Perishable skills. A frustrating return to the darkroom. Advice needed.

aparat said:

Thank you all for your encouragement and very useful advice! I have been trying to print, working through my recent negatives. I pick the frames that look easy to print.

Question to y'all: I am finding it hard to see under my red filter safe lights, which leads to mistakes. I use red lights because I used to print a lot on Foma paper and the amber lights would fog it. Since I am currently printing exclusively on Ilford MG RC paper, can I switch to amber filters? They would allow me to see a lot better, if I remember correctly?

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I had to buy multiple red lights and brighter red lights for the dry darkroom and the wet darkroom.

I share your frustration.
Many of my issues are of overconfidence even after a long lay off.
Others have been product failures in expecting unopened an sealed developers and other chemicals to last unused as long as my darkroom did.
A change in camera equipment with unknown performance has also added to the variables.
Having too much equipment with too many options is not a good recipe for resolving the issues!
Going back to basics can be embarrassing but necessary.

My most common mistake is putting the paper upside down on the easel, emulsion side facing it..

What could help generally when starting or going back to printing after a long time is to pin a check-list next to the enlarger, with each steps, in order, and stick to that order. An attempt at a verbose version, that would be in practice shortened and adapted to different workflows :

0. Enlarger and safe light are connected to a power source. Negative sleeve is out. Air blower, notebook, pen, scissors, and the focus finder are in sight. The trays are ready (in that order from left to right : dev, stop, fix, plain water). You wear an apron or clothes that you are ready to ruin. The people that live with you have been warned no to barge in the darkroom while you're in it. Each tray has a dedicated tong, or you're wearing gloves. Darkroom door is closed.
1. Dust the negative, put it in the negative holder. In full darkness or with safe light on, switch on the enlarger, adjust easel placement and enlarger height. The picture fit, easel height and width are < paper size. The image is roughly focused. Turn off the enlarger.
2. Stop down lens to f/8
3. Put a contrast filter of the estimated necessary grade (for exemple 2.5, or the equivalent magenta value with color head)
5. Enlarger on, regular light off, safe light on
6. Fine-focus the print with a focus finder
7. Enlarger off
8. Paper box out, cut tests strips. Place one test strip shiny side up on the easel. The others go back in the box. Close the paper box.
9. /! \ CHECK : no paper in sight but the one test strip, paper box is safely closed
10. /! \ CHECK : lens is at f/8, the contrast filter is in place
11. Timer set at increments (f-stops, 2s, 5s.. depending on the preferred method and the density of the negative)
12. Cover all but a part of the paper with thick black cardboard. Turn on the enlarger timer. When the enlarger automatically switches off, move the cardboard to reveal an other part of the paper. Switch on the timer. Repeat until all the paper is exposed.
13. Dev, stop and fix for the duration recommanded by the manufacturer (see bottles or available datasheets).
14. Put the test strip in the fourth tray with plain water.
15. /! \ CHECK : no paper in sight beside the fixed test strip, paper box is safely closed
16. Regular light on, analyse the first test print.

For the subsequent tests strips and prints :

- Write down what you'll do : aperture, grade, time
- Set the lens aperture
- Set the grade
- Set the timer
- Regular light off
- Take out one sheet or one test strip from the paper box, place the paper shiny side up on the easel, close the box.
- Check : paper box is safely closed, aperture, grade and timer are the desired values.
- Turn on the enlarger timer
- dev, stop, fix, water

@npl Thank you for this detailed reply! I really like the checklist approach. I used to have one memorized, but I forgot a lot of it. It's kind of like what people call "muscle memory" for darkroom printing. I just need to work slowly to get it back.

@MattKing I found a box of red LED bulbs in a junk drawer and tried one of them last night. It was very bright, but it fogged my paper. I did the standard Kodak test. I wasn't expecting that this random bulb would work, but still, it would have been nice. I am back to using amber OC filters and I can see better now in my small space.

aparat said:

@npl Thank you for this detailed reply! I really like the checklist approach. I used to have one memorized, but I forgot a lot of it. It's kind of like what people call "muscle memory" for darkroom printing. I just need to work slowly to get it back.

@MattKing I found a box of red LED bulbs in a junk drawer and tried one of them last night. It was very bright, but it fogged my paper. I did the standard Kodak test. I wasn't expecting that this random bulb would work, but still, it would have been nice. I am back to using amber OC filters and I can see better now in my small space.

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You might find that if you put those red LED bulbs behind the OC filter, in place of the bulb that is currently there, that the result would be brighter and still safe.
And don't hesitate to try bouncing safelight illumination off of a wall or ceiling. Having a more diffuse and less directional source can really improve how easy it is to work in the light, and bouncing the light can reduce the intensity.

aparat said:

a box of red LED bulbs

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Those appear to be red bulbs with probably white LEDs inside.
Try actual red ones. Additional filtering with e.g. rubylith may still be necessary.

koraks said:

Those appear to be red bulbs with probably white LEDs inside.
Try actual red ones. Additional filtering with e.g. rubylith may still be necessary.

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This set me thinking, why don’t we just use sodium vapour lamps in the darkroom? 589nm is within the waveband passed by Ilford 902 and 904 filters. Are sodium lamps simply too tiring for the eyes?

snusmumriken said:

This set me thinking, why don’t we just use sodium vapour lamps in the darkroom? 589nm is within the waveband passed by Ilford 902 and 904 filters. Are sodium lamps simply too tiring for the eyes?

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The Thomas Duplex Safelight is a sodium vapor light, but they are huge and quite bright!


As you can see, they are unfortunately not being manufactured anymore but do appear on the used market quite frequently.

Kino said:

The Thomas Duplex Safelight is a sodium vapor light, but they are huge and quite bright!

Thomas Duplex Super Safelight (DUB)

Thomas Duplex Super Safelight (DUB) - Thomas Safelights are the brightest and most popular brand of safelight for the education market.This (DUB) safelight comes equipped with a filter set which is for standard B&W photographic papers or Orthochromatic films and…

www.freestylephoto.biz

As you can see, they are unfortunately not being manufactured anymore but do appear on the used market quite frequently.

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Interesting, thanks. I can’t understand the point of the filters if the lamp only emits a single wavelength of light. But the warm-up period is something I hadn’t thought about. Makes it a big impractical if you want to turn safelights on and off frequently.
Small sodium vapour bulbs in various sizes and fittings do seem to be readily available.

I managed a university darkroom that had roughly 20 enlarging stations with a large sink in between two rows of enlarging stations (10 each side). We had one of these lights on each end and it was amazingly bright in there, but it didn't fog the paper.

These were made for industrial darkroom size applications...

snusmumriken said:

Small sodium vapour bulbs in various sizes and fittings do seem to be readily available.

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Those are high-pressure sodium lamps - think modern street lamps - they produce a pink-orange-white color that should fog just about everything. Low pressure lamps, as used in the Thomas safelight, were common for street lighting in Europe but I haven't seen them in 50 (?) years.

Kino said:

I managed a university darkroom that had roughly 20 enlarging stations with a large sink in between two rows of enlarging stations (10 each side). We had one of these lights on each end and it was amazingly bright in there, but it didn't fog the paper.

These were made for industrial darkroom size applications...

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Exactly..... the Thomas, lovely as they are ....are overkill in a small darkroom

I apologize if someone already said this. My old method used to be to get focus dialed in and reach up and stop down before I did anything else.

MTGseattle said:

I apologize if someone already said this. My old method used to be to get focus dialed in and reach up and stop down before I did anything else.

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I focus without the filters, there is a switch for white light with my enlarger, then switch the filters in and stop down the lens. That is the theory. Sometimes I forget to stop down the lens which leads to the paper turning black immediately in the wet dark room. Then I trudge back to the dry darkroom and stop down.

And, to muddy the waters even more; I have a Thomas duplex safelight languishing on a shelf. There's lots of valid talk regarding the overkill of one used in a small space. has anyone tried this guy?

@Sirius Glass That's a good point, I also always had a piece of cleared out/fixed out paper in the easel to check focus, perhaps that 1 step disconnect of swapping in my true paper also gave me a second or 2 to remember other things? I've definitely made a very dark piece of paper a few times. It's always a mild shock when you hit whatever control is meant to fire off your exposure and you get the wide-open aperture light.

MTGseattle said:

@Sirius Glass That's a good point, I also always had a piece of cleared out/fixed out paper in the easel to check focus, perhaps that 1 step disconnect of swapping in my true paper also gave me a second or 2 to remember other things? I've definitely made a very dark piece of paper a few times. It's always a mild shock when you hit whatever control is meant to fire off your exposure and you get the wide-open aperture light.

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I set up a new-to-me darkroom in my basement about 6 months ago and started printing again. I hadn't been in the darkroom for about 10 years. I definitely had a lot of newbie blunders my first few sessions. I picked up some darkroom printing books to refresh my memory and further develop my skills and knowledge. Way Beyond Monochrome is a great book with loads of information.

I've also been printing very small, on 5x7 paper, so that I can make more prints and experiment with different interpretations of an image, and it doesn't cost as much as printing with 8x10 or larger papers. I've also found that the Arista brand RC paper is fantastic for printing this way, then I can translate the printing method to larger fiber paper when I'm ready to make a final print of an image.

There's also some great YouTube creators with some very informative videos that have been very helpful. One of them I'd recommend looking into is The Naked Photographer.

Best of luck getting back into printing!

Crit-ter85 said:

I set up a new-to-me darkroom in my basement about 6 months ago and started printing again. I hadn't been in the darkroom for about 10 years. I definitely had a lot of newbie blunders my first few sessions. I picked up some darkroom printing books to refresh my memory and further develop my skills and knowledge. Way Beyond Monochrome is a great book with loads of information.

I've also been printing very small, on 5x7 paper, so that I can make more prints and experiment with different interpretations of an image, and it doesn't cost as much as printing with 8x10 or larger papers. I've also found that the Arista brand RC paper is fantastic for printing this way, then I can translate the printing method to larger fiber paper when I'm ready to make a final print of an image.

There's also some great YouTube creators with some very informative videos that have been very helpful. One of them I'd recommend looking into is The Naked Photographer.

Best of luck getting back into printing!

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Well some years ago I produced a book of about 136 black & white photographs printed by me and only about 2 or 3 of them required any contrast control. If you develop for a given enlarger type you should not need filtration and you should concentrate more on correct exposure time.

cliveh said:

Well some years ago I produced a book of about 136 black & white photographs printed by me and only about 2 or 3 of them required any contrast control. If you develop for a given enlarger type you should not need filtration and you should concentrate more on correct exposure time.

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Thank you for this comment. I agree. I always try to design, so to speak, my negatives for Grade 2 paper for a condenser enlarger. It's not always possible due to random mistakes on my part, but that's the goal. Still, even the perfect negative couldn't help with the kinds of knucklehead mistakes I make in the darkroom

My only "portfolio piece" was a nightmare to print so It's 1 of 1,
because and edition of 10 would never be identical.
I last set foot in a darkroom in 1999, I did love it but it was expensive(now it's more so)
you mentioned your son was taking a photo class this semester that's a great way to connect and learn from each other that's great
stick with it and have fun
maybe I should get in a darkroom and try to print that again(with a center filter-on the enlarger, anyone is that a thing?)
thanks for the inspiration

aparat said:

Thank you for this comment. I agree. I always try to design, so to speak, my negatives for Grade 2 paper for a condenser enlarger. It's not always possible due to random mistakes on my part, but that's the goal. Still, even the perfect negative couldn't help with the kinds of knucklehead mistakes I make in the darkroom

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I find my mistakes in exposure are usually caused by having insufficient time to think clearly. I press the button and hope for the best. So in a sense they are random, and cannot be undone. There is no second chance.

But in the darkroom, that’s different. I’m certain we all make stupid mistakes, but everything can be done again. The main annoyance is cost.

I've never contact printed a sleeve of negs in my entire life. And as far as "pick an easy neg instead of a hard one"??? - how the heck do you know which is which until you've tried? Heck, I've been printing in the darkroom for decades, and often the neg I think will be hard turns out real easy, and the allegedly easy one is the headache. That's just part of the fun/challenge of it all. You have to be willing to take some punches. Yeah, it takes awhile. So what. The worst day in a darkroom beats sitting around watching daytime TV and listening to endless political diatribe.

First of all, thank you all for your very generous comments and suggestions! I have tried to make use of them and implement them in my process. I couldn't believe how simple ideas, such as avoiding "having insufficient time to think clearly" (thank you @snusmumriken !) can make a huge difference. At first, I felt claustrophobic in my small darkroom space and was very impatient to get things done and get out the heck out of there. Now, however, I can spend up to forty five minutes in there without feeling stressed. I can also work more comfortably in a seated position.

I've been trying to print for the last couple of weeks. I did three short sessions, and I think I am making progress. I was able to eliminate most of the simple mistakes, such as bumping the easel out of place (thank you @Nicholas Lindan for the recommendation. The 3M bumpers work!), etc. I think my workflow is slowly getting more and more streamlined. Here are a few specific things that helped:

1. Calibrating my process, using the Darkroom Automation system with some of my own small tweaks. Here's a plot of Ilford MGV RC paper using the under the lens multi-grade filters:

ilfordMGVRCGlossyFinal by Nick Mazur, on Flickr

2. Using pre-flash to get some texture in the highlights more easily
3. Figuring out my safelight setup. I now have a decently lit darkroom space, with three 5x7 red safe lights, passing the Kodak safelight test with flying colors
4. Using a safe red flashlight to help see in the dark
5. Making a few dodging tools out of a 20 gauge floral stem wire and burn-in tools out of opaque poster board paper
6. Re-reading Larry Bartlett's Black and White Photographic Printing Workshop and trying to use some of his excellent ideas
7. Mixing up a liter of D-72 in place of the Arista Dektol clone
8. Picking most recent negatives instead of going through the two binders full of negs I'd accumulated over the past six years
9. Aligning my enlarger with a DIY laser tool
10. Accepting defeat - this one is perhaps the single most important thing I've had to do.

If you've got nothing else to do, I invite you to take a look at my prints album on Flickr. I scanned the prints with an ancient all-in-one scanner with banding issues, but I think it gives a general idea of what the prints look like. I still have a long way to go.