How To: Light-Proof a Darkroom on a Budget

  I haven’t posted in a long time – i have been spending the last month or so setting up my darkroom and working through my backlog of negatives that i want printing.  I do plan on shooting some film again soon but at the moment i can’t seem to tear myself away from the enlarger.  Im sure ill scan my prints soon and make a blog about them.

  Anyway, to the point!  Im not the richest man in the world at the moment as my wife is currently off work sick, so were on a reduced income.  The only way i got my darkroom kit was because i sold some of my old music equipment that i wasn’t using anymore and the seller only wanted a very small amount for it (it was a ridiculous bargain considering all the gear i got).  Anyway, after buying my darkroom kit i needed a simple, low-cost way of light-proofing the spare room so i could print without worrying about fogging the paper.  I should say that my spare room consists of one door and one tall window so it wasn’t too big a project.

  I spent a few hours online (in work time, obviously) looking for solutions which others had found.  Now there’s a lot of information online about light-proofing – some people suggesting draught excluders, felt, and even dedicated blackout material.  I didn’t feel that any of these solutions were for me though as i live in a rented house and i didn’t want to do any nailing or screwing.

  In the end i hit upon a solution that has worked really well for me so far and cost £3 to setup.  If you go to B&Q or any other DIY type store you can pick up these rubble sacks:

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/building-materials/tarpaulins-sheets-sacks/sacks/B-and-Q-Rubble-Sacks-Pack-Of-10-Black-535mm-x-820mm-9273085

I remember using them a few years ago for some garden work i was doing.  They’re thick, and most importantly black.  I bought a bag of 10 and then all i needed to do was head home and gaffer tape the bags over my window.  There was still some light soaking through even though the window was covered so i taped another layer of bags over to create a double layer.  At this point you need to make sure that there’s no light leaking through from your gaffer tape - make sure you press it down firmly onto your wall.  I decided to keep the curtain over the window as an extra layer of defence.

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  There wasn’t much light coming in through the door but it definitely needed protecting.  I remembered i still had a box of curtains that were left in the house by the previous tenants when we moved in so i dug one out.  All along the top of the curtain were hoops for the curtain rail to go through.  I hammered a tack into the top-left and top-right of the door frame and hung the curtain on them using the hoops.  Although some light still seeps through its fine as i ran some tests and my paper hasn’t fogged at all.

  So there you have it – a simple, removable and cheap way to light-proof a room.  I just thought i would post this in case anyone was having similar difficulties to me in getting setup.  As always if you have any questions just contact me on the blog.  Happy printing!

Large Small Things

  After much 'um'ing and 'ah'ing i decided not to get a macro lens but fork out the vast sum of £11 for a set of close-up filters for my Bronica SQ-A.  While i can focus up to half a metre with my lenses i have always been keen to get that little bit closer.  I wasn't sure how sharp these filters (lenses to picky people) would be so i thought id run a test roll of black and white through the camera to see.  Armed with my £3 Ikea lamp and a huge reflector from ebay i setup my tripod.

  And i was rather pleasantly surprised.  Whilst a little blurry in places due to my own focusing error i really like how the shots came out.  It was fun to play with such a narrow depth of field, and the depth of field preview switch on my lenses was invaluable to say the least.  Im hoping to use the filters lots, especially for close ups in portraits.

Portraits of Jessica

  I mostly shoot objects and things, its very rare that the portrait mood strikes.  Although saying that, one of my best shots is a portait!  A few nights ago my wife and i decided to use the spare room as temporary studio and try some portraiture using my recently acquired Lubitel 166B.  I decided black and white would work best and due to lighting conditions i loaded my Lubitel with some 3200 iso Ilford Delta Pro (rated at 6400 iso).  I also decided to use a red filter to maximise contrast.  And then it was just a case of moving the lamp and making Jess change outfit every so often.

  As you can see they came out a little funny.  I developed in Rodinal with a 1:25 mix but i think the problem was with the reel i had loaded my film onto.  Its seems as though parts of the film were touching so the developer couldnt penetrate all areas it.  But i dont know, i quite like how some of them came out. 

  I want to shoot some more photos like this, using this film.  I like the large grain, contrast and 'old-look' of these shots.  Hopefully next time i will get a better development.