A workshop for beginning darkroom. How much tech background is enough?

A while back, I did an intro to B&W darkroom workshop at my home. Nothing elaborate, it was essentially a demo of film developing and printing. No hands-on for the participants, as my darkroom was not really set up for that. I showed how to do film developing and printing at a basic level, and provided hand-outs and a CD-ROM with extensive reference material so that they could obtain the necessary tools and do it themselves.

I designed the day targeted toward individuals who had never worked in the darkroom. When I did the actual workshop, it was seemingly well received and we had a good day, but all but one of the participants (there were 5 or 6) had prior darkroom experience! The experienced people seemed to learn something, but as they were not my target audience, I didn’t really feel that I had accomplished my purpose. Since then, I’ve only done individual “coaching” in my own darkroom, targeting the instruction to the person’s skill level.

I developed the workshop in response to a perceived need. From the online community of new film shooters, there appeared to be a market of people coming to film for the first time, and needing a starting point. Several local film shooters had participated, for instance, in an informal get-together where we set up and showed off all different kinds of film cameras, from 35mm through roll film and into ultra-large format. At this gathering and from online comments, people were asking for basic darkroom instruction.

I still have my outline and materials, of course. And now I have been approached about doing a similar workshop, but in a more formal setting in a large, teaching darkroom (not my home). Since this facility will be set up with multiple enlargers and plenty of room for many to work at once, there will be hands-on work by the participants, although still at a basic, introductory level. Also, because of the marketing skill of the institution, I am sure we will have inexperienced beginners.

I have been asked to expand my background material to include more discussion of the technology, including the structure of film and paper, and what the chemistry does at each step. This is not a problem, per se, other than I am slightly worried about doing too much and overwhelming the novices with perhaps unnecessary minutia.

So, my question to you, the community:

Assuming you are an absolute beginner just coming to film and the darkroom for the first time, (and probably coming from a digital background) how much chemistry and physics would you want to know? Do you just need to know how to mix developers, etc., and process the film and paper, or would you want to know what is going on “behind the scenes”? Or, somewhere in between?

I know it’s a broad question, but help me out! I know there are a lot of teachers here. Thanks!

David:
I envy you the opportunity!
The "technical" information I consider critical includes the following facts:
1) film is made up of a backing material and an emulsion on top. The emulsion includes light sensitive chemicals - silver halides;
2) in the camera, you control the light that hits the film. When the right amount of light hits the silver halides, they change chemically, but you cannot easily see that change;
3) when you develop the film in developer, those changed silver halides develop and therefore change again - into metallic silver, whereas the unexposed silver halides don't develop and therefore don't change;
4) you need to time the development correctly, and stop the development at the end of that time;
5) when you put the developed and stopped film into fixer, the exposed and developed silver halides (metallic silver) don't change further, but the unexposed and undeveloped silver halides do change into something that will respond to water; and
6) when you wash the developed, stopped and fixed film, the exposed and developed silver halides (metallic silver) remain and become clearly visible, while the unexposed and therefore undeveloped silver halides wash away.

What is left is a negative image which reveals the beauty and detail of the light that hit the film.

Diagrams might help.

Hope this helps a bit.

It sounds like you got it right for someone new to the field. You showed them how it is done and gave them material for further reading. I can see explaining what is happening at each step as helpful. It may get tricky determining how far to go explaining the technology. All it takes is one person interested in technical details to drag the class into the realm of boredom for the rest who just want to see how it is done and not how it is made. Resist that urge to deviate from your syllabus because the class has people who have prior experience. You will short change the people it was designed for. Have a questionnaire and ask every attendee to fill it out, including a question on their prior darkroom experience, and you will learn quickly what needs more time and what can be cut. I am still new at this whole darkroom/film developing hobby myself and train people(software) for a living, by the way.

Hi David, just to share my recent experience: I recently taught a film developing workshop, and I was surprised to find that none of the participants had previous darkroom experience. My workshop was specifically about developing film in non-traditional developers: coffee, beer, wine, etc. That seemed to have appeal to young photographers new to film.

I very briefly talked about film and developer chemistry and the developing process, but mostly we just got started. Everyone had a great time, the negatives turned out great, and I've been asked to teach the workshop again.

The folks that came to my workshop (who were mostly in their 20s) were looking for an unusual and hands-on creative photographic experience. They only wanted enough technical detail to understand what they needed to do at each step. I tried to focus on specifics of equipment, chemistry and process so that they would be confident trying it again at home.

It seems that there are several entry points into darkroom work. You might need several versions of your workshop to appeal to different audiences.

I don't think you need to go very deep.

One thing I've thought might be fun in a "group project" setting is giving the participants a single-use camera like this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/906263-REG/ilford_1174168_hp_5_plus_single_use.html to make things really simple.

In your case they would need to get the camera early to shoot the roll beforehand.

This puts the emphasis on the film and the process.

If they are assigned to shoot in various lighting conditions latitude and printing adjustments will be necessary. Contact sheets will show them what underexposure and extra exposure do and from there how one adjusts the enlarger to "fix" those variances, and ...

For clarity, it seems to me that the most mysterious part of the process is how developer and fixer each "choose" what they do their work on. IMHO, if people get a sense of how that works, they also will have a sense on how much precision is involved.

Emphasize focus, contrast control and exposure. In terms of physics: volume, temperature and dilution. You can't tell Metol from Catechol in a print so ignore all that.

MattKing said:

Diagrams might help.

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Thanks, everyone.

I have plenty of graphics and even a 2 minute video (very well done by someone else) showing how the light hits the silver bromide and creates a silver ion and then the developer converts metallic silver into the image, etc. I'm using Powerpoint for all of the intro lecture part, so plenty of graphics - one picture = 1000 words.

The person making all of this happen, (and paying me) requested that I include all of the tech background. (It's the way he learned it at university.) As most of you have indicated, I think "just enough" is enough. I solicited feedback from you guys to give me a reason to temper his requests. I'm going to throw some of it out there to the class as time permits, but emphasize that it "won't be on the test", so if someone's eyes glaze over, no harm done.

Among the prerequisites for the workshop, each person is going to have to show up with an exposed roll of film (35mm or 120). We are not covering camera use, that's another workshop. And this one is structured to whet their appetites for more advanced printing classes and alt processes down the road. This guy is very clever and knows marketing.

As for one person derailing the class, I've been teaching (various other disciplines) since the 12 Apostles attended orientation, so I can handle that.

David Brown said:

As for one person derailing the class, I've been teaching (various other disciplines) since the 12 Apostles attended orientation, so I can handle that.

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In that case, you can probably get away with describing the technical stuff as "divine intervention".

MattKing said:

In that case, you can probably get away with describing the technical stuff as "divine intervention".

Click to expand...

Ha! I hadn't thought of that. I do use the term "magic" ...

I started this at about age 8 and did not know chemistry or physics. I used a fixed focus, fixed aperture, fixed shutter camera, and I've done quite well.

I've taught workshops and been present at workshops taught by others. The information above works.

PE

Photo Engineer said:

I started this at about age 8 and did not know chemistry or physics. I used a fixed focus, fixed aperture, fixed shutter camera, and I've done quite well.

PE

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As did I. (but in high school)

hi david

sounds like fun

my lean towards what markbarendt suggests.
give them just enough. ...

good luck !
john

I agree with the above to give them "just enough." I learned how to do it in high school and knew nothing about the technical aspects then. What kept me interested in doing it was having seen the print show up in the developer. I think the earliest you can show them that, you'll hook them enough to listen to the chemistry. And keep in mind I majored in biology in college and was a forensic chemist for 15 years. I'm not averse to nerdy stuff.

+1 on presenting "just enough". At this stage the important part is the mechanics of doing it.

They don't need to know any of that. I don't even need to know any of that. Trust me, when I was a mechanic I knew how things worked just fine, but no, I had no knowledge of electric theory, metallurgy, or any of that. In fact, it would have probably hindered me.They just need to know the basics.

A cook doesn't need to know the laws of thermodynamics to know which pot to boil water in, and you don't have to be a weatherman to know which direction the wind blows (thanks Bob).

I would want know that film is clear plastic sheet coated on one side with light sensitive chemicals. Paper is similar.

I would want to know that light makes an invisible image in the chemicals, that developer makes the image visible, and that fixer locks the image in place.

I wouldn't want to know all the specific chemistry.

I think the key as to how much technical information is found in the length of the workshop. If it is a one or two day workshop I believe that too much technical data could overwhelm some participants and turn them off to film developing and wet printing. When I was co-teaching an adult education B&W class, most participants were interested primarily interested in learning the processes rather than a chemistry lesson. Once they actually developed a roll of film they had shot and then made some prints, most wanted to then learn more about why things were happening and how they could be altered ... i.e. what the different types of chemicals can change things. These classes were conducted over several weeks, at one three-hour session per week. If the workshops consist of a few days, then I think a similar approach might be helpful. I think it is akin to someone learning to drive. While it is favorable to know at least a little about automobiles, one doesn't need to know how gasoline or diesel is refined. It would be in film photography's best interest is to get them interested shooting and processing film, with the technical details available to those who want to pursue it to this extent.

There is so much to teach and so little time, the live class will fly by. There are two paths to teaching, the stuff that goes on in the class including class notes, and recommendations for further study. The students who find their interest stimulated will want to study further. Provide them with a list of text books and online links for home study. I learned a lot from books, a good reading list is a treasure trove for a motivated student.

tedr1 said:

There is so much to teach and so little time, the live class will fly by. There are two paths to teaching, the stuff that goes on in the class including class notes, and recommendations for further study. The students who find their interest stimulated will want to study further. Provide them with a list of text books and online links for home study. I learned a lot from books, a good reading list is a treasure trove for a motivated student.

Click to expand...

You are spot on, here. Part of my intro to all of this is the 3 "rules" for learning darkroom:

1. Read the instructions
2. Use the best tools you can get
3. Read a book

And yes, I provide a bibliography and a warning about un-vetted advice on the internet.

PS: I've considered substituting "guidelines" for "rules", since so many people rebel at anything called a rule.