A Short Course in Photography: 5&6

Chapter 5: Developing the Negative

• Consistency and cleanliness pay off, the more dirty your film, the worse your prints will be
• Just be careful me with every process
• Something we don't have in the lab that I might find helpful is a photo sponge, i think i tend to damage my film when I'm trying to get most of the water off and this would help reduce the amount of contact I have with the negatives
• didn't know photo flo was actually an optional part of this
• during the development process
• arrange everything first, make sure you know where all your tools are and that you have adequate space BEFORE turning off lights
• before putting developer into the tank test temp again if the chemicals have been sitting out
• *pour out developer about 10-15 seconds BEFORE the end of the developing period
• when fixing the film:
• check half way through to see if the film is clearing
• if at half way the film is still milky the fixer is exhausted
• after film has been exposed to light it is latent (not yet visible)
• the negative becomes denser and darker the longer it is exposed to developer and with warmer temperatures
• acidic stop bath helps extend life of the fix
• fix dissolves any undeveloped crystals
• development has a big impact on the exposure of the film
• development will control the density of a photos highlights
• exposure controls the shadows
• a normally exposed negative should have:
• good separation of highlights, midtones and shadows
• push processing
• changing the film speed on the camera in order to shoot in very dim settings
• can have effects on developing
• makes it easier to over develop your film

Chapter 6: Printing in a Darkroom

• set up your station so you have three chemicals in a row and the water bath in a separate space
• water bath can act as holding tank and you don't want it getting in the way of your processing
• make sure to put paper in developer EMULSION side down
• don't do the clearing bath until you're ready to put the print in the final wash
• judging exposure
• if pictures look too dark or too light do another test with the enlarger set at a different aperture
• judging contrast
• change paper or use a higher number filter
• density: lightness and darkness of a print
• contrast: difference in darkness between light and dark parts of the same print
• adjust density first, then contrast
• when the print looks good overall, go through and look for places that could be tweaked
• burning versus dodging:
• use cardboard and cover all areas except that which needs to be darker
• vice versa for dodge
• darkening a too light sky or highlighting a face are common ways of applying this method
• cropping works best when you first take the photo
• you can also use sliders on easel to change size of picture
• spotting:
• use liquid photographic dyes and a paint brush to remove unwanted light spots
• the darker the spots, the more diluted the dye
• scratching
• you can use a blade to fine tune and scrape off any areas that are too dark