Color of Darkroom

[hspluta]

Well the last "real" darkroom I worked in was back in the early '70s and it was OD green ( as were my clothes, vehical, and everything else in my "world" ). Since those days I have had numerous bathrooms and basement rooms which I have used, but have not had a dedicated darkroom.

I am now getting ready to dedicate a part of my house for use as a darkroom. As I was looking at the thread showing pictures of peoples darkrooms I noticed most were white. I would have thought that you would want them black, at least the walls around the enlarger.

I can understand that the safelight might reflect better off white walls, but I would think you are also bouncing ambient light off your enlarger onto your paper.

Am I missing something?

 

[jcorll]

well, there shouldn't be any "ambient" light getting into your darkroom in the first place!

The darkroom I use (high School) is white with black wooden dividers surrounding the enlarger.
You can make your darkroom what ever color you want. IMHO, I would make it white, just because white paint is cheaper XD

Does it really matter what color you use? I don't think so.

 

[Sim2]

I don't think that it really matters what colour the darkroom is, it may be a bit of an asthetic thing - the all black darkroom is a very gloomy place but the white darkroom is easier on the eye.

Providing the safelight itself doesn't fog the paper, reflecting this off white walls makes no difference apart from making it easier to find things! In a black darkroom it can be suprisingly easy to lose things. A black surround to the enlarger just makes it easier to see the neg on the baseboard without the safelight falling on the area.
Paint the walls blue just for a laugh!
Sim2.

 

[Rick A]

It doesn't matter what color it is, but sheen does play a large part. I would definitly use flat exterior paint. Flat for obvious reason, and exterior grade because it has a mildewcide incorporated in it, so no mold or mildew problems, also its washable, so its easy to maintain, and its durable. I use exterior paint in the kitchen and bath for those reasons. My DR is a nice chocolate color, because it was a mis-mix at the hardware, and only cost $5 for a gallon (the best way to buy paint).

Rick

 

[Eric Rose]

All surfaces are painted flat black in my darkroom.

 

[Q.G.]

I think it does indeed matter what colour the darkroom is.

I agree with Sim2: except for the bit near and behind the enlarger, it should be pure white.
There is no need to have dark, light absorbing surfaces.
On the contrary. You will want to get the most out of the little light there is.

 

[Mark Fisher]

Flat black around the enlarger, semigloss white everywhere else. I used semigloss simply because it is easier to clean....it still has a few stains here and there, though.

 

[sepiareverb]

My darkroom has medium/dark grey walls, black woodwork and a very blue ceiling. Blue linoleum floor too. The enlargers are far enough from the walls to not worry about stray light. I have more safelights than some, but prefer pools of light where I put them to an overall ambient level of light. Makes the lit areas seem brighter even with very small 5W nightlight bulbs. Some of my safelights even have ND filtration.

 

[resummerfield]

White walls will help reflect the safelight, and make the darkroom just a little brighter (but still safe). But paint the area around the enlarger black, to help absorb any stray white light from the enlarger.

 

[Rick A]

Ok, heres where it gets interesting-- If you want the most reflectance from the safelight, then you should paint your DR the same color as the safelight lens you are using, with high gloss paint.

Rick

 

[clayne]

Buck the trend - go with glass walls.

 

[Rick A]

Buck the trend - go with glass walls.

Hey--now thats an idea I can wrap my brain around!

Rick

 

[DWThomas]

I would think if you ever intend to do color processing it would be good to stick with black, white or gray rather than lime green or something that might add a color cast compared with a normal gallery lighting environment. Myself, I went with flat white, but may go to black around the enlarger if I ever manage to come up with permanent cabinetry and counters.

 

[fschifano]

Mine is mostly white. The walls adjacent the enlarger are flat black. It works.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Our Kodak darkrooms were matte yellow tiles and we had no problem.

Think on that!!!!!!

PE

 

[Rick A]

Gray is a good thought, take an 18% gray card in to the paint store and have it matched.

Rick

 

[Photo Engineer]

You missed my point already. At Kodak we use matte yellow tiles in all darkrooms and it has no significant effect. So, why go to all the trouble of selecting a color?

PE

 

[Anscojohn]

It doesn't matter what color it is, but sheen does play a large part. I would definitly use flat exterior paint. Flat for obvious reason, and exterior grade because it has a mildewcide incorporated in it, so no mold or mildew problems, also its washable, so its easy to maintain, and its durable. I use exterior paint in the kitchen and bath for those reasons. My DR is a nice chocolate color, because it was a mis-mix at the hardware, and only cost $5 for a gallon (the best way to buy paint).

Rick

******************
The walls of my darkroom are Kodak yellow. Area behind the enlarger is brown pegboard.

 

[Stephen Frizza]

You missed my point already. At Kodak we use matte yellow tiles in all darkrooms and it has no significant effect. So, why go to all the trouble of selecting a color?

PE

Hi Ron were any of these rooms used for printing colour murals?

 

[photomem]

My darkroom is avacado green and Terra cotta floors. I haven't had any problems thus far.

 

[clayne]

Color is nowhere as important as the surface of the walls. A flat paint will diffuse light and any reflections. My DR is a nice pleasing beige/tan. My safelight is a string of 35 amber/yellow LED holiday lights strung across the length of my DR. Main lighting is a 40 watt full spectrum flouro tube with a ccr of 96. Room size is 8'x12'. You want the light to be even, and light walls and ceiling will help a lot. Dark colors are just too dreary and it takes a lot of white light to light up the room.

http://www.superbrightleds.com

Amber/yellow is asking for definite trouble with non-Ilford stuff.

 

[perkeleellinen]

My darkroom is a pleasant white eggshell lustre. I did think about putting black cardboard on sections of the walls close to the enlarger (my darkroom is 3 foot wide) where the light reflects.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

My reasoning goes this way:

1) I want to be able to bounce safelight around the darkroom to make the place as bright, comfortable and pleasing to work in as possible.

2) I use amber safelights a lot, but at times also use red when necessary for materials that might fog in amber light.

3) Semi-gloss white reflects all colors fairly equally without glare, and will thus take on the color of whatever safelight is being used, reflecting the maximum amount of light around. Gray would be neutral, but then reflect only a fraction of the safelight (18% gray reflects only 18% of the light falling on it. Even "skin tone" is only 36% reflectance. White gets up to the 90% range.)

4) Yellow would probably do this as well for the yellow and red safelights, but then everything would take on a yellow cast when the white light was on. This is a problem because...

5) I want to be able to evaluate print tone in as neutral an environment as possible, so white is needed so that I'm not projecting a color-cast from the walls onto my prints. (This is valid for green, blue and other-colored walls as well.) Illumination needs to be taken into account for viewing prints too, but this is separate from the wall-color issue. If I were only developing film, this would not be an issue, but since I print there too, white seems the only way to go.

6) Every one of the Beseler 45 and Omega D enlargers I have worked with spills some unwanted light from the negative carrier/head, no matter what I do in the way of adjusting light source and carrier holder. This has a tendency to bounce off white walls and could possibly fog prints during long print exposures. Yellow (i.e., safe-colored) walls would fix this, but would result in the color-cast problem mentioned above. Therefore...

7) I have surrounded my enlarger's light leaks with flat-black as much as possible. Sometimes this is just a flat-black mat board mounted on the wall, sometimes a baffle or frame hung from the enlarger itself, whatever works in the setup I have. The object is to catch stray light with a minimum of black surface area while leaving the rest of the darkroom white and reflecting safelight. I could maybe get the same result with yellow and red and have a more cheerful (or at least more colorful) darkroom. This is a definite possibility.


Final verdict: Semi-gloss (or flat) white walls for as much of the darkroom as possible. Flat-black (or yellow/red) around enlarger heads to limit unwanted light from the head/negative carrier. I also find it helpful to have safelights around the enlargers that can be turned off easily (handy switch or chain) so that unwanted light from the safelights doesn't swamp detail in the print when focusing.

Boy, that got long real fast... Hope it helps,

Best,

Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com

 

[Q.G.]

Colour is important, since colour works by absorbtion.
If you want the darkroom to be bright (and despite the name, we do), a dark colour is not the thing to have your walls in. The 'colour' that reflects most is white. So go with white.

If you fear white light (as opposed to safe light) bouncing around your dark room, try to keep it out better, not worry about the brightness of your walls.

 

[CBG]

White, and glossy around the sink so it's easy to mop up. I want a bright darkroom. The color of the safelight determines it's look in the dark. The white makes it bright in the white light. I can't imagine happily working in a black painted room.