Magic in the Dark

Have any of you folks ever felt the magic of processing and developing film
in the darkroom? It is not a scary place at all and it is quite exciting to see your work come to fruition before your eyes. Here is the basics of what a film aficionado needs to do their own developing and processing. So take a look at the information and decide whether you should dig out your old film camera and give it a try.

Good Luck!

The skills needed to develop negatives are easily learned with practice. You will need an area that you can make light proof; your bathroom is best because you need water for processing. The supplies needed are a developing tank with film spools, a timer, a thermometer, a stirrer, some paper towels, a can opener, and a pair of scissors. The photo chemicals needed to develop black and white film are developer, stop bath, fixer, and hypo clearing agent. Have all your supplies laid out so you can easily locate them in the darkroom.

You start by opening the film canister with the can opener then cut the film leader using the scissors. Now spool the film onto the film reel. Place the reel into the developing tank. Now the canister is light tight, turn the lights on.

Mix a solution of 1 part developer to 7 parts proper temperature water; use

the thermometer to assure the proper working temperature of 20° Celsius.

Add the water as quickly as possible to the developer tank. Start the timer.

Develop for 6 minutes more or less; set it for the proper time depending on the film you are developing.

At five minutes and 55 seconds pour the developer out and pour full strength stop bath into the tank.

Agitate in the stop bath for one minute. Then pour out the stop bath and pour in full strength fixer solution.

Agitate.

Fix for six minutes and then pour out fixer. The film is now light proof. Now add the hypo-clearing agent.

Agitate for 2 minutes.

Now rinse with 20° C. water for ten minutes.

Remove film from the reel. Now hang to dry for 3 hours.

Negatives are now ready for making prints.

If you would like to learn more here is a source that you may want to purchase and learn even more about film photography. It is a course that includes a free introductory lesson. It is {Learn Photography at Home} take a look and get the FREE Lesson! May the Photo Gods be with you!

For instant access... Click the title of this article or the tab under Learn Photography at Home on the links bar.