on the top right were shot on a roll of Rollei Retro 400S using a 680nm IR filter (RR400S has slightly extended sensitivity into IR) so they are very dense contrasty negatives. Very easy to print.

A couple of them are on Flickr as scans from the negatives, and they look a bit coarse digitised - but the moment you get them into the enlarger where they're meant to be, the coarseness and grain just disappears.

I may opt for a class as it all sounds overwhelming. Step by step it isn't but from the developing to the printing I get the twitchies just thinking about all that's involved.

One step at a time. But go ahead; it's fun! Some of the satisfactions are the same as digital, but some are distinctly different.

Originally Posted by Isoterica

I may opt for a class as it all sounds overwhelming. Step by step it isn't but from the developing to the printing I get the twitchies just thinking about all that's involved.

This does bring back a memory or two. I was (and still am) too lazy to set up a darkroom in my bathroom, so most of my b/w work was done at the art facility at Boise State University back in the 70's and later on in a couple of jr college's that would let me take photography 101 over and over. What really came back was the smell, which I still love, ascetic acid fixer in the darkroom mixed with the smell of turp from the fine art painters.

I had the major priviledge of studying with Howard Huff at BSU for a bit. He was an incredible teacher who loved to "give away" his secrets -- one of which was to practice finger shadow puppets as a complex burning/dodging tool always at hand, so to speak. Howard was one of Ansel Adams students and while now retired is still an incredible landscape photographer living out in the Pahsimeroi in southeastern Idaho.

Even a one semester class is really helpful. Lots of fun, but I have to say that I do love the control in the digital "darkroom" and its really easy to put it all away. :)

btw-- love the taste in music pdh.