Darkroom Prints

21/10/11

My first test of my own darkroom went well today. I for the first time, had to mix all my own chemicals, which I was never quite sure about until the first print came out! Something about such a small proportion of a chemical mixed with a load of water just didn't make me feel like I was mixing them properly!

However, as I feared, the processing of the negatives I did the other day (see previous blog entry), hadn't gone too well. The prints from these negatives came out very flat - very little contrast, even at the highest contrast grade applied. I read that this is due to my negatives not being processed long enough - or possibly the chemicals not being mixed at the correct ratio. So, next time I process my negatives, I'll keep this in mind and extend the time slightly to avoid this issue again. The top image is of the low-contrast images from these negatives.

I also went back through my negative file from Uni, and tested some old negatives to rule out the possibility of my filters on the enlarger not working correctly, or my printing chemicals being out. These prints came out perfectly - which confirmed that the problem was not with the enlarger, or the printing chemicals, but the latest set of negatives I did this week.

For those of you who have been reading this blog regularly, you might remember the frame I made recently out of a branch off a tree in my garden. Well, I printed a small image of one of my favourite photos that I did for my degree show - see above for the finished article!