A few questions about darkroom special effects

[tearcut1]

What are some of the easiest and quickest effects and manipulation techniques to do with B&W manual darkroom photography? (amateur here)

Also is a personal processor good/bad for effects?

[jeroldharter]

Not sure what you mean by special effects. I assume you mean printing/paper processing techniques that alter a straight print. From basic to more complicated:

dodging
burning
bleaching
masking
toning
perspective control
vignetting
split contrast printing
alternative techniques

Processors are not very useful for paper processing but can be helpful for standardizing negative development.

[tearcut1]

Thanks for the response.

Is there some kind of all in one VHS or dvd that explains these darkroom manual techniques.

If not, Can you recommend a book that has all in one guided steps for these effects darkroom techniques.

The old special effects books I have have bits and pieces

The problem is its hard to find people who places who can teach you such stuff.(where I live at least)

[cyrus]

Thanks for the response.

Is there some kind of all in one VHS or dvd that explains these darkroom manual techniques.

If not, Can you recommend a book that has all in one guided steps for these effects darkroom techniques.

The old special effects books I have have bits and pieces

The problem is its hard to find people who places who can teach you such stuff.(where I live at least)

There are several different books on standard darkroom technique that will explain the basics but there's no substitute for actual practice. It is easy to understand the theory behind Dodging and burning for example and most books do a fine job of explaining that (these are the most basic manipulations) but even that can get complicated in practice if there are complicated bits and pieces of the image that need dodging and burning.

[Nathan Potter]

If you are talking about the standard manipulation done on prints they are mentioned above. But some of the most challenging work is done on the negatives and particularly on color negatives and positives.

Years ago I used a dandy book from Kodak (when Kodak was really in the film business); "Creative Darkroom Techniques", Eastman Kodak Company, 1973. It details a bunch of techniques from basic to complex, and to mention a few:

Reducing and intensification
Toners
High contrast (Kodalith) derivations
Reticulation
Sabattier Effect in B&W and color
Posterization based on density extraction
Tone Line technique

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[tearcut1]

I think practice has its limits with these things since i'm first trying to still practice basic darkroom printing so having someone else who knows in such things would be handy.

But these tricks sadly are almost obsolete because of the computer programs. However I think there still is , might be , a good amount of people who know and still do it.

[Winger]

I think practice has its limits with these things since i'm first trying to still practice basic darkroom printing so having someone else who knows in such things would be handy.

If we knew where you are, someone might be nearby who could show you these.

But these tricks sadly are almost obsolete because of the computer programs. However I think there still is , might be , a good amount of people who know and still do it.

For anyone still using a darkroom, these techniques are anything but obsolete. They are fairly standard when printing.

[cyrus]

If you can, take a course at a local college. I too wish I had a personal tutor but had to settle for learning the basics from my grandfather when I was a kid, and (much) later in a couple of courses at a local university. Indeed it would be nice to have a personal tutor but alas generations of photographers have had to learn things on their own (back in the days when there was no YouTube!) You always pick up tips and techniques here and there; it is a continual process of learning. Thankfully there's a LOT of written material to guide us in addition to forums like this. I think anyone learning this stuff should have at least Ansel's "The Print" and Andreas Feininger's "Darkroom Techniques" which cover the basics. A good book for more advanced techniques such as posterization, using screens, tone separation etc is "The complete art of printing and enlarging" by O R Croy and published by Amphoto. There are at least 11 editions (I think the 11th was in 1970) but I don't think there is a single comprehensive textbook out there, nor do any of these books go into a lot of nitty-gritty detail (which is why, short of having a personal tutor or working in a master printer's darkroom, you have to just practice on your own)
I have a little library of old books and I find occasional tidbits in them. For example in Darkroom 2 (Lustrum?) I found out about using contour masking. For me personally, digging through these old books and discovering things is part of the enjoyment.

[Brian Ellis]

Once you get past the basics of darkroom printing (if you aren't there already) you might buy a copy of Bea Nettles' book "Breaking The Rules." You can get it used on Amazon for about $5 and it will give you all sorts of different things to try.

[John Koehrer]

Here are three.
Photographics byNicholas Jenkins
Graphic effect by photography, Croy

Kodak published something like Creative Darkroom Techniques.
There are many more available.