darkroom V paying

bob2 · Nov 23, 2007

Im quite new to photography and a darkroom is a long way off but I was curios what the benefits were of doing it myself.

PHOTOTONE · Nov 23, 2007

You can become "one" with your work.

bob2 · Nov 23, 2007

good reason

Removed Account · Nov 23, 2007

For me it is the experience of being totally responsible for the image. I think in many ways I enjoy the darkroom work more than making negatives. To go with the old musician's analogy, to me getting lab prints made would be like writing a song without playing it yourself. There may be better players out there, but the learning and sense of accomplishment of taking an image from beginning to completion is tremendous. I love that I can take 1 negative and create many different versions of the same image, some that hardly look alike! It never gets old seeing the image come out in the developer, anticipating the results of my enlarger hand dance. Also it can be cheaper to make prints yourself rather than have a lab do it, but this is not necessarily so. To me the cost of experimenting is well worth it.

- Justin

bob2 · Nov 23, 2007

makes alot of sense.Very much like my tying my own flies for fishing.

DougGrosjean · Nov 23, 2007

I live in a small rural town. It's quicker (and cheaper) for me to develop my own b/w than to use the car or motorcycle to go to town and wait, or to go to town, drop off film, and go to town again a few days later.

I get results right away, and I can alter the output / product as well.

Plus, learning to do my own b/w has made it possible for me to play with push-processing, as well as large-format, and contact printing.

DarkroomExperimente · Nov 23, 2007

Another thing is...you can do a million things that a regular lab really can't do for you

for example, I seeing a beautiful photo in a book of a foggy landscape....one element of the image that really made it work was a bright sun trying to peek through the thick clouds. Well, that sun wasn't in the original photo. The photographer said the image was nice...but it seemed to be missing something...so halfway through the exposure under the enlarger he placed a nickel on the paper. It was the coin that created the image of the sun. Maybe you could find a lab that would do that for you...but would they put the sun exactly where you wanted it? It could take a dozen visits to get it right. But if you're doing it you can adjust everything...

that's my 2 cents...er...5 cents

removed account4 · Nov 23, 2007

hi bob2

cause it is a bunch of fun ...
and scary and magical
to see something appear on film,
or on what was once a white sheet of paper ...

john

ps. i love your music

Valerie · Nov 25, 2007

Magic happens (and no Hogwarts education is needed)

JBrunner · Nov 25, 2007

#1: Control, control, control.
#2: Economy.
#3: Flexibility in developers, paper, and other processes.
#4: Convenience.
#5: Control.
#6: Control.

Kevin Caulfield · Nov 25, 2007

I agree with J. It's mainly about control. I've just photographed a wedding, and for the first time in nearly twelve years I'm darkroomless. So I did some test shots last week, and requested borders, and of course half the prints had rebates showing next to the borders. I've just dropped off 14 rolls to them of the wedding itself, and told them if I get rebates again they'll be reprinting. The other quality issue is that they print digitally and digital prints look like shit.

nick mulder · Nov 25, 2007

JBrunner said:
#1: Control, control, control.
#2: Economy.
#3: Flexibility in developers, paper, and other processes.
#4: Convenience.
#5: Control.
#6: Control.

The near on extensive list is missing one factor so if you dont mind I'll add one more:

#7: Control

Maris · Nov 25, 2007

A crucial benefit for me, and maybe for you also, in doing the darkroom work is indisputable authorship of the photographs that result.

When you send a negative to the lab that negative is in reality subject matter for what happens next. The guy or girl at the lab photographs your negative with special paper backed film, processes the result, and sells it to you.

Curiously, photographing negatives with paper backed film has been dubbed "printing" but it is photography nevertheless. And all the control variables of photography apply too. The lab people decide focus, cropping, exposure, development, density, contrast, image colour, and border trimming just to mention a few possibilities.

Every one who has never made a photograph from start to finish just doesn't appreciate the amazingly arbitrary technical chain between a given camera exposure and the particular photograph the lab delivers to you. It is only through the photofinishing industry's experience in guessing what sort photograph you would like to pay for that they stay in business. I know. I used to do it. Provided I dialled in blue sky, green grass, and made people's faces pale carrot colour nobody complained.

All of the above can be paraphrased in the words of JBrunner and others: control, control, ........

firecracker · Nov 26, 2007

different tastes.

Akki14 · Nov 26, 2007

If something is screwed up, you don't have to talk to management or someone behind a counter... and you'll have a good idea on how to fix the problem too (or at least a starting point). I don't know what minilabs can or can't do so I had the joy of trying to explain to a guy behind a counter what I wanted and he was having trouble putting it into words onto the order envelope (machine printed stuff horribly off-centre due to my funky camera spacing with my non-sprocket-hole-counting 1950s camera. People chopped in half is not good!).
Quicker turn around with high(er) quality in some cases if you don't have a good, reasonably priced pro lab on your doorstep. Or at least it feels quicker because you're watching each step of the process.

Gary Holliday · Nov 26, 2007

I'm assuming you are talking about b&w as most people will send colour out to a lab. It will be impossible for a lab to successfully print your original ideas for the print. You get to experiment with different looks and of course the pure joy in creating it yourself. It's the only way to go...start converting that bathroom!

Neil Poulsen · Dec 16, 2007

It Depends

It depends on what you're after.

If you want to have fun with black and white, and you're not concerned about necessarily having fine prints, then a lab will do. I've seen decent results from some Labs.

But, if you're interested in fine art photography and achieving excellent black and white results, I maintain that one has to process both the negative and the print themselves.

Your question is about whether one needs a darkroom. I've seen people get excellent results using a Jobo. I suppose, one still needs a dark room for loading the Jobo, though.

MattKing · Dec 17, 2007

Bob:

There are some resources around the Vancouver area that do decent B & W lab work, but they are quite specialized, and can be moderately expensive.

IMHO, there is nothing that will improve your work with a camera, than developing and printing your own negatives.

Matt

Jim Fitzgerald · Dec 17, 2007

#8 absolute control!!

Jim

MattKing · Dec 17, 2007

MattKing said:
IMHO, there is nothing that will improve your work with a camera more than developing and printing your own negatives.

Matt

It is amazing how important one word can be

matti · Dec 17, 2007

bob2 said:
Im quite new to photography and a darkroom is a long way off but I was curios what the benefits were of doing it myself.

Just a warning: It can be very quick... I remember my third wave of interest in printing my own, photos when I was about 22. The next day I had borrowed my father in laws enlarger and trays, bought some paper and chemicals, put the things on my bathroom floor, painted the bathroom bulb red and was printing away...

/matti

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