First print in 12 years

[Vick Ko]

Overall impression: hmmmmpf. This is harder than developing film.

I was dry-running the darkroom in the basement the day before, trying to lay out where trays would go, and where to put the timer and where my dry work space would be.

Then, last night, I made my first two prints - over exposed contact sheets of a set of 120 negatives. That took over a couple hours.

Sure, I'm still ironing out the kinks in the darkroom, like the wet side only being temporary trays on the washing machine and laundry tub.

And the basement is an ambient 15 deg C, and I only had room to temper the developer and stop bath to 20 deg C. I had to temper the fixer in the tub.

Then trying to get used to handling the paper in safelight darkness, and how much light needed to get the right exposure.

And placing the timer so that I could see it from the wet side. My safelight was on the opposite side of the room, which is great for the enlarger, but I couldn't see the time when I stood at the trays. Fixed that by using the big Gralab, not the tiny Kodak timer.

I didn't get time to print a real photo, but did spend time trying to position the negative correctly and frame the easel and still "learning" my Durst enlarger.

I can see how people transition to digital darkroom for printing really really easily.

Developing film is a piece of cake compared to doing a print.

So, in summary, the darkroom experience wasn't a total disaster, but, can't imagine doing colour. Funny, I used to do cibachrome years ago. Maybe because it was tube-developed, it was so much easier.

I won't give up yet, but, I can sure think of easier things to do.

Vick

[Brian Ellis]

I can't imagine how it could possibly take a couple hours to print two contact sheets (and still not get them right) even for a novice unless you're including all the time you spent setting up the darkroom. But just putting a contact sheet in the frame, exposing it, and running it through the chemicals shouldn't take anywhere near that long. I realize that at first you might need to make several exposures to come up with the right time but two hours?

You don't need to temper anything other than the developer unless 15-20 c. is like freezing or boiling.

Your eyes should adjust to the light pretty quickly so seeing your way around shouldn't be a problem at all unless your safe-light is too dim or placed too far away.

Like anything else, learning how to make an excellent print takes time but the mechanics of darkroom printing are really very simple once you establish a few parameters (e.g. height of enlarger head for a contact sheet or normally exposed negative, exposure time, etc.) so try not to get discouraged. If you keep at it and work intelligently you'll look back a week or two from now and wonder what the big fuss was all about.

As an aside, learning to make excellent prints digitally is much harder than darkroom printing. The learning curve is much steeper and it never ends.

[Winger]

See, I think printing is much easier than developing film. If you mess up a print, you can make another. I keep finding new ways to mess up developing film and there's no way to fix film goofs.
If you're methodical and keep at it, you'll get a system down and be able to do it all much faster. I use a small LCD kitchen timer to time paper through the chemicals - much easier for me as I can hold it and see it easily while standing at the trays. If I'm trying to push prints through, I have a second timer and put each next to the tray they relate to.
A small ceramic space heater might help with the temp, too.
I have a standard way of doing contact sheets so I can tell looking at them what I'll need to start out when I enlarge. height is marked on my enlarger and is enough to give me light to about an inch extra all around the sheet of negs (I do mine in print file sheets), I use the 50mm lens with the condenser set for 35mm. #2 filter, f8, 8 seconds.

[ROL]

Overall impression: hmmmmpf. This is harder than developing film.
Vick

Working out the kinks of a new or unfamiliar darkroom, as well as your own printing routine (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/making-a-fine-art-print), can take time. I'm fairly certain that "harder" will be replaced by "more fun" and/or "more rewarding", in short order. For me, the actual film development process is purely mechanical, once basic decisions have been made regarding developer, time, and temperature – and it must be so if consistency is the goal. There are many in–flight decisions to be considered and executed while printing (or presenting), which in the darkroom, makes a worthwhile experience into a worthwhile print.



Oh, and don't forget to get your favorite music in there with you.:)