Since we now buy most of our chemicals in bulk powder form, this post is a general reminder for everyone (mostly myself) on how much powder to mix into how much water to make our paper developer. Please note that we have a small digital scale in the darkroom now which will make it easy…
As of last week, we have brand new photo processing chemicals in the lab. I have taken the liberty of mixing the fist batch of paper chemicals so you can come in and make prints. Please remember that the paper chemical needs to be diluted at a ratio of 1:1 in order to make it…
So we’ve been in class for a little over 2 months and I’m really happy with how well we’ve all settled into the rhythm of class. I wish I could see you all here all the time, but I understand some of you guys have plenty of things to do after school. For those of…
After doing a bit of research and doing some experiments in the darkroom today, I think I’ve come to realize that the problem we’re having is that our chemicals have been sitting here too long. This doesn’t mean that they went bad, it just means that we need to decrease the water dilution a bit.…
Mike’s Quality Camera came through with our new stuff today. 24 rolls of Kodak TX-400 film, two steel film retrievers (the best there is), D76 concentrated developer, concentrated stop bath, and four 25-packs of 35-mm archive sleeves. Those of you who want to try your hand with another roll of film before we go into…
As you guys could see in class today (for those of you who showed up) the chemistry while being a reasonably exact science, is not very difficult. I realize that there is a lot of numbers to learn but we just have to make sure we read the directions on the developers we use. The…
I have put together a detailed handout for you guys to read through. This deals with the parts of the development tanks, how to use and load them, and how to mix the chemicals. Always remember to wear safety goggles when mixing the chemicals and never touch your eyes until you wash your hands with…
Developer, stop bath, and fixer each have their distinctive smell. They are almost foul smells if one interprets them that way. I’ve come to grow to love it and I look forward to coming home sweating from a 10-mile bike ride and still reeking of dark room chemicals. If you’re passionate about this hobby (or…