Black and white
printing is the logical next step from developing your own film. Nothing (and i mean nothing) will ever
compare to the feeling you get when an image starts to appear on the paper in
your developer.
You actually need
surprisingly little to get a basic darkroom setup.
I’m not going to deal with actually setting
up your darkroom because there isn't much to say.
I did a post here about blacking out a room on a budget so let's assume you've done that in a spare room/bathroom/basement and you're ready to go.
What
equipment do you need?
Enlarger
Your main piece of
equipment in your darkroom is going to be your enlarger. Basically it is a column attached to a base
board with a light source on top. The
light travels through the negative which is held in a negative carrier and is then
projected onto the base where your paper will go. You can get both black and white and colour
enlargers so it is up to you which one you go for. Obviously if you get a black and white
enlarger you won’t be able to do colour prints in the future which you may be
fine with. Be aware though that you can
use a colour enlarger to print black and white (which is what i personally
use). There are also two different light
transmission methods in enlargers – condenser and diffusion. There are positives and negatives to each and
are much debated topics in the photographic world; but personally as long as
light is transmitted evenly over my negative i don’t mind which i use.
Colour enlargers
tend to cost a little more but personally i feel its worth the investment.
EBay and Gumtree are the best sites to look
for enlargers on as so many are
switching to digital - you can pick up entire darkroom kits second hand for a
ridiculously low price.
For example i
got my enlarger (an LPL C7700), boxes of
printing paper, a bag full of 35mm film and loads of trays/chemicals and processing
tanks for a mere £75.
The paper alone
was worth that!
Shop around and you’ll
be able to find yourself a bargain.
Some used enlargers will come with a timer which plugs into it and allows you so merely input a time to expose, press a button and the enlarger will turn on and shut off automatically when the time required has elapsed. These are very handy and i strongly suggest getting one.
You need to think
about what size negatives you will be printing.
If you only use 35mm negatives and have no plans to go any bigger then a
35mm enlarger will do the trick.
I shoot
medium format film and so i use an enlarger that will take up to 6 x 7
negatives.
When you buy an enlarger make
sure it comes with a negative carrier – this is a little tray that sandwiches
your negative in it and keeps it flat so that light transmits through it
evenly.
Of course once you have got your
enlarger you will need an...
Enlarger Lens
The lens you use in
your enlarger will affect your final print.
Cheap lenses look cheap and just aren’t worth it. It’s best to fork out a little extra and buy
a good quality lens so that you can get a sharp print. It is generally agreed that companies like
Rodenstock and Schneider make the best quality enlarging lenses. The general rule is that the more lens
elements the lens has the better quality it is.
The focal length of lens you require will be affected by the size of
negative you are printing. The general
rule of thumb is as follow:
Negative Size Focal Length
35mm 50mm
6
x6 80mm
6
x 9 105mm
4
x 5 135/150mm
When looking to buy your
lens make sure that the thread will actually fit the lens board on your
enlarger.
The last thing you want is to
get your shiny new lens delivered and then discover that it won’t actually
screw into your enlarger.
Of course,
when buying a lens you will need to check that the glass isn’t scratched,
mouldy or fogged and that the aperture ring steps down smoothly. I got my Schneider 80mm lens for a mere £30 on EBay and it's been worth every penny.
Paper
If you’re wanting to
make prints then you’ll need some paper to print on.
There are many different companies making
many different papers and it can get confusing trying to choose what to
use.
Basically it boils down to two
types – Resin Coated (RC) or Fibre Based (FB).
RC papers are like the photos you get back from Boots or those photo
kiosks in chemists, quite plasticky and stiff.
FB papers are more like papyrus or watercolour paper.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both;
RC papers are cheaper and quicker to process but (generally speaking) less receptive
to toning.
FB papers tend to cost more,
take longer to process but are easier to tone and (to my eye anyway) tend to
give richer and deeper tones throughout the print.
Some may disagree with that statement but
that’s just what i have found with my personal workflow.
There is much debate in the photographic
world as to which is best between the two types.
Personally i keep a supply of both types in
and then choose which one to use depending on what the negative i am printing
is like and what the final result i am after is.
Papers come in two
other categories. Graded or
multigrade. If you don’t know what paper
grades are then allow me to explain. If
you develop your own film then you’ll know that changing exposure, filtration
and development affects the contrast of your negative. Well, contrast can also be altered at the
printing stage. I’ll cover this in more
detail later on when we actually get into how to print but for now let me just
say that papers come in different grades.
As you go from grade 00 to grade 5 the contrast of the print will
increase. Graded papers are set at one grade
only whereas multigrade papers can print at a variety of grades on the one
sheet. Personally i prefer multigrade
papers because it saves having every single grade available in your paper
supply and it saves money.
You can get papers
in different sizes and obviously the bigger the paper the bigger the cost. The smallest i print is 5 x7 inches and i go
up to 16 x 20 inches (at the moment anyway).
Its good to have a variety of sizes in your supply but it’s your choice
of course.
Ilford make a wide
range of photographic papers. Multigrade
IV RC is the standard resin coated paper of choice for many and it is a fine
paper. Kentmere VC Select is also
another fine paper which i like to use (a bonus is it is slightly cheaper than
Ilford). As for fibre papers i tend to pick up whatever i can find on EBay and
the like. I have some old Orwo paper and
some Agfa which are both nice FB papers; but for paper that is still in
production i tend to go for Ilford’s Multigrade IV FB. The best thing to do is look at what is
available from your darkroom retailer of choice and then look at reviews online
before you buy.
Chemicals
Obviously once your
paper has been exposed to light you will need chemicals to process it.
You will need a developer first and there are
loads, just like in film.
It comes down
to preference and what you can get in your local area.
At the moment i use Ilford Multigrade
developer because it’s quick, easy to use and readily available.
After developer comes the stop bath; again i
use Ilford.
Lastly comes the fix; and
yes – i use Ilford.
I’ll go into more
detail later when we get into the process but for now it’s best to see what’s
available to you in your area and use that.
Misc Equipment
You’ll need a few
other things.
Trays to put your
chemicals in are necessary; it’s best to get one size bigger than the paper you
will use.
So if you are printing on 8 x
10 inch paper then use a 9.5 x 12 inch tray – it’s just easier as you have a
little more room to work with.
It’s
handy to have tongs as well for lifting prints form tray to tray and keeping
your hands chemical free.
If you’re not
going to use tongs then i recommend wearing disposable gloves or washing-up
gloves when handling chemicals.
If you
are using a black and white enlarger then you will need a set of multigrade
filters.
These are what you will use to
change the contrast of your image if you are printing onto multigrade
paper.
If you are using a colour head
then you will have colour filters built into your enlarger which you can use
instead of these.
You'll need a safelight if you don't want to work in complete darkness. Most safelights are red and allow you to see as you go about working in the darkroom. Make sure that your light is at least 1.5 metres away from any paper.
A stopwatch is handy
for keeping track of your exposure and chemical processing times.
I just use an old wristwatch that has a
stopwatch function on it.
If you use an
old watch make sure that it doesn’t light up when you use it or you’ll expose
your paper to unwanted light.
The only
light you want touching your paper is the light coming through the enlarger.
A focus finder is an extremely handy tool for getting your print as focused as possible. It's basically a mirror which allows you to look up the light coming from the reflector and focus on the grain of the negative, thereby ensuring your print is as focused as possible.
One more thing that is incredibly useful is an easel/mask. This is a rectangular frame of metal with two or four adjustable blades on each side attached to rulers. these allow you to mask off your paper and leave a white border on your print. Most importantly it will keep your paper flat. You will need to buy one to match the maximum size of paper you will be using.
The last thing that comes in quite handy is something to dry your prints with. You can get dedicated racks that you stand your print in to drain or you can buy one of those hangers with clothes pegs attached that you use to dry your washing on - either works just fine! I'm not really a fan of print dryers that blast the print with hot air, i don't mind waiting an hour or two for a print to dry naturally.
And that's about everything you will need. Sometime in the next week or so i will post a tutorial on how to actually go about the process of printing; but until then happy shooting.
