Good Darkroom Habits

NedL · Aug 17, 2014

The sticky thread: (there was a url link here which no longer exists) is great reading.

What are some of your hints or tips about good darkroom practice?

Here are two of mine:

1. Before I turn on the light or open the door, I always find the box of paper with my eyes to make sure it is closed. This has become second nature and an ingrained habit. It would take an effort of will to open the door without looking to make sure the paper is secure.

2. Dust is a problem in my house, so my printfile sleeves are stored in a file box. When working with a negative, the first thing I do before anything else is return the printfile sleeve back to its box. The first thing I do when I'm done printing a negative is remove from the carrier, re-sleeve and put it back in the dust-free file box. The sleeves are only out long enough to remove or replace a negative, and the negative is only in the carrier while I'm working on it. No exceptions ever. Even though our house is a dusty environment, I have few problems with dust while printing.

Do you have some darkroom habits? Maybe things that others might not have thought of?

Rick A · Aug 17, 2014

I run an air cleaner continuously in my DR, and once every couple of months pull everything out to damp wipe before returning it to the room.

cliveh · Aug 17, 2014

Try and develop an intuitive feel for what you are trying to achieve.

TXFZ1 · Aug 18, 2014

Never take food or drink into the darkroom.

David

bsdunek · Aug 18, 2014

Well, I will take drink, and sometimes food into my darkroom. The food is usually 'crumb free'. My darkroom is supposed to be a 'pet free' zone. My Corgi sheds all the time, and worse in the Spring. Boy, is that bad stuff!

bdial · Aug 18, 2014

When you finish up give all surfaces near the processing area a good wipe down, then lather rinse, repeat.
Little spots of dried fixer can show up in amazing places if you aren't thorough.

NedL · Aug 18, 2014

I have a dust cover over my enlarger, and the last thing I do after each print session is put it back on.

My darkroom is in a walk-in closet and my golden retriever Mango is always sleeping right outside the closet door waiting for me to come out... I keep the closet door shut all the time too...

Dennis S · Aug 18, 2014

I do the same visual paper check EVERY time light or door. What In also do is make sure everything is unplugged before leaving. Print dryer or press running all night can heat up a dkrm to uncomfortable temps during summer... Ask me how I know....

NedL · Aug 18, 2014

dances_w_clouds said:
...What I also do is make sure everything is unplugged before leaving. ...

I'm trying really hard to get in this habit, but I still sometimes forget, which leaves the heater in my cold light on.

cliveh said:
Try and develop an intuitive feel for what you are trying to achieve.

I appreciate this very much.

grahamp · Aug 19, 2014

Unplug the Jobo when I am not actually using it. Otherwise it will eventually dry out.

I have a note on my darkroom door to remind me to check that the fan is off on the 45S head. With my darkroom fan running it can be hard to separate the 45S fan from the background sound. I move the notice around the door from time to time - otherwise I would stop reading it!

Keep a reference of materials and techniques you might want to do again. I have a binder with all my chemical recipes and standard dilutions/tank capacities, as well as notes on times. This really helps with less used techniques. I put reminders on my whiteboard, especially if I am doing something unusual or complex.

slx · Aug 23, 2014

I mark with coloured tape all the chemical bottles, caps and trays. Blue developer, red stop, green bleach, yellow fix. A little help to avoid messing all up

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tomharrison · Aug 23, 2014

I've been reversal processing a lot of black and white film over the summer and have taken to using some really good Vacu Vin wine cooling wraps to bring the temperature of my chemistry down. The HDPE bottles that I mix everything up in fit snugly inside the wrap, and it's a whole lot quicker than filling a water-bath with ice.

Rick A · Aug 23, 2014

Write EVERYTHING down that you do, so you can check against what works and what doesn't.It's a great way to keep track of any modifications to a routine or formula, and especially when shooting to better understand why negs came out effed up.

hoffy · Aug 23, 2014

Mine? Make sure that the damn freezer is turned back ON after I have put the last print in the wash!

My enlarger sits on a chest freezer, so I turn it off during a darkroom session (lets face it, a chest freezer should keep goods well frozen for a decent 8 hours before having to worry). That way, the enlarger doesn't have to deal with the vibration from the compressor. I usually turn it back on when I have a reasonable break and I always MUST turn it back on when I am done!

Bob Carnie · Aug 23, 2014

While my prints are washing I do regular cleanup, but I also set up the next days negatives, as well have all my chemistry bottles near the trays and any chemicals I need to mix ready.

The next day is much more enjoyable and very easy and fast to set up due to this workflow habit.

klop · Aug 23, 2014

I have both fluorescent lights and tungsten lights so I make sure I turn off the fluorescent lights 5 minutes before getting out my paper and I keep an empty gallon milk jug under the sink to pee in.

Marco Buonocore · Aug 23, 2014

Definitely agree with leaving a negative ready to go in the carrier overnight. Like Hemingway apparently stopped writing mid sentence so he had a good place to start next time he went at it. It's been a huge help to me. I'll usually make a few proofs that are printed in different directions or on different papers, let them dry overnight, and look at them the next day. Then I'll map out plan and nail it. I have a similar approach with toning; I'll make a variety of split sepia/selenium efforts, usually on small 4"x"4" prints, and let them dry. The next day I'll see which split looks the best, and do my edition. The little proofs get sold as APs and the edition is just how I want it.

Another thing I do, which I learned from a colleague in my shared darkroom, is get all my chemistry ready in advance. This is particularly important when printing big, or developing a mountain of film. The day before get all the chem made up, and get all the equipment clean and ready to go. Then just get cracking as soon as I show up to the darkroom.

Once every few months I tidy up and chuck out what hasn't been used in a while. I reckon this should be done more often, but I'm too busy printing.

Marco Buonocore · Aug 23, 2014

Oh: and file your negatives! My god, file your negatives. Come up with some sort of system, I beg you. I got waylaid for a few years, and it turns into a black hole. I've wasted hours and hours looking for a particular neg. Could have been spent printing it.

tkamiya · Aug 23, 2014

Each of my paper safes have a piece of painter's masking tape across it's opening. This is a reminder to myself, I must ensure the room is dark before opening. If I make a careless error and try to open it with lights on, paper tape stops me from opening the safe and ruining all the paper inside it. Otherwise, I remove the tape, open the safe, then close it and tape it.

I also check and double check before turning room lights on, all my sensitive materials are safely in protective containers.

analoguey · Aug 24, 2014

Marco Buonocore said:
Oh: and file your negatives! My god, file your negatives. Come up with some sort of system, I beg you. I got waylaid for a few years, and it turns into a black hole. I've wasted hours and hours looking for a particular neg. Could have been spent printing it.

That system is a tough one to come up with.
As tough as getting a consistent naming system for file folders and backup when moving across different systems

jp80874 · Aug 24, 2014

NedL said:
The sticky thread: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

1. Before I turn on the light or open the door, I always find the box of paper with my eyes to make sure it is closed. This has become second nature and an ingrained habit. It would take an effort of will to open the door without looking to make sure the paper is secure.

I print 16x20 paper which I keep in a paper safe in the foot well of the enlarger table. I pull one sheet out of the black plastic wrap and fold the edge of the plastic over. The paper safe opening is weighted, so it falls shut as my hands come out.

John Powers

removed account4 · Aug 24, 2014

i put something HEAVY ontop of my boxes of opened paper
because i find it nearly impossible when only a handful of sheets are used
to get them to actually close well after the black bag is folded and box shut.

pdeeh · Aug 24, 2014

Don't listen to Coltrane (or similar) on the radio at the same time as you are trying to count exposure time against a metronome

ToddB · Aug 25, 2014

Always double check paper box lid to make sure it's in place before flipping on light to look at print. I'll take a drink in , but no food. Also make sure to rinse out graduator an clean and rinse trays too when I'm finished printing.

Ronald Moravec · Sep 4, 2014

Rick A said:
I run an air cleaner continuously in my DR, and once every couple of months pull everything out to damp wipe before returning it to the room.

Add a water filter. Wash glass bottles and only use for the same chemicals, throw away all the plastic junk.

Every must be clean clean clean. They you need not spot, ever. Well almost never as there are emulsion defects.

Good Darkroom Habits

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