Looking for Tips on converting Bathroom into Darkroom

Perry Way · Oct 2, 2008

I'm lucky to live in Heaven. Heaven is geographically located on planet Earth in the town of San Luis Obispo, California. I'm even luckier to live close to work. The cost of living in Heaven can be mighty stiff. However, I'm even luckier to have landed myself a very affordable 1 bedroom apartment. So, I'm a renter. I have rules I have to abide by, unfortunately. I cannot paint the place black! It is grounds for being kicked out of Heaven. So.. I've got a big window in the bathroom, and white walls and a door that leaks light on the bottom of course. This is the typical bathroom. But I want to turn it into a part time darkroom. I'm way okay with hauling the enlarger and trays and whatnot in and out when I set about on my darkroom tasks. After all I'm a lucky guy living in Heaven with really cheap rent.

Part of me is thinking about some ideas like... buying some black sheets on sale at Gottschalks or Target or wherever, and fixing the sheets to the ceiling and walls using velcro that has the velcro backing adhered to the ceiling and walls with that adhesion material that come off and doesn't leave a film if you stretch it when removing it.

I could electrical tape up a garbage bag to the window too.

Around the bottom of the door I could simply throw a rolled up towel over that.

Seems to me that is about all I'd need to do to make the bathroom a darkroom. But.. having not done this yet, I thought maybe someone here might have some better ideas. Is there such a product out there that allows one to convert a bathroom easily to a darkroom? Like some kind of suspended tent like device you could drape over toilets and sinks and tubs allowing one to hide the evidence. Setup and takedown in minutes, not hours.

??

Jon Shiu · Oct 2, 2008

Hi, there is no need to make the ceiling/walls black. For the window, you could attach some black-out cloth with velcro, or make some type of panel from cardboard and hang a black curtain over that to block light leaks. Good luck!

Jon

Sirius Glass · Oct 2, 2008

I had a piece of plywood cut a little large and then I shaved and sanded it until it fit in the bathroom window and covered it with two layers of blackout cloth [Don't use black felt, it won't work!] The plywood fits snugly enough that it stays in place.

I covered the outside of the door with blackout cloth that is put and held in place by velcro on the top of the door jamb. I put up the cover only when I use the bathroom as a darkroom.

The light that goes on when the fan is turned on was replace with a 7.5 watt red darkroom bulb.

Good luck,

Steve

MattKing · Oct 2, 2008

There are a whole bunch of useful threads about bathroom darkrooms here. A search will give you a lot of information, including what you will find in this thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Matt

Perry Way · Oct 2, 2008

Jon Shiu said:
Hi, there is no need to make the ceiling/walls black. Jon

Really? All the darkrooms I've used were painted matte black. Even the benches or tables were matte black. The only thing not matte black were the developing trays and the stand for the enlargers. And I distinctly recall my printshop teacher in Junior High School tell me it must be black because white will reflect light too much and make for foggy enlargements if you have the darkroom light on. And.. it is too dark without the darkroom light to see anything so, paint it black.

So you haven't experienced any problems with white walls eh? Is your darkroom light shielded somehow so it can never shine direct light over the enlarger or the developing trays?

PVia · Oct 2, 2008

Nope, no problems with white or light blue walls in my bathroom darkroom, but make sure that your enlarger isn't leaking a lot of light. They almost all do, so figure out a way to prevent it from spreading. This usually happens around the neg carrier stage. I taped black cardstock around that area to contain the light. You'll know you're ok when you don't see a line of light on the walls around you.

Jon Shiu · Oct 2, 2008

Hi, I bounce the safelights up off of the white ceiling. If there are white walls within a few inches of the enlarger, you might want to hang up some black posterboard or something so that the light from the enlarger doesn't reflect.

Jon

MattKing · Oct 2, 2008

My bathroom darkroom isn't painted black. In fact, one wall is a mirror!.

You have to be aware of reflections, and in some cases mask them or otherwise deal with them, but it is very doable.

If you are building a dedicated darkroom, and you have an enlarger that leaks light, you may choose to paint certain surfaces black or matte, but I would never paint an entire room that way unless I had to.

The rules might be a little different for a shared darkroom used by more than one photographer at a time, but that usually isn't the case for bathroom darkrooms .

If you want to see a lot of different approaches, wander through the Darkroom portraits thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Matt

David A. Goldfarb · Oct 2, 2008

Black darkrooms were already considered old fashioned thirty years ago. You might want black walls around the enlarger, but other than that, light walls will get the most out of your safelight, which is a good thing.

Look up the sticky thread called "Darkroom Portraits" for many dark/bathroom photos and descriptions, including mine from a couple of apartments ago, which sounds similar to your situation.

CBG · Oct 2, 2008

White or very light walls are much -much - easier on the eyes. They also allow you to use lower wattages in your safelights, thus extending the life of those expensive safelight filters.

Bright is the new dark.

C

Joe VanCleave · Oct 2, 2008

When I converted my spare apartment bedroom to a 'dry-only' darkroom (meaning trays but no running water or drain) I got a sheet of plywood larger than the window opening, then built a frame of 2x4's that fit snuggly into the window opening and attached that to the plywood. The outer surface of this contraption (the side facing the window) I painted black, and inside the 2x4 frame area I stapled an old floral bedsheet, with pleats, to look somewhat like a curtain from the outside. I also attached a coupla handles to the inside surface of the plywood, making it easy to install and remove.

For the door to the bedroom I used a curtain mounted to a curtain rod over the door, to cover the gaps around the door when closed.

I generally used this darkroom at nights, to further minimize the chances or stray light leaking inside the room.

~Joe

Jim Noel · Oct 2, 2008

I have not worked in a black darkroom since the commercial one in the 1940's. I do have a piece of flat black mount board behind each enlarger to eliminate reflections.

TheFlyingCamera · Oct 2, 2008

You can get black plastic blackout material to put over the window. It comes in rolls, and you can order it from most camera stores (probably going to be a special order thing). You can also in a bind get some contractor grade 30 gallon trash bags at Home Depot or Lowes, split them down the side, and use them as blackout material (they're thick enough). Just tape it in front of the window and you're good to go. You can put the bag up with low-tack Gaffer's tape which won't leave a residue. In the long run, you'd be surprised at how leaky your darkroom can be and still get away with it.

PVia · Oct 2, 2008

TheFlyingCamera said:
...you'd be surprised at how leaky your darkroom can be and still get away with it.

Yep...and amen!

ic-racer · Oct 2, 2008

Back when I lived in an apartment I didn't worry too much about the light/dark issue. I loaded film tanks in a closet and printed in the kitchen at night.

monkeykoder · Oct 2, 2008

PVia said:
Yep...and amen!

Beat me to it. The darkroom I learned in at my college was almost bright (for computer geeks...) all walls were white I don't think there was a bit of black in the entire room. Heck even the amount of light leaking into the film developing closets surprised me.

waynecrider · Oct 2, 2008

Here's what I did and it worked great. I got blackout material from the local cloth store. Make sure tho that it is opaque as there are two types; Some are total 100% blackout and some are not. I lined the window frame with sticky back black velcro and a cut BO sheet to fit applying the opposite velcro. Secondly I also hung (tacked) a sheet of the BO over the window on the wall inside. The double sheeting is a must for daylight work. You may need an odd piece of tape to hold the BO to the wall. Gaffers tape is best. Also be aware that alot of BO material has pinholes so use an opaque vinyl repair seal, also available at the cloth store or tape. You can also hang a piece of BO over the door frame and with little 1 inch pieces of velcro secure it around the frame here and there. I roll up the window velcro and cloths pin it to keep it up when not needed. Btw, you can turn your entire bedroom into a darkroom the same way. Well not if your married.

I use a portable piano stand (mine cost $29) in my shower with a piece of plywood on top. This way you can stand up. The toilet is your seat, a counter holds the timer and your accessories and cooling ice in a jar/bowl. An 8x10 Kodak hard rubber tank on the floor will hold 6 -32oz bottles of solution next to the toilet. The sink is your wash for film in a 4x5 utility tank or a developing tray on the shower floor for paper. You can get a quick disconnect for the sinks faucet and a long piece of plastic hose for a water line for a paper wash.

Perry Way · Oct 3, 2008

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I've read all your posts at least twice (and I looked at the other threads that were mentioned). Okay, so you have me convinced. Cover the light leaks from window and door and don't worry about white walls. Well I am very glad I asked that question because I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about how to make the place black and not get kicked out of my apartment for ignoring the rules. You know I feel like I'm in the company of greatness since I came here to APUG. Thanks again to Jason Brunner for his long winded Youtube video about this place!

CBG · Oct 3, 2008

I did a bathroom darkroom once where I cut a plywood sheet to fit really tightly into a stepped recess in the window casing. Then I added some 1x2 maybe 1x3 - it was 30 years ago or so - to the back side of the sheet that were placed so they fit right up against the glass and tight to the mullions - I think that's the word - on the theory that they would cut off 99.9% of the light that would pass through the window.

The remaining light had to wend its way around the edges of the plywood which fit tightly in that recess in the window casing. The light had to bounce zig zag round a corner. The result was a removable piece that cut off light almost perfectly.

I don't know if I have explained it well, but it worked wonderfully.

C

Marco B · Oct 3, 2008

There was another very useful dedicated "Bathroom Darkrooms portraits" thread started by JBrunner last year:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

On page three of that thread, there are some pictures of my own bathroom darkroom that you may find useful to have a look at...

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