A new beginning: Darkroom tips and tricks

[Ole]

Stage 1: Shiny kit syndrome - the search for the latest camera with the most bells and whistles, buttons and functions, the sharpest lenses and the largest format.
Stage 2: The search for the perfect technique - The perfect metering methodology, the ultimate development process, the surgically-precise dodge-and-burn, the last work in toning.
Stage 3: The artistic stage - where the photographer attempts to convey an emotional response or message to the viewer.

Stage 4: Fun and Games - trying out everything you can lay your hands on (papers, developers, toners et cetera) with the sole purpose of having fun trying new things. Must not be confused with "magic bullet chase", which comes under 1) and 2).

This is must fun when you accidentally produce a great print. It is least fun when you realise you have no idea how you did it. But it's very rewarding when you find out (unless you find out on the last sheet of a discontinued paper).

[rogueish]

GlennSYD is correct about the Print Exchange. You'll see some excellent prints and you'll have them in hand when you want to ask questions. I discovered I still had a long way to go. And still do. Hopefully there will always be something more to learn and discover! Check out the activities in the Members Organized" section. There are some really great things going on.
Dust is the bane of all printers, some are just better at dealing with it. It's always the maids' day off at my place.
Glennfromwy is correct in saying pick one or two papers and a developer and LEARN it.
FrankB says be meticulous in your dilutions and temperatures. Be Consistant!
Ask! Then ASk some more. "There are NO stupid questions" I have seen this phrase posted here many times.
Don't feel bad if you put the paper wrong side up on the easel, then wonder why your print is so faint. Everyone (but me of course) has done it. Nothing like matt surface FB paper.
Don't be cheap with your fixer and don't cheat on your wash times. Poorly fixed prints show it in very little time.
Frequent APUG, if not for the knowledge, or the gallery, then for the humour.
Happy printing!

[kex]

i would suggest to get a decent enlarger lens..

Schneider 50mm componar is a nice start..

[Glenn Mathison]

Anyone have any comments on easels?

When I learnt at school we didn't have them. Since I started to get back into home printing a couple of years ago through acquisitions of 2nd hand gear, I have not picked up an easel so to this point I've neven seen one used.

I gather they are mainly used to keep paper flat during printing and for moving the L's to crop. But anything else? These first two uses are easy for me to get around in other ways, so I'm wondering... New easels are quite expensive here in Oz so I guess there must be some value to them?

Curious.

Glenn

[jmdavis]

A good easel makes print production easier. A bad easel is a never ending source of frustration.

I have what I consider a fairly good easel. It's a Saunders 4 bladed Universal (14x17) and I got it from the retiring LF photographer that I got my D2 from. It was not expensive (maybe $30 US). It's not as nice as the knob adjustable models (this one uses sliders), but it is square and immensly better than the two bladed easels (including a brand new one) that I had been using.

Mike

[Dave Starr]

I'm going to disagree, in a way, with several posters. There IS a magic bullet, and you already have it. It's called film and a darkroom. There's NOTHING like it. I call it a magical place where neat things happen.

Tips........

1. Be consistant; if you develop one print for 45 seconds, and another for 90, you're going to have problems. Pick a print developing time - I use 2 minutes - and develop every print for that time.
2. Take notes. There's nothing more frustrating than looking at 2 or 3 prints from the same negative and not remembering what you did to get different results.
3. Hang out here on APUG - there's so much knowledge here, freely given.

[Flotsam]

The link in this thread posted by titrisol looks like good information for anybody setting up a darkroom

http://www.apug.org/forums/showthrea...ighlight=kodak

[dphphoto]

Anyone have any comments on easels?


Glenn

Definately get a 4 blade adjustable easel. Saunders and Beseler make good ones. They're more expensive than the 2 blade type or the "borderless" ones. But the latter two types will drive you nuts; they're too cheap to do the job they're supposed to do.
Check on eBay.
Dean

[Ole]

There are good two-bladed easels too. I have two - one good, one great. The great one keeps Forezo Museum perfectly flat, the good one is good enough for everything else.

[jvarsoke]

Pick a print developing time - I use 2 minutes - and develop every print for that time.

Hmm. I can't make heads or tails of this advice. There are 3 primary variables when printing: distance (how high the enlarger is from the paper), fstop of the lens, and time. Considering that the distance is pretty well set depending on magnification and croping, then you must be adjusting the lens to get 2mins all the time. Since they are relatively interchangeable (ignoring poor lense quality in extreme wide-open / stopped-down states) is there a reason you prefer changing your fstop rather than your time?

Or do you adapt with the secondary variables: paper speed, contrast, exposure (film density) etc?

Is there something I'm missing?