ruby.monkey
Member
Background: up 'til now I've developed black and white film in a daylight tank, and then scanned the results and processed the photos digitally. None of my photos have gone further than being posted on flickr; and while that approach has its benefits I'm really beginning to miss having a physical print to hold and savour away from the monitor. I've considered printing from digital files, but... I spend every working day and much of my leisure time on a computer and I really want to try a more 'old-fashioned' approach.
So... wet printing. I think I could set up a darkroom just for enlarging and developing prints, but how dark does it actually have to be? Absolutely pitch black? Or is a little diffuse light acceptable without harming a print? Reading Dr Croy's 'The Complete Art of Printing and Enlarging', I get the impression that dim light won't cause any damage, but has paper sensitivity changed enough since then that this would no longer be so?
With three children in the house it's difficult to find a dedicated space so I'd be looking to use my kitchen of an evening; it has two large window and a frosted glass exterior door, but there are no external lights shining directly in, nor any nearby streetlamps. At night the brightest illumination would be from a full moon.
So to recap, would I have to make the room absolutely lightproof? Or would it be sufficient simply to put up blinds in the windows and over the exterior door, and perhaps add a heavy curtain across the door to the rest of the house?
Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions you may offer.
So... wet printing. I think I could set up a darkroom just for enlarging and developing prints, but how dark does it actually have to be? Absolutely pitch black? Or is a little diffuse light acceptable without harming a print? Reading Dr Croy's 'The Complete Art of Printing and Enlarging', I get the impression that dim light won't cause any damage, but has paper sensitivity changed enough since then that this would no longer be so?
With three children in the house it's difficult to find a dedicated space so I'd be looking to use my kitchen of an evening; it has two large window and a frosted glass exterior door, but there are no external lights shining directly in, nor any nearby streetlamps. At night the brightest illumination would be from a full moon.
So to recap, would I have to make the room absolutely lightproof? Or would it be sufficient simply to put up blinds in the windows and over the exterior door, and perhaps add a heavy curtain across the door to the rest of the house?
Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions you may offer.