Darkroom portraits

[fotch]

Hello interloper and welcome to APUG. Quite a project you have going on with that darkroom, looks nice.

 

[mike c]

Great old barn,the interior would have made some nice back ground shoots but would not have made a very clean darkroom.You have done a great job on making a nice darkroom.How bout the out side,does it still look like an old barn.
Mike

 

[interloper]

Yes the exterior is the same - it's a protected building so I can't change it (not that I'd want to!). It's made of thick stone with no natural lighting - so when I got the chance at it I jumped.

 

[mike c]

Thats great interloper,looked like a neat old bliuding from inside and did notice those large building stones.
Mike

 

[angrykitty]

my first one... and i get to pee while I wait for things to develop! Notice the state of the art light prevention system

 

[fotch]

Looks homey, but, if the light prevention thingy worked, why aren't the pictures black?:confused:

 

[angrykitty]

Looks homey, but, if the light prevention thingy worked, why aren't the pictures black?:confused:

well, you see, the system only prevents indoor light when I wear the matching aluminum foil hat.

 

[angrykitty]

Hi guys

First time poster here. After years of using digital (still do for most paid work) I've returned to film (mainly 120 BW) and have built a darkroom in a 100-year old barn opposite my studio. You can see the pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbcpstudio/sets/72157624700573309/

Although the total refurb cost a fair bit virtually everything in there was donated for free. The enlargers, lightbox, trays etc came from a local college and other photographers who, sadly, would have thrown them out. Even the metal sink and worktops were free!

The walls are a bit bare and the refurb has literally only just been completed so it'll evolve and change over time. If anyone has any suggestions for improving things I'd love to hear them.

Wow! I can't imagine how much time and effort you put into that, but it looks great!

 

[interloper]

Wow! I can't imagine how much time and effort you put into that, but it looks great!

Best part of a year...yup, a freaking YEAR...in between having to work it's taken that long. The last few months were actually a bit depressing - it started to feel like it was never going to be finished. But it is...and I'm a happy camper.

It's taken so long that I started to believe by the time it was finished digital photography would be in decline.

By the way, don't knock your "light prevention" - it's probably more light-tight than mine!

 

[David Brown]

Best part of a year...yup, a freaking YEAR...in between having to work it's taken that long. The last few months were actually a bit depressing - it started to feel like it was never going to be finished. ...

Wow! I'm not the only one. It hasn't been a year, but I started in February and really thought I'd be finished by now. Did have a good weekend, though. Got the dry side cabinets finished and installed. Catch up on the blog (in sig line)

 

[Worker 11811]

my first one... and i get to pee while I wait for things to develop! Notice the state of the art light prevention system

I did a similar thing in my basement darkroom except I used polystyrene foam insulation board wrapped in two layers of black Duvetyne.
(Black cotton velour fabric. http://www.filmtools.com/duv54rolx50y.html )

Dead Link Removed

The 1/2-inch insul-board is covered in two layers of black fabric then taped at the edges. It was wedged into the window frame and the edges were packed with felt weather stripping, stuffed in with a putty knife, all the way around.

Ain't no light going to get in there!

 

[Shan]

After three years without a darkroom I am finally getting one. It's four hours away from my house but it's a darkroom and it's all mine.
Will be located in the darkest corner of a basement, probably by the washer and dryer. Would love to build one wall to make it a separate room but since the house isn't mine I'm not pushing my luck. Beseler arrived last week, rest of the gear is on it's way...hopefully will have a picture or two soon.

 

[Luseboy]

I dont have pictures of mine, yet. But hopefully i will soon. I'm probably the youngest person on here. (17 years old)

 

[alexhill]

Welcome Luseboy to apug.

 

[ic-racer]

Welcome Luseboy. Your post reminded me of some pictures I recently found. This was my first darkroom I set up when I was 14, though my older brother helped me out.
The enlarger is a SOLAR and was a gift from a family friend. We used Kodak "tri chem packs" for processing both the film and paper. On the baseboard of the enlarger is my first home-made enlarging exposure meter.

 

[ic-racer]

 

[ic-racer]

 

[ic-racer]

My current darkroom is in a new location. But I still have that paper cutter !
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Robert Hall]

I have just finished my duck boards after several years of not having them. I've not had a chance to use them yet but I will report one I've given them a test drive.

I have made them from redwood and given them a mild stain certainly to be ruined upon the first batch of fix.

C'est la vie

And

 

[mike c]

The duck broads look great Robert.Don't see them much any more,the wood shop at the high school would make new one's every year for the photo lab class,that was 45yrs ago.

Mike

 

[argentic]

I never really understood the need for duckboards. Why did you add them again?

 

[Robert Hall]

I have to dump a lot of chemicals out of turn during several of my processes. These have aided in getting the new chems setup with out having to dump the others due to contamination. I also like building little things for the darkroom as there are cheaper ways of doing it, but I like the aesthetic as well.

I have dumped 75 liters of processing chems from the Jobo and it has solved some of these problems.

 

[:Kraftakt:]

my lab

Hi there!

Here some pics of my dark room. I got most of the stuff in there for free Which is good because I'm only 19 and student

For more info look at the notes on Flickr.
And yes: there is no sink in the pic..because that area looks way too messy and yes it's made of wood because it looks nice and is quite durable even when handling with chem.

The whole room is around 35m2..but not all of it is part of the dark"room" (darkcorner)

Area For Negatives
Area For Positives
Under The Big Table
The Chem Shelf
The Enlarger

Hope you like it..I do

Best,

Toby

 

[Worker 11811]

Toby, Nice setup! :thumbsup:

One small suggestion: If you can get your developing trays farther away from the enlarger it would decrease the chance for accidents.

I had the same thing in my darkroom. Although it was nice and convenient to be able to pop a piece of photo paper into the easel, expose it then drop it right into the developing tray, I always had to watch out for little drops of water and chemistry that always accumulate on the tabletop.

You're working in the dark. You can't see things as clearly as you could with the lights on. It's a pain in the a$$ when you have to be constantly worried about setting something down on that table top only to hit a puddle of Dektol. Your notebooks, pencils and tools will soon be covered with little splotches. If you're making multiple copies of your prints, it's hard to find a dry place to set them down where they won't be spoiled before you batch-develop them.

I understand you might have space limitations. So do I. However, it will benefit you greatly to separate your wet area from your dry area. I only had one workbench in my darkroom. I only had one place to set everything up. I finally had to go find another table to become my wet area. When I finally did, I found my darkroom life became substantially more enjoyable.

Like I said... Your darkroom looks very well equipped. Just suggesting.

 

[grahamp]

My steel sink has plastic mesh for much the same reason. I can dump chemicals at any point without contaminating other trays/measures. It also helps avoid the heat sink that a steel sink represents.