Inspiration sought for blackout options

robgunby · May 14, 2021

Hi folks
We are due to move into a new darkroom space next week. We have the opportunity to do something more elegant than our current blackout solutions (black and white "grow shop" vinyl, gaffer taped to window frames. For the door, weather seal, backed up by a sheet of aforementioned vinyl, kept rolled up above the door, fixed in place with hook and loop when working dark). Our current extractor fan light trap is a crudely cut cardboard box, spray painted black, taped in place.

I've done a fair bit of research, there are simply tons of options for blacking out and extraction / ventilation. It would be really useful to see a bit of a gallery of people's darkroom light seals and extraction setups - if anyone has a photo lying around they could post here, I would be most grateful.

Attached are a couple of pics of our current, slapdash efforts for a starting point (nb, I am aware that the area round the enlarger should be dark vinyl, this was before the darkroom was fully completed)

Thanks in advance!

tezzasmall · May 22, 2021

robgunby said:
(nb, I am aware that the area round the enlarger should be dark vinyl, this was before the darkroom was fully completed)

Quite the opposite, from what I have read over the years. In fact, a lot of people say that you should stick with either white or light grey in the darkroom... Anyone else read or done this?

Terry S

RalphLambrecht · May 22, 2021

robgunby said:
Hi folks
We are due to move into a new darkroom space next week. We have the opportunity to do something more elegant than our current blackout solutions (black and white "grow shop" vinyl, gaffer taped to window frames. For the door, weather seal, backed up by a sheet of aforementioned vinyl, kept rolled up above the door, fixed in place with hook and loop when working dark). Our current extractor fan light trap is a crudely cut cardboard box, spray painted black, taped in place.

I've done a fair bit of research, there are simply tons of options for blacking out and extraction / ventilation. It would be really useful to see a bit of a gallery of people's darkroom light seals and extraction setups - if anyone has a photo lying around they could post here, I would be most grateful.

Attached are a couple of pics of our current, slapdash efforts for a starting point (nb, I am aware that the area round the enlarger should be dark vinyl, this was before the darkroom was fully completed)

Thanks in advance!

crude but effective;so, who cares. attached is my solution

MattKing · May 22, 2021

robgunby said:
I am aware that the area round the enlarger should be dark vinyl

tezzasmall said:
Quite the opposite, from what I have read over the years. In fact, a lot of people say that you should stick with either white or light grey in the darkroom... Anyone else read or done this?

Terry S

Actually, having it dark and non-reflective in the area immediately adjacent to the enlarger is a good idea - to stop reflections of stray light from the enlarger.
But the rest of the darkroom is much more comfortable to use with white or tan or light grey walls.

Paul Howell · May 22, 2021

I would made plywood cut outs to fit the windows, use weather seals to make the joints light tight, you can paint the outside of the cut out to match the exterior wall. For interior paint, flat black or if you get your paint shot to color match OC safelight, for door, if you have zoom to build a zig zag entry way with 2 sets of black cloth drapes on each end. If you don't have room or don't want to spend the money to make walls then just weather seal around the door. Ventilation depends on overall construction of your space, is it a stand along house, single or multi storied, do you have an crawl space between the roof and ceiling?

Pieter12 · May 22, 2021

Home Theater black-out drapes. Just make sure they are really light-tight before you buy them by shining a flashlight on one side and see if you can see the light on the other.

albada · May 22, 2021

Paul Howell said:
... just weather seal around the door. ...

I blacked out my door using thin V-shaped plastic weather seal placed around the inside of the door-frame. I painted the inside of the V black because the white plastic is translucent. The door now opens/closes freely, and blocks light well. Because the V-plastic is white, it matches the white paint, causing the door to look unmodified, keeping peace with the wife. This is a carpeted bedroom, so I also lay a towel along the bottom of the door.

gone · May 22, 2021

I've tried them all. My favorite is to put two screws or nails, one on either side of the doorway, at the top. Then when I want to print I just grab the blanket off the bed, hang it on the screws/nails, and tuck it in against the wall on the sides and at the bottom. Very quick to put up and take down, and you could use one of those colorful Mexican blankets for a more festive darkroom experience, along w/ some tacos, chips and a Corona.

My next favorite way is to take large sheets of matte board w/ the foam between the layers (Walmart has it for giveaway prices), cut it to the size of the window frame, and hold it onto the window opening w/ tape. Not the most elegant solution, but fast to put up and take down. I thought of using Velcro to hold it up until I saw how much they want for that stuff. The rolls of black plastic for that coke dealer look are nice, but taking it down and putting it back up later will have you cussing like a sailor.

RalphLambrecht · May 23, 2021

MattKing said:
Actually, having it dark and non-reflective in the area immediately adjacent to the enlarger is a good idea - to stop reflections of stray light from the enlarger.
But the rest of the darkroom is much more comfortable to use with white or tan or light grey walls.

agreeing with Matt. painting everything black makes for a depressing darkroom but, the areas close to the enlarger should be painted flat black to kill potential reflection that could be coming back to the fogging the highlights.

robgunby · May 23, 2021

Paul Howell said:
I would made plywood cut outs to fit the windows, use weather seals to make the joints light tight, you can paint the outside of the cut out to match the exterior wall. For interior paint, flat black or if you get your paint shot to color match OC safelight, for door, if you have zoom to build a zig zag entry way with 2 sets of black cloth drapes on each end. If you don't have room or don't want to spend the money to make walls then just weather seal around the door. Ventilation depends on overall construction of your space, is it a stand along house, single or multi storied, do you have an crawl space between the roof and ceiling?

It is a large room (well, joined pair of rooms) rented in an industrial space. Nowhere to vent other than through the window, which can be left open on the "just a crack for ventilation" setting permanently, or I can rig window boards to be removable and open and close the window each time I use the darkroom.

Michael Firstlight · May 23, 2021

I painted my entire darkroom a medium-darker shade of gray. Around the enlarger, I hang a smaller sheet of black velvet can temporarily drop for long exposures as it doesn't seem the be affected with shorter exposures. This way the room is pleasing overall - and the overall gray room makes my ceiling-hung oversized NuArc bubblight safelight more efficient too.
MFL

Paul Howell · May 23, 2021

My dark room is in a double bathroom, I painted the wall OC, took a small safelight filter to the paint store where the tech was able to scan it and match the shade, not perfect but works well.

Inspiration sought for blackout options

robgunby

Attachments

tezzasmall

RalphLambrecht

Attachments

MattKing

Moderator

Paul Howell

Pieter12

albada

gone

RalphLambrecht

robgunby

Michael Firstlight

Paul Howell

Inspiration sought for blackout options

Attachments

Attachments

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency