A time of global change will affect how we interact in social and shared spaces. We can adjust our behaviors and habits to adapt to changing norms without compromising our collective passion for education & photography. Darkrooms have long been a place where safety is a priority. Surrounded by chemicals in a dimly lit room, there is no better place to practice safe habits...

Primarily a shooting class, basic color photography classes are excellent tools to illustrate film, lens and camera concepts. Also, this class is a good way to introduce the concepts of grain, saturation and color balance. This is also the class to introduce color theory, too, like color complements and the mood of colors. That is why slide film is nearly always used for this class...

The Equipment Arista ® Throughout this guide we recommend Arista® brand equipment. The Arista® family of darkroom products, including Arista Premium, Arista Private Reserve and Arista EDU Ultra have been setting the standard for quality and value for over half a century and is widely seen as the industry's darkroom leader. Enlarger Depending on the enlarger you purchase, you may need to get a 35mm negative carrier and 50mm enlarging lens (with a lens board and jam nut) separately. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to call one of our friendly sales representatives for assistance...

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This chart covers the enlargers we sell. We also have bulbs for almost every enlarger made. If you don't see what you need, contact us...

Light is both a blessing and a curse for photographers! Without it, Hershel could not have coined the term "photography", which literally means "writing with light" (Photo means light, graphy means writing). On the other hand, if uncontrolled, light is an obstacle for anyone wishing to work in the darkroom.Fogged paper is the muddy, low-contrast product of harmful light in the darkroom...

It may seem like magic, but the steps to making a great black and white print are simple and methodical. This article will provide a step-by-step guide to paper processing, for both Fiber and RC prints, as well as some helpful hints to guide you on your way. Also, if you are starting your darkroom from scratch, you will want to see our Darkroom Supply List. Rules of Thumb All processing times listed are for chemicals kept at about 68 ° F...

Ideally, your film developer and other chemicals should all be used at 68°F. In reality, temperatures can vary widely unless you have an expensive fluid control system installed in your darkroom. Fortunately, we have found an easy Fahrenheit chart that works great...

Toning has been around almost as long as photography itself. In 1840 Frenchman Hippolyte Fizeau created a gold chloride toning bath to increase the stability of Daguerreotype images. Since then, many toners have been developed. Sepia, selenium, copper, and blue are the most common...

Most enlarger manufacturers use these filtration values. This table is intended as a guide to making prints on Ilford MG paper when using a Dichroic Head Color Enlarger. You may also use them with other brands of variable contrast paper with good results. Use the Kodak standard for Beseler, Omega, Devere, LPL, Paterson, and Vivitar enlargers...

I've long been a fan of soft, warm, tactile, earthy traditional/analog/darkroom prints. Some are platinum/palladium. Others are vintage silver prints that exhibit a similar warm 'feel' that is just so inviting to me. I searched for a way to make these prints in a 'normal' darkroom with easily-accessible, inexpensive materials, especially since most students are not quite ready to jump in to platinum printing...

By using various kinds of contrast masks, the traditional photographer can have far greater contrast control, from subtle to extreme, on his prints than merely using standard methods such as paper grade or developer changes. Contrast masking can also be used to affect contrast or brightness in localized areas of the image. Another great benefit of contrast masking is that the original negative is never subjected to any potentially damaging or risky chemical processes. In most cases the results of effective masking cannot be duplicated or even approached by standard printing techniques...

There are two reasons for toning black and white photographs: to achieve greater longevity of the image by protecting or altering the silver in the emulsion of the print or to change the feeling of the photograph by modifying the print color. Selenium, sepia and gold are the most popular types of toning used to enhance the archival permanence of the image. These toners also can alter the color of a print depending on the type of paper used, the type of developer used and the dilution of the toner. If altering print color is not desired, I would suggest discussing this with the very knowledgeable staff at Freestyle to determine what the best paper, developer and toner combination might be for your purposes...

Abandoned Building, New Harmony, UT. 1978 Final Print with Masking The problem with this image is a lack of brilliance in the white door and a lack of richness and separation in the foreground fence posts. Without masking I was able to get good smooth and soft values in the wooden façade and the blowing grass (accentuated by a long exposure) but I felt the white door was not brilliant enough. I also felt the fence posts did not separate well enough from the surrounding gray grass values...

Dear Gordon, I recently noticed a white precipitate in Solution 'A' of my PMK developer, which is now several years old. I have also noticed a progressive increase in fog in negatives (FP4+) processed in this chemistry. Is it possible that the precipitate is sodium sulphite and that this is causing the increase in fog density, due to loss of acidity and hence an increase in pH? Thanks, Chris Dear Chris, Clearly something has gone wrong with the A solution...

Working in 120 format I almost start to salivate when I think about those big black and white negatives full of tonality that result in brilliant almost liquid looking prints. Also, the ability to shoot more than one type of film at a time using the same camera is real convenient. Big negatives make pictures on a contact sheet easier to see and big enlargements with minimal dust spotting. For me it would be almost the only film format I would ever want or need...