Foil reflections?

lesm · Feb 16, 2012

I've just installed an extractor fan in the darkroom I'm building in a corner of the garage. The fan came with several meters of flexible ducting, consisting of a black plastic inner sleeve over a wire frame, covered with some insulation and over the top of all that is a sheath of what looks like aluminium foil. It seems quite shiny and I'm wondering whether it will affect my printing in any way. (It will be fixed to the wall over the wet side and will be about two metres away from the enlarger on the opposite side of the room). Any advice please?

fotch · Feb 16, 2012

If you can see it then probably, so can any light. Example: The light from the enlarger may bounce around and shine on your paper. You don't want that. You should be able to cover it, paint it, or something.

lesm · Feb 16, 2012

fotch said:
Example: The light from the enlarger may bounce around and shine on your paper.

Thanks, Fotch. That's what I was concerned about. I might try taking the foil off. There wouldn't be any reflection from the insulation layer and maybe I can seal it with a spray of something so I'm not inhaling bits of fiberglass, or whatever it's made of! Or I suppose I could just get some black cloth and wrap it around the foil.

bsdunek · Feb 16, 2012

I'd just spray it with some flat black paint. Easier in my opinion than trying to peel apart the layers, and you won't compromise the strength of the material.

lesm · Feb 16, 2012

Thanks bsdunek. It would certainly be easier, provided I can get the paint to stick. I'll give it a go.

MattKing · Feb 16, 2012

I would be very surprised if reflections from this flexible ducting material would have any effect on your work UNLESS the sources of stray light in your darkroom are so bright as to constitute independent problems themselves.

Any light from the enlarger will have already travelled two meters, will be reduced in intensity by the reflection process and will have to travel even farther afterwards.

fotch · Feb 17, 2012

Maybe get some black cloth from the local bigbox store and wrap and duct tape it. Or, black paper.

jordanstarr · Feb 17, 2012

I also doubt it will have any effect, but a $5 can of flat black spray paint will solve it quickly enough. At the price of paper that could potentially get ruined, I'd say it's smart economy just to do it anyway unless it's about 10 feet or further from your enlarger.

Jim Jones · Feb 17, 2012

If the walls and ceiling are black, more flat black is fine. Otherwise, something close to the existing color might be more comfortable.

Leigh B · Feb 17, 2012

You shouldn't have any stray light in the darkroom that would affect your prints at all.

My darkroom is all white, except for the light wood-grain counter tops.
My Thomas Duplex safelight is bright enough to read the fine print on bottle labels anywhere in the darkroom.

No problems with paper fogging or other issues whatsoever.

- Leigh

cliveh · Feb 17, 2012

lesm said:
I've just installed an extractor fan in the darkroom I'm building in a corner of the garage. The fan came with several meters of flexible ducting, consisting of a black plastic inner sleeve over a wire frame, covered with some insulation and over the top of all that is a sheath of what looks like aluminium foil. It seems quite shiny and I'm wondering whether it will affect my printing in any way. (It will be fixed to the wall over the wet side and will be about two metres away from the enlarger on the opposite side of the room). Any advice please?

By implication you may as well paint your entire darkroom black. Presumably most of the light this foil will reflect will be from your safelight. I wouldn't worry about it.

fotch · Feb 17, 2012

One way to think about this is your darkroom is the inside of a camera.* You only want your paper to be exposed from light coming thru the lens. Anything else would be similar to a pin hole in the bellows, degraded felt on the camera back, etc.

Maybe one time it doesn't seem to effect the light sensitive media, and another time it does. Better to takes steps so the you consistently don't have stray light, ever. JHMO Good Luck

*This is why the traditional darkroom was painted flat black. It is easier to kill reflections. Perhaps a bit of overkill.

fotch · Feb 17, 2012

cliveh said:
By implication you may as well paint your entire darkroom black. Presumably most of the light this foil will reflect will be from your safelight. I wouldn't worry about it.

Some enlarger heads leak light, and that would be white light.

cliveh · Feb 17, 2012

fotch said:
One way to think about this is your darkroom is the inside of a camera.* You only want your paper to be exposed from light coming thru the lens. Anything else would be similar to a pin hole in the bellows, degraded felt on the camera back, etc.

Maybe one time it doesn't seem to effect the light sensitive media, and another time it does. Better to takes steps so the you consistently don't have stray light, ever. JHMO Good Luck

*This is why the traditional darkroom was painted flat black. It is easier to kill reflections. Perhaps a bit of overkill.

You don't need a safelight inside a camera. In a darkroom you have to strike a practical balance between seeing/feeling what you are doing and increasing base fog.

fotch · Feb 17, 2012

cliveh said:
You don't need a safelight inside a camera. In a darkroom you have to strike a practical balance between seeing/feeling what you are doing and increasing base fog.

Huh? Not talking about the safe light. Talking about enlarger light. Also, I don't use a safelight when doing color, do you?
However I do use the enlarger, if printing. So the stray light from the enlarger head is the concern. YMMV

cliveh · Feb 17, 2012

fotch said:
Huh? Not talking about the safe light. Talking about enlarger light. Also, I don't use a safelight when doing color, do you?
However I do use the enlarger, if printing. So the stray light from the enlarger head is the concern. YMMV

Sorry, I was only thinking black & white, as I don't process colour. I understand your point.

lesm · Feb 17, 2012

Thanks for all the input, guys. I've found a can of matte grey primer in the garage. I'll try that. My walls will be painted matte white, except for black behind the enlarger.

Another two or three weeks and I think I'll be ready to start printing. Haven't done any for forty-odd years and I can't wait!

Thanks again

Les

MartinP · Feb 18, 2012

I don't know about anyone else, but the biggest source of image-forming light in my darkroom is the light bouncing off the paper during exposure. It is that light which one doesn't want bouncing around and fogging the paper. A shiny surface near the easel isn't a helpful thing to have generally. Any potential problem with the shiny ducting would depend on line-of-sight to the baseboard and the distance involved.

Away from the enlarger, and for b+w use, the walls can be white or yellow as that helps overall comfort of the darkroom by reflecting the safelight(s) illumination. In my temporary spare-bedroom conversion I have black paper pinned up around the dryside and the walls are all painted white or yellow. Dumping occasional visitors in a black-painted spare bedroom might give the wrong impression!

lesm · Feb 18, 2012

MartinP said:
Dumping occasional visitors in a black-painted spare bedroom might give the wrong impression!

Just make sure the whips, chains and leather are tucked away in a drawer and I can't see any problem.

Foil reflections?

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