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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Do you miss the dark room?
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Showing posts 26 - 42 of 42, (reverse)
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 03/31/2005 10:32:26 PM · #26
Originally posted by Gil P:
The wha' ? jeez! My altough I agree that there is a pleasure in spending time doing "physical" image manipulation....I can't even imaging doing commercial work in the darkroom in 2005... "you need that when?"


Good to see you back. I thought you disappeared.
 03/31/2005 10:36:49 PM · #27
So how does working in the Darkroom work?? Im too new to photography to understand. What kind of editing was done? why the dark?

-Digital is death
 03/31/2005 10:43:36 PM · #28
I've never stepped foot in a dark room and never plan on doing so. The thought of all the film strips and chemicals sort of scares me actually. Did you guys have to wear gloves and breathing masks?


04/01/2005 01:45:04 AM · #29
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
I miss making out with my girlfriend in the highschool darkroom... about 22 years ago... YIKES I'M OLD!


A. the age of my children bothers me more than my old age.
B. I haven't been in the darkroom. Yet, I'll have to learn this fall.
 04/01/2005 02:17:10 AM · #30
How does a piece of film turn into a print?

Can anyone give a clueless digital photographer how photography was done in the old days?

Who knows, I might find myself in a darkroom after playing around with my dad's AE-1

Message edited by author 2005-04-01 02:18:09.
 04/01/2005 02:57:54 AM · #31
Originally posted by nico_blue:
Did you guys have to wear gloves and breathing masks?


You have to wear gloves when working with certain toners which contain heavy metals and other toxins, but most of the time the best practice is just to avoid putting you hands in the chemicals to begin with. That's why they make tongs. Besides, hand prints mess up the prints.
 04/01/2005 12:04:51 PM · #32
I still remember with a surprising clarity the feeling of awe and pride when my first print made in a darkroom emerged on the paper sat in the developer tray.

I do miss some aspects of the physical darkroom for sure. There's a feeling of being cocooned in what you're doing, cut off from the rest of the world, focused on your equipment and the print ... that you just don't get when sitting at a computer.

That said, I don't miss the aching back, the difficulty and expense involved in either setting up one's own darkroom or getting access to one or the limited amount one can achieve in a session.

I enjoy digital post-processing very much too but in different ways. I love the ease with which, once I have learned to use the tools efficiently, I can affect such a wide variety of results in a short time frame and at such low costs. I also like how easy it is to learn new tips from people all around the world that improve my results no end.

There isn't the same thrill at watching the result print out and there is still back ache involved - it just focuses on my upper back and neck now instead of my lower back as before!

There's a place for both in my heart!
 04/01/2005 12:11:57 PM · #33
In the day. When I was shooting for the paper, we had a deadline of 11:00PM and I still can remember running down to the city desk with a wet 5x7 print rubbing it on my pants as I ran. Then my day started in the dark room printing the last shots of the dat befor and ending printing breaking news. Today you don't even need to go to the paper just send it from home. Some how I think that takes some of the challenge out of it. But that's just me.
 04/01/2005 12:22:54 PM · #34
12 years at a newspaper darkroom - nope, I don't miss it. It is a technique, intregal and necessary to develop film, slides, prints and other light sensitive and chemical reactive materials. Other than for purposes of historical nature, archival uses, and archaic technique, I prefer software.
 04/01/2005 12:48:12 PM · #35
Originally posted by RulerZigzag:
So how does working in the Darkroom work?? Im too new to photography to understand. What kind of editing was done? why the dark?

-Digital is death


The camera exposes "film". The film is sensitive to light. You take the flim catridge into the darkroom and in total darkness unload the film from the cratridge and but it in a lightproof tank. You turn on the lights and fill the tank with a chemical called "developer". You agitate the tank for a fixed period of time, then pour out the developer and refill the tank with another chemical called "stop bath" which neutralizes the developing chemicals. Then you pour out the stop bath and pur in a thrid chemical called "fixer", which permanently "fixes" the image in place on the film. Finally you open the tank, remove the film, and wash it in running water until all trace of chemicals is removed, and hang it in a cabinet to dry.

That's the film part.

Then you cut the films up and put them one by one into an "enlarger" which projects them on a baseboard at a larger size. When you have that arranged right, you turn off the enlarger and in the dark (or udner a red "safe light" you insert photosensitive paper under the enlarger. Then you turn the enlarger on and expose the paper for a specific period of time, during which period you move your hands in mysteri0osuw ays to "burn" and "dodge" as you work. The paper is then developed in 3 trays containing similar (but not identical) chemicals as were used on the film. And wash the prints. And hang them to dry.

That's it in a nutshell.

You're welcome :-)

Robt.
 04/01/2005 12:58:40 PM · #36
Good Job! Bear (sorry short term memory loss)...
and thats done without putting your hands in the chemistry in order not to contaminate one chemical to the other.

I still get excited watching as the image slowly emerges from blank paper, as well seeing my printed piece of digital photography or graphic art slowly emerge from the printer
 04/02/2005 08:55:02 AM · #37
Originally posted by xion:
Originally posted by Gil P:
The wha' ? jeez! My altough I agree that there is a pleasure in spending time doing "physical" image manipulation....I can't even imaging doing commercial work in the darkroom in 2005... "you need that when?"


Good to see you back. I thought you disappeared.


Thanx for noticing! I just to a break...the period around the US elections made visiting DPC less pleasurable
 04/02/2005 09:31:21 AM · #38
I spent a lot of time in a dark room. As part of my job in the late 70s I shot a lot of holograms, my office was also the lab where this were shot and the dark room as well. These were shot on 4 x 5 inch plates. I still remember the smell of the chemicals, canĂ¢€™t say I miss that smell. Also since the plate were sensitive to even red light and they where being developed in open tanks all of this was done in very black conditions, this gets pretty boring pretty fast.
 04/02/2005 09:37:16 AM · #39
As I have stated befor, I like the smell. I must be out of my nind.
 04/02/2005 11:19:29 AM · #40
I miss the smell and silence.

Photoshop is my friend.
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 04/03/2005 12:56:41 PM · #41
I miss the smell, red light, and clothes pins.
 04/03/2005 01:01:25 PM · #42
no. never.
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