Darkroom portraits

[ScottH]

24 hours, thats a lot. My films completely dry within an hour and a half by just hanging them in the darkroom and closing the door.

Well, it's likely less but I'm never in a hurry to print them due to backlog of other neg's to work on. No doubt it takes several hours minimum though, because there's no air circulation. Relative humidity is pretty high in there.

I never had much luck hanging negs open in a room, esp. the bathroom due to 'traffic'. Also, using a condensor system will only highlight any small amount of neg. blemish.

 

[SkipA]

I finally got around to taking some pic of my darkroom. My first one was a makeshift affair setup in the corner of a small apartment bedroom, on top of a credenza. No running water, just a Beseler PrintMaker 35 and four 8x10 trays for developer, stop, fix, and a water-filled pre-wash print holding tray. Final wash and drying was done in the bathroom. I processed my film in the kitchen.

My second darkroom was another makeshift affair, but this time with running water! A bathroom, in fact, with my enlarger set up on the vanity, and my print trays in the tub.

Then I built this one that I use now. It's small, but fairly well equipped, and quite swank compared to my previous darkrooms. Next time I build one, though, it'll be at least three times bigger that this.

 

[argentic]

Hi Skip,

I really like the way you constructed the wet side of your darkroom.

 

[eric]

Eric's darkroom -- link included not attachments

EVERYONE's darkrooms are awesome! I'm envious of people who can have a wet darkroom. I need to share my darkroom with everything else in the house.

Eric's LAME Darkroom

 

[SkipA]

Hi Skip,

I really like the way you constructed the wet side of your darkroom.

Thanks, Gilbert. The layout was pretty much dictated by the physical characteristics of the room. I'd have preferred to have the dry side opposite the wet side and parallel to it, but a closet and space to allow for the opening of the hall doorway nixed that. The workflow is pretty good with this setup, though, starting at the enlarger and proceeding clockwise to the right.

 

[matt miller]

Here's mine. I built the darkroom sink at work. It's a 4" deep stainless steel sink, 96"x30". The little hanging prints are my very first ziatypes that I printed today.

 

[josephaustin]

My darkroom sorry for the scans, I hardly ever do color and the drugstore hardly does a professional job.I have attached my enlarger table, my wetside which for now is just a counter no sink, shelving that holds my enlarger lenses, negative holders, and other misc stuff, and the laundry sink that is my only water supply. Just starting the construction here so improvments will be made. I can use it till then like it is though.

 

[George Papantoniou]

Hi guys and girls, great thread indeed...

I've just (a week ago) finished working on the construction of my new darkroom and feel really happy (and exhausted), since it has taken me 2 years and 7 months...
I've been working in a bathroom before, and in a small room in the basement of my parent's home when I was in my teens...

My new darkroom was created in a space in the underground garage that was just a corner part of the garage and so I had to build one wall and cover / paint all the inside walls, floor and ceiling. I separated the space in two parts (since it was big enough) that measure 4x3.6 and 4x2.4 meters approximately. One is the dark part (for printing) and the other is the part for print washing and print/film drying. Both have a wet side, the sink in the dark part being a stainless steel 3.6 meters long one. The ventilation draws the air from a hood over the sink (oops, made a mistake there, the hood should be BEHIND the sink). On the dry side of the dark part lies the Beseler 45 MX that for the first time is mounted on the wall (YEAH!!!) and an old meopta (my first enlarger) meant to serve for contacts...
There is also a separate small negatives-viewing corner with a light box with a red filter on. There also are lots of cupboards, shelves and drawers.
In the other room, there are a sink and a bench, a print squeeging and viewing vertical surface (made of glass so it can easily be washed clean) the necessary screens for print drying and a film drying cabinet. There's also a fridge for paper and film.

I'll post some shots of it for you to see... I've got lots of pictures I made while building it, now I've got to make some of it now it's finished...

What I wanted to ask you all, is why you have decided to paint your darkroom walls white (or gray) and you haven't chosen the red colour ? I've used bright red tiles for the dark part's floor and walls and painted the ceiling and everything else in there bright red. When I use the safelights, the room is very bright and any light leaks from the enlarger head reflected on the walls become red coloured and so are safe for my paper. It also adds a coloured tone to the room that makes it really different (weird . The other part is white of course.

Cheers,
George

 

[Bob F.]

<snip>
What I wanted to ask you all, is why you have decided to paint your darkroom walls white (or gray) and you haven't chosen the red colour ? I've used bright red tiles for the dark part's floor and walls and painted the ceiling and everything else in there bright red. When I use the safelights, the room is very bright and any light leaks from the enlarger head reflected on the walls become red coloured and so are safe for my paper. It also adds a coloured tone to the room that makes it really different (weird . The other part is white of course.

Cheers,
George

I used to use some black boards around the enlarger but no longer bother as a safelight test showed no problem for a 10 minute test (2 mins with the enlarger switched on - lens capped) . The room is painted in mauve and cream - much more restful than 100% red!

Bob.

 

[Monophoto]

George -

the idea of making the darkroom wals red so that the light reflected off them becomes "safe" makes sense.

But to me it's even more sensible to make the source of the light safe (ie, use safelights), and then make the walls white so that they provide maximum reflections of that safe light.

Louie

 

[George Papantoniou]

Hi Louie,

Of course I do use safelights in the dark (red) part of my lab, one with an Ilford filter and one Osram Duka with an ecenomy lamp. I also have red bulbs (Philips) over the sink (trays) that I can switch on and off at will... The red colour is just meant to be useful for light leaks (there aren't any, but keep in mind that I am a sick minded person ...

As for the reflectance of the lighting, the red light emmited by the safe lights is 100% reflected on the red surface of the tiles, just as if they were white... Think about it...

Here are some pictures I made with a digital image capturing device:
There's the Dry side and the wet side of the red room, the stainless steel sink, the part of the white room used for print and film drying and the part used for print washing (and developing the films).

 

[SuzanneR]

Gives new meaning to the term 'red light district'

Great darkroom, btw.

 

[Nige]

This thread is so big I can't remember if I posted mine!

Here it is (although that enlarger has gone to a new home and I have two different ones on the dry side now). I'm about to add several more shelves to benches and the cupboard (behind the door). On the left is my fridge... film, some chemicals and beer

 

[Dave Miller]

Two stools Nige, bit O.T.T? Other than that it looks cosy.

 

[Nige]

lol! Sometimes I have guests... usually my 2 sons but I had 4 women in there one night!

 

[arigram]

Four women in that little crampted space?
Now, what's your trick Nige, share it with us less fortunate males!

 

[Bruce Osgood]

lol! Sometimes I have guests... usually my 2 sons but I had 4 women in there one night!

And I bet you told the ladies that to avoid any vibrations during exposure you would all need to put your arms around each other with you in the middle and hold tightly.

 

[Carol]

Hopefully this a picture of my darkroom. Bear in mind I set it up without ever having seen how a d/room is supposed to look. The sink is not plumbed, I just have a bowl of water at the end which I take it to the laundry to wash the prints. I guess I'm pretty lucky I have lots of space around me and my husband made a shelf under the sink for all my bits and pieces.

 

[Flotsam]

Hopefully this a picture of my darkroom. Bear in mind I set it up without ever having seen how a d/room is supposed to look. The sink is not plumbed, I just have a bowl of water at the end which I take it to the laundry to wash the prints. I guess I'm pretty lucky I have lots of space around me and my husband made a shelf under the sink for all my bits and pieces.

I like your fashionable enlarger dust cover. I just use a plastic trash bag over mine.

 

[johnnywalker]

but I had 4 women in there one night!

Is that "had" in the biblical sense?

 

[arigram]

I like your fashionable enlarger dust cover. I just use a plastic trash bag over mine.

Must be the "woman's touch".

 

[Nige]

Is that "had" in the biblical sense?

I choose that word carefully

One was my wife as well.... it was her card-making group having a demo! Nothing as exciting as implied

 

[VoidoidRamone]

Okay, here it is- my Jerry Uelsmann-esque darkroom. I have 15 b&w enlargers and one lone color enlarger. My sink is pretty big and it's an island, so I can access the trays from both sides. I have my fancy print washer (aka a tube and a tray with holes). The angled block of wood w/ plastic is for squeeging my prints. And I also have one of those neat doors that spins to keep the light out. The color enlarger is in a seperate room, which is also where I load my film. Oh yeah, by the way, I also share this darkroom with about 100 other highschool students...
-Grant

 

[jovo]

Oh yeah, by the way, I also share this darkroom with about 100 other highschool students...
-Grant

That's excellent! That your high school made this much of a committment in the first place is great, but that they're still maintaining it in the face of the digital tsunami is even more impressive.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Hi Grant

You should get together with the rest of your graduating students and give your photography teacher a gift, that darkroom looks exactly like the one I worked in at Fanshawe College in 1973, Wow I am really happy to see this one as all we here is doom and gloom regarding the teaching of analog photography and the pictures of that darkroom are blast from the past for me. Your teachers seem to know what they are doing, and you, Parsons School of Design.
I have heard that my darkrooms at the college are dismanteled and have been replaced by computers and inkjet machines *very sad*