Darkroom questions and Book Suggestion

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Tim Gray

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I'm sure a lot of this has been asked before, but you know how it goes...

My friend's mom has an enlarger she wants to get rid of. I'm going to take it and set up darkroom in my bathroom, but was curious to know what are all enlarger accessories (neg carriers, etc) I should check for.

The next step will be to get some the necessary darkroom supplies to develop B&W prints - what do I need? How many trays? Which chemicals to start with?

Lastly, anybody have a really good book they could recommend on the B&W process?

Thanks.
 
There was a thread here and I bought the two books recommended.

"Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual" by Henry Horenstein

"Mastering Black and White Photography" by Bernard Suess

The first tells you everything from first principles - really, if I can learn from this - anyone can.

The second is more involved and there is not a huge amount of explaining, but there are nice anecdotes and it is concise enough not to be tedious.

Anyone else got these?
 
My first recommendation would be to take a class. For books I can suggest Ansel Adams "The Negative" and "The Print" as well as Henry Horenstein's "Black and White Photography".
 
I'm going to try to take a class next semester (in Feb) if I can still take classes for free. However, I'd still like to figure out what basics are needed to set up my own darkroom.

I look into the books mentioned.
 
I have The Negative" and "The Print" it says nothing particular, just explaning main concepts which we all know :) what we need is real practical explenations with equipment and pictures, no ideas and phylosophy :)
 
All the books are about photography, none of them are about printing! Half of the book would be explaning why black and white photo is so dramatic :D
 
At one time, Kodak published various books that sold for $1.00 or less. I have 3 of the titled:
- Basic Developing Printing Enlarging (AJ 2)
- Enlarging in B&W and Color (AG-16)
- Professional Printing in B&W (G5)

I found these quite helpfull when I was doing my own B&W some 30 years ago. You may want to contact Kodak - who knows, there may be a few copies laying around.

Your local library may also be a good place to browse.

Good luck,

Bill K.
 
Nachkebia said:
All the books are about photography, none of them are about printing! Half of the book would be explaning why black and white photo is so dramatic :D
Click to expand...

That's really the problem with how-to books. They have to spend so much time on general waffling they don't contain the information you really need. The Ilford pdf files on making your first prints are helpful, but as to specific enlargers, the manuals are more use in practice.
 
The Ilford website is perfect for all sorts of really good info.

When I was building my own darkroom, and starting back in after 20 years, I picked up two great books: Into Your Darkroom Step by Step, and Build Your Own Home Darkroom.

Both are available on eBay and from Amazon.

Kent
 
In no particular order:

The Basic Darkroom Handbook-----by Tom Grimm

Basic Black and White Photography----by Karl M. Rehm

Beyond the Zone System------ by Phil Davis

The Photographer's Master Printing Course----by Tim Rudman

The Edge of Darkness-----by Barry Thornton

Ilford Monochrome Darkroom Practice----by Jack H. Coote

The Film Developing Cookbook-----by Stephen G. Anchell and Bill Troop

Well, I guess there is some order, I'd get the first three books listed as a start.


Wayne
 
I'll strongly second Keith's recommendation of Vestal's books. In fact, I'll go a bit further: if you have to limit yourself to one book, let it be Vestal's The Craft of Photography. Even though the book is closing in on 30 years old, the information within is still quite relevant in the here and now. What I like about the book is how Vestal gives the reader the gestalt, if you will, of black-and-white photography in a way I've never read from anyone else. I often find myself cracking my copy open just for the fun of reading, as well as brushing up on some specific matter. Between this book and the film/developer info you can download from both Ilford's and Kodak's sites, you'll be pretty well-set.


- Barrett
 
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Tim Gray said:
My friend's mom has an enlarger she wants to get rid of. I'm going to take it and set up darkroom in my bathroom, but was curious to know what are all enlarger accessories (neg carriers, etc) I should check for.

The next step will be to get some the necessary darkroom supplies to develop B&W prints - what do I need? How many trays? Which chemicals to start with?
Click to expand...

OK. Since we've only talked about books so far, let's get to gear talk. :) A basic setup is:

Enlarger accessories:
  • Negative carriers (at least one for each format)
  • Lens (a 50 for 35mm negatives, an 80 or so for 6x6)
  • A set of filters for various grades of contrast. You need these for selecting contrast on multicontrast paper. Your enlarger should have a filter tray. You can do without filters if you've got an enlarger with a colour head where you can dial in values for yellow and magenta.

Necessary darkroom accessories:
  • Safelight. There are readymade safelights, but you can also buy safelight bulbs and screw them into a lamp. I would recommend red; there are yellow and even green-ish safelights, too, but they may produce fogging on some papers. Start off with red light and get used to it right from the beginning.
  • Darkroom/enlarger timer. You will need this for switching your enlarger on and off for precisely defined amounts of time in the seconds to minutes range.
  • Enlarging easel. These can be expensive. Alternatively you can use some heavy objects to put on top of your paper to keep it flat. A friend used two old floppy drives before he got his first easel.
  • Trays (at least three; you can do with one and just pour the chemicals in and out of this one tray, but I wouldn't start with that).
  • A couple of grippers (I'm not sure if that's the right English term) for moving paper between trays. Best use one of these for each bath.
  • Pair of scissors, magic marker (for noting exposure times and f/stops on the back of test strips).
  • Some chemist's accessories, such as a funnel and a couple of measuring cups in different sizes. You probably don't want to mix kitchen and darkroom tools :) Also a couple of empty bottles for chemicals. I started off using empty plastic Coke bottles, then started to use brown glass milk bottles.

Highly recommended darkroom accessories:
  • A focusing aid. These basically consist of a mirror and loupe setup. They allow you to examine whether the negative's grain is in focus. When the grain is in focus, so is the negative.
  • A sheet of glass (for making contact prints from negatives)
  • A loupe, preferably 6x or 8x, for examining negatives.
  • A paper cutter (because cutting straight lines is more difficult than we think)

Chemicals:
  • Paper developer. For a beginner I would use a universal liquid developer from one of the big brands; I started with Ilford Multigrade developer, which was just fine.
  • Stop bath (alternatively, you can dissolve a tablespoon of citric acid in a litre of water for each darkroom session, that's cheaper; citric acid should be available in drugstores for cleaning calcium residues from pots and washing machines)
  • Fixer (any fixer will do, all of the big brands have one; the cheapest option is rapid fixer for minilabs). You can use the same fixer for films and prints.

That should get you started. Don't buy too much fancy stuff. And IMHO you shouldn't start off reading too many books. It will fill up your head with complicated advaned stuff you don't need. Introductory, step-by-step-type literature is fine, but reading e.g. zone system literature or Rudman's Master Photographer printing course is superfluous for a beginner IMHO and is more of a deterrent. Instead, start off making prints, and lots of them. There is no substitute for hands-on learning.

Philipp
 
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There's a lot to be said for burying oneself in a darkroom and trying everything, making a lot of mistakes and then learning from them.

For years I labored in the vacuum of my darkroom, made every mistake in the book and learned what worked, why it worked and what didn't work and why it didn't work.

Several years later, when finally deciding to pursue photography as a career, I assumed that I really should get some formal training. What a surprise befell me!

Having spent so many cumulative months in a darkroom, it seemed that a Basic Photo/Darkroom Class wouldn't be necessary, since a I had a portfolio of work and had either won or placed in a few competitions.

Approaching an intermediate photography professor at interviews for evening extension classes at a university, it was suggested to me that my technical skills were too far along to learn much from his class, but I'd be better advised to take an advance workshop to refine my vision.

So I trudged along to the next interview, and after reviewing my portfolio, the next professor put his hands behind his neck, leaned way back in his chair and asked, "Why do want to take a class in photography?"

My response was, "I've never had any formal training, and thought it would benefit me."

To which the professor replied, "Well, I'll admit you to me class, but I can predict that you'll probably never want to take another one."

"I'll give it a shot," I said.

Took the class, and at the end of it he offered me the opportunity of participating on informal scholarship in his Master Workshop. For this, I was and am forever grateful.

THAT was the last class I ever took, and it was upon the completion of that term that my wings unfolded. With self-confidence I approached my new career, and within nine months I began an adjunct professorship at that same university.

The point to all this is that if you are motivated, have a ability to learn from reading and the time to learn on your own (read make mistakes on your own), you can either spend your money on a class (and then another class, and another) OR use that same money on consumables and achieve a better understanding of what the photographic process is all about.

And if you have questions, well, we're all here for you. (And that's something that wasn't available to me in the Dark Ages of the 1960's.)

(But some might say that having a teacher/mentor can make it easier. Maybe yes, is easier better? There's no substitute for the school of hard knocks.)

But books, there are many excellent books out there. Read them all. Every one has something at least a little different. As many ways as there are to skin a cat...
Even when you are reading the same thing in a different way, your learning is reinforced.

But read David Vestal, John Hedgecoe and every other you can get hold of, but even more look at the work of every photographer you can. Go back to the photography annuals of the 70's, 60's, 50's if you can find them. Sit in a well-stocked library and peruse the coffee table monographs of the greats, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Steichen, Stieglitz, Robert Frank, Phillipe Halsmann, Richard Avedon, David Douglas Duncan, Arthur Felig (Weegee), Diane Arbus, Margaret Burke White, Imogene Cunningham, Harry Callahan, Robert and Cornell Capa, Benedicat J. Fernandez, Sean Kernan, Jean Marie Simon.......the list goes on and on and on. And it never ends.

Just as the greatest writers have intimate knowledge of the writers before and around them, so too photographers need to know their peer and predecessors.
 
Bob Helmond said:
The point to all this is that if you are motivated, have a ability to learn from reading and the time to learn on your own (read make mistakes on your own), you can either spend your money on a class (and then another class, and another) OR use that same money on consumables and achieve a better understanding of what the photographic process is all about.
Click to expand...

If there is one thing I've learned in this neverending existence as a graduate student (5 years and counting) is the ability to learn from reading and begin able to teach myself. I'm sure a formal class would give me a kick start, but a good book and the old trial by error method is more attractive to me at this point in time.

RXMD: Thanks for this list. This is exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully the enlarger that I'm getting has all the necessary bits (neg holders and stuff). Trays, tongs, and chemicals are cheap. That just leaves a couple expensive items like an easel and paper cutter.

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
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