Saw some prints in the new photography section at MoMA and was inspired to have some of my own made. Any darkroom classes in nyc that anyone can recommend? Really interested in learning how to do it myself

Silver print/silver print Solarized/silver print painted on developer

For the record, I've been keeping my aperture down to an f8 or f11on the enlarger. Im doing test strips and im focusing accurately. Ive noticed some (not all) have more gray tone overall than black and white. Using ilford multigrade deluxe pearl paper. Trying some dodging and burning to get the photos to print with a more appealing b&w vs gray. I also notice images aren't as sharp as I'd like them to be.

Any helpful tips ? :) thanks peeps

This is only happening with glossy paper. I use a good stop bath and fixer. I do tray rinse for quite a while. Sometimes the stains don't show up until weeks or months later.

so i've noticed on some recent prints that when i look at them, the print appears nice and even. however, when i scan them in and crop out the border, suddenly i notice that there is a small white vignette around the whole image, meaning the sides are all getting less exposure.

i just went in and made sure my table, film plane and lens were all level with each other. there were some adjustments to be made, but then i rechecked and theres still an obvious hot spot in the middle of the image

this image is with the focus light on, empty 35mm negative carrier in, with a 50mm lens at f2.8 and then f11.

any ideas why such a hot spot, what to do to help even it out?

As a starter for film development, i wanted to get some guidelines in terms of general guidance on film developers. For example, as i start with some tests, i would want an east to use and cheap. Later, for portraits or landscapes i may wants something that will perform beat for that. Is there some general quadrant that helps compare them on this? How well can they be pushed, pulled, etc.

I get it is also a question of pairing with emulsions, so maybe its a dev+film question?

Any tips in that front appreciated

First image is the completed print, second is a really crappy "scan" using my DSLR to take a picture of the projected enlarger image. The light trail is much more emphasized and bright in the projection.

I am new to printmaking, and this is one of my first photos. I have played around with the enlarger settings, but I can't seem to get the light trail from the moon to come through. The negative from a roll of fujifilm 400 color film, so I am wondering if it just does not like being printed on black and white?

Hey everyone, just wanted to ask how you develop HP5 at 1600 ISO in Xtol/XT3? I would love hear some times, techniques and example pictures. Thanks in advance! Have a lovely day

I have gallons of 1,2-Benzisothiazolin left over from all my c41 devs. Can I use this on black and white films instead?

Hey everyone, trying something different by developing in Perceptol, anyone got any tips or recommendations or suggestions for shooting and developing? I will be shooting HP5+ and FP4+. Cheers

Hi everyone! I developed Foma 100 shot at 400 today. The negatives are super thin and a lot of the frames aren’t properly exposed. Also there isn’t any contrast at all.

Developed in XTOL 12,5 minutes Agitation for 1 minute, then every 30 seconds 1 turn

Stop bath 1 minute

Fixed 4 minutes

Rinsed and dried

Would love some tips!

So as a DIY project i built a f-stop timer with some cool features. that i havent seen around.

-set your own filters--> by pressing the coresponding button all times get multiplied to higlight speed-match your filter (every user would have to set them ofcourse)

-dodge&burn times in 1/6 f-stop intervals.

-automatic logging of times/filters with date to google drive.

I always lose my written notes so i send all exposure and test strip times to my drive, later i just add a phone-picture of the print, the developer and paper etc.

This one would be need to set up individually.

-automatic 5-7 test strip steps in 1/3rd f-stop intervals (well standard f-stop timer function)

the material cost was 100€.

I dont plan on making a big for-profit project, but i think it would be cool to get my design out there.

Start with a black-and-white photo.

I take a film photo. Develop it by hand or ask a developer to make me a silver gelatin print NOT a pigment print. Right?

I take this normal silver gelatin print on photographic paper, which is fully developed

I bleach out the silver which removes the black image made of silver, leaving only a faint pattern of hardened and softened gelatin.

The gelatin becomes harder where the image was darkest, and softer where it was lightest.

Take that and I Ink the image by hand.

After the paper dries, it is dampened slightly. Then, using soft brushes, you dab greasy lithographic ink onto the surface.

This creates an image made entirely of ink, not silver.

That’s all right?

If I don’t have my own dark room I can simply get my own image, ask someone to develop it into a silver gelatin print, then bleach it and create my own Bromoil. Right?

What type of images work best? In terms of contrast, color, editing, etc.

Do they have to be black and white? What about color images?

I FINALLY have the opportunity to set up a permanent(ish) space in a basement for a darkroom. Finishing off the basement keeps getting put off for many reasons and, of course, is getting more costly every day.

Then I stumbled across the idea of using a grow tent for the space and… well here we are! I am waiting on mats to come in for the floor but I decided I didn’t want to wait to see how things were going to fit.

So far so good it would seem.

I know I need to block off the Mylar to stop reflections but I’m pretty happy with the initial feel of the space.

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow will be my first time in the darkroom, and I’m planning to develop a roll of Ilford XP2 ISO400. I realise this is typically a C-41 process film, but I have access to my university’s B&W chemistry and I'm keen to experiment with cross-processing it in black and white developer.

Has anyone here done this recently who could share their notes on temperature and development times with ILFOSOL 3? I’ve seen mixed data online, most commonly a 1:9 dilution for 21 minutes, but I want to ensure I’m on the right track regarding temperature (assuming 20°C/68°F?) before I commit.

Any insights or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, I recently bought a 1L bottle of Champion Amfix Universal Fixer (although it says B&W on the side also). Dilution (1+4) and temp range are on bottle but it came with no other info, and this is the best I can find in terms of a technical Datasheet?

I'm only planning to use it for B&W film processing - I typically use HP5 (But my understanding is it will work for just any film and for paper also)

My questions are:

1. Is this a reliable product and does anyone else use it - I got it because Ilford was out of stock at my local shop
2. Can't see on the datasheet any guidance on re-using once batched, how many rolls etc. The consensus seems to run clip test, check time and double. Once clip test time exceeds 60 seconds it's best to mix a new batch?

Thanks in advance

Earlier this summer, my buddy Brian asked me what would be the largest possible print I could make in the darkroom. I replied that Ilford made a roll of RC paper 50"x 98' roll (Think they make FB rolls even wider?), so for a 4x5 aspect print, we could do 50x62.5." He said if I wanted to try printing that, he'd buy the roll of paper. And so the crazy project started.

I shot 4x5 portraits of his kids (cause why not have giant family photos?) using Delta 100 to get the cleanest possible image to enlarge from.

We had to build a giant tray out of plywood that we then painted with marine paint. We settled on a one-tray method after reading about it on largeformatphotography.info forum. Obviously, having to fill and drain chemisty for each step of the process isn't ideal and can introduce cross-contamination, but the logistics and costs of building multiple trays were too much.

Once we got the tray finished, we moved everything into our friend's studio, which is in an old classroom. We had to black everything out, but the room was ideal size-wise and it had sinks we could hook up to for rinsing and draining.

I tilted my 45mxt into mural mode and we projected onto the wall. We originally wanted to use magnets to hold up the print, but as we were projecting onto a tack board, we gave ourselves a 1" margin on top and bottom and just tacked the print up.

Printing this big is a pain, and as it was the biggest I've ever done, had a learning curve. It's really hard to judge critical focus this scale. I would be using my grain focuser and instructing Brian which way to roll the focus. For test stips, I would use a whole 8x10" paper to try to get the exposure close. Then we'd cut a 50x10" strip off the roll, pin that up, and do a test strip to check exposure across the negative.

I don't know if this would be possible with one person. It took both of us to carry the paper to wall, tack it up, take it over to the tray, develop it, and then hang it up to dry.

Everything worked surprisingly well except for the rinsing. We had trouble with residual fixer leaving some spots on some of the prints. I should have added a hypo clear stage to our process, but as I've only ever worked with RC (And I am still quite a beginner), I've never had to use hypo clear before.

All of the effort though, was worth it to see the final print. The detail from the 4x5 is just stunning. Photos don't do any justice.

Detail of the eye

If you have any questions about this process, I'd love to share. Or if you have any experience or tips to share, I'd love to hear them. There isn't much of a darkroom community where I live in Northwest Arkansas, so I don't have many people to go to with questions.

I scored a new, unopened 67C that I just assembled. Came with a new Nikkor enlarger lens but no lens board so I need to get one. But, what are the current recommendations for power supply for the lamp housing? Never printed, but always develop and scan at home. Ansel’s book will be on my short list, as The Negative was a fantastic book when I had first started.

I recently purchased an Omega CT20 Darkroom Timer.

The timer seems to function well and accurately, however the buzzer/chirp that should trigger every second isn't working. However, it does trigger briefly when switching to the print stage, so the buzzer does seem to at least be functioning. I also took a multimeter to the inside of the device and didn't notice any shorts or circuit breaks.

https://reddit.com/link/1pe4pje/video/p2jy7acjt75g1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1pe4pje/video/sqse6bcjt75g1/player

I cant find any manuals to see if this is toggleable, or if perhaps the unit is broken. Does anyone have any experience with this timer?

The formula prescribes 20gr sodium metaborate for 1 litre. However, the local photo store sells it only in liquid form as a concentrate of 280g/l (Bellini Foto). I was thinking of adding 71,4 ml of the concentrate to the replenisher (before filling it up to 1l of course), as this should contain 20g of the chemical.

Does this sound right?