Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

Andy K · Dec 27, 2007

Here's a question, if I was to put red gel film over my kitchen window, would that do away with the need for a blackout curtain (for enlarging)?

Removed Account · Dec 27, 2007

Andy K said:
Here's a question, if I was to put red gel film over my kitchen window, would that do away with the need for a blackout curtain (for enlarging)?

Perhaps some ruby lith? That's a great idea, Andy! I wonder if it would work...

- Justin

richard ide · Dec 27, 2007

I don't think rubylith would be enough. I used 24 x 48 flourescent (4 tube) fixtures as safelights. I had 2 layers of red acrylic, and IRRC 3 layers of ruby and had to be very careful with VC paper or it would fog. Daylight is a lot brighter.

Andy K · Dec 27, 2007

I was wondering because I think I read somewhere that that was how it was done in the the earliest days before electric lighting was common. A red glass window was closed while setting up a contact print, handling paper etc. Then the contact frame would be held up to the window and the red window opened allowing white light to expose the contact print.

Vaughn · Dec 27, 2007

Andy K said:
I was wondering because I think I read somewhere that that was how it was done in the the earliest days before electric lighting was common. A red glass window was closed while setting up a contact print, handling paper etc. Then the contact frame would be held up to the window and the red window opened allowing white light to expose the contact print.

The low speed of contact printing material probably helped back then. But rubylith and then some sort of cloth covering that needs only to be semi-opaquic would probably work. Any light that did come in would be red...but not at full daylight-strength.

Vaughn

Mike Té · Dec 27, 2007

This thread should be stickied...

This thread should be a sticky... the stories are perennial.

My favourite story of this type is one Maris told us about last August:

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

I still get cramps from laughing...

bennoj · Dec 27, 2007

If I go more than 2 weeks without being in the darkroom, I'm pretty sure to make one of the following mistakes (I use a rental darkroom):

Forget to stop down the enlarging lens after checking focus (#1 most common mistake I make)
Forget to have either my PDA or the product information sheets available to know the right proportions to mix paper/film developer or toner.
Forget to bring glasses so I can actually use the grain focuser (and read incredibly tiny print on bottles of chemicals)
Forget to turn off the annoying beep on the timer
Forget to bring a new bottle of chemicals (fix, more often than not)
Bring film, forget to bring development tank (I have yet to bring the tanks but not the film, no doubt it will happen eventually)

Now if we want to get into mistakes made while shooting a large-format camera, we'll need a whole 'nother thread...

TheFlyingCamera · Dec 27, 2007

I have on more than one occasion had a sheet of large format film get stuck in the film holder. In the effort to extract it, I have tugged vigorously enough that when it came free, it flew out of my hand and on to the darkroom floor. Worse, I had a whole stack of sheets in a box where I was offloading them from the holders, and knocked the box over and spilled the film all over the floor. Playing 52 pickup with sheetfilm scattered across the darkroom floor is NO FUN.

bdial · Dec 27, 2007

Here's a question, if I was to put red gel film over my kitchen window, would that do away with the need for a blackout curtain (for enlarging)

Way back when I heard of a (US) military darkroom that had windows with gel filters over them that worked quite successfully according to those who had worked there. I never saw it for myself though.

As for developing with fixer, fixing with developer, knocking stacks of sheet film on the floor, wet film on the floor, forgetting the VC filters, etc. Been there done that, still doing it occasionally.

I wonder what are the chances that the first person who cross-processed a roll of e-6 did it on purpose?

PhotoJim · Dec 27, 2007

Great thread.

My screw-ups include:
- not mixing up enough developer for the film I'm processing. The last time I did it I realized it, agitated like crap while I madly mixed up some more developer (try that, it's not easy!). Surprisingly both rolls turned out alright; I was fast enough and the extra agitation helped a bunch.
- trying to load two rolls of 120 onto a reel. I really cannot do this. Every once in awhile I convince myself that it can't be that hard, but yes, it is. I always ruin a few frames on each roll as the films overlap. (And I'm not a total klutz; I put a roll of 120 onto a metal reel on my very first attempt - I never even practiced in the light first.)
- once in awhile I trust old developer when I should really know better. If in doubt, chuck it out. Thankfully this is getting to be a rare event.
- the phone thing - my mom phoned me once while I was tray developing 4x5. Oops. At least the phone was across the room. I cowered close to the developer tray and the damage was minimal. I used to have a TDMA phone that had a mode where you could turn off its lights; I sure wish I could find a GSM phone with that option. I'd make it my darkroom phone.

pnance · Dec 27, 2007

Its been almost forty years, but I used to keep all the chemicals in idential brown glass bottles with little 1X3 labels. Had 4 rolls of 35mm/36exp tri-x in a quart tank. And while showing a newbie how to develop film (a female, I was somewhat distracted) proceeded to first fix, stop and develop the now clear film. She wasn't impressed.

okto · Dec 28, 2007

I got D76 stock and 1:1 working confused once. Veeeery light negs

I also just recently blasted a whole roll of film that I thought I had loaded into my Jobo 2400. I "wound" it all on, cut off the film, popped out the cartridge, and gave a little tug on the little bit sticking out to make sure it was the end of the roll. Fun fact: it wasn't. I had only successfully wound 5 frames on due to improper loading of the Jobo reel.

Vaughn · Dec 28, 2007

I had borrowed an 11x14 camera and got a few good negatives from it. Not long after I gave a carbon printing demo to our alt photo class at the university. Unfortunately I had added too much glycerin to the gelatin mix (which makes up the carbon tissue) and it did not dry completely. So after exposing a very promising 11x14 neg, I was going to demo to the class how to take the exposed carbon tissue and transfer it to the final support material.

I took the negative and carbon tissue out of the contact printing frame and tried to seperate them, but because of the residue moisture in the tissue, it was stuck firmly to the negative. I gave them a big tug to seperate them and ripped the 11x14 negative in half. I really liked that negative...I was heart-broken and the class gasped at the sight.

Several months later I discovered I had take two shots of that scene and I had used the lesser of the two negs in the demo...so all was not lost.

Vaughn

michael9793 · Dec 28, 2007

These are out standing stories and I can say they all are the things I have done.BUT!!!!!!!!!!! when you hear a story from a well known photographer like Clyde Butcher tell you that when he first started photographing and developing everything came out black on the film. he couldn't figure it out till he had a friend come over and watch him develop some film only to see him load the film reels WITHOUT TURNING THE LIGHTS OUT. Now I'm not sure it is true but having taken a workshop from him I can believe it.

ricksplace · Dec 28, 2007

I have two Brumberger roll top paper safes in which I keep quite a bit of paper. The roll-tops are weighted so they close on their own. I found this irritating, so I rigged up a gizmo to keep the door open when I'm making multiple prints. Of course, it was only a matter of time until I turned on the room lights and forgot to close the door on one of the paper safes. I invented a few new words when I saw the door open.

Luck was with me (sort of). The safe I left open contained my "junk" paper (old outdated stuff which I still use) and not the safe with the new ilford paper I had just purchased.

I removed the gizmo.

I have also poured the stop bath back into the used developer instead of the stop bath bottle. Pretty purple colour.

I too have crawled around the cement floor of my basement darkroom when I have dropped stuff.

This is maybe a little off topic, but I can't resist. My brother is a techie and uses digital (D200 & D2X). His first camera was a D100. He had the first camera about a month when we were out shooting some dragon boat races. Ron with his D100 and me with my Pre-Anny Speed. After about 30 minutes, I noticed he was fussing over his camera and looking very frustrated. I asked what the problem was. He said his shutter was sticking. He said "I push the button, and nothing happens for a few seconds and then the shutter goes off" The self timer was engaged. He didn't know how to turn it off. I guess my hysterical laughing didn't help any. About another half hour later, he quietly returned to continue shooting. I asked "camera OK now?" He replied with a colourful phrase or two.

Paul. · Dec 28, 2007

Got some new brown glass bottles for the E6 prossesing, couldnot find the sticky labels, used masking tape and wrote on that, placed bottles full of chemicals in tempering bath to warm up and went for tea, came back to find 4 lables floating in the bath. Now mark tops as well as labeling bottles.

Finaly thought I had cracked a particularly difficult neg[ a lot of my negs are difficult to print. If I were a better photographer the printing would be easier but it would not be half as much fun. ] turned lights on to examine print and realised lid was off paper safe 1/4 box lost.

Developed 120 film in 300ml of chemicals [amount for 35mm] instead of 600ml and this on the only time I did a nude study.

Over enthusiasticaly winding film onto Paterson reel when it came apart in my hands, try putting one of those back together in the dark while trying to hold film in your teeth.

I could go on but am starting to get embaressed, it is the little crisis that make darkroom work so appealing.

Regards Paul.

JBrunner · Dec 28, 2007

Oh, common for me with roll film- leaving the tank lid out of the bag, and looking over and seeing it sitting there after groping around in the bag for it. My solution these days is to flip the tank over with the film reel inside, and then withdraw one arm whilst pinching that sleeve closed, retrieving the lid, and sticking it in the bag through the sleeve. So far so good.

MP_Wayne · Dec 28, 2007

My worst was actually a pre-darkroom mistake. After composing and shooting a 4x5 shot (and relocating the camera for another composition), I inserted the film holder (2-banger) correctly. The only problem is that I pulled on the WRONG darkslide for the 2nd exposure (instead pulling on the already exposed size facing the ground glass). Nice waste of a sheet of film, and all of the time for that shot.

clayne · Aug 2, 2009

Time to bump this bad-boy up for comedic value.

For me, last night - first print in and nothing whatsoever. Hmm, "sure does smell like acetic acid more than normal tonight." Turns out I grabbed the wrong container and was trying to develop with stop-bath.

brofkand · Aug 2, 2009

My biggest "D'oh!" moment:

Exposing a sheet of paper upside-down on the enlarger, then developing it normally. Needless to say, it was blank

fotch · Aug 2, 2009

When starting out, my Dad got me stuff from buddies at his work, probably free or very cheap. The Kodak book that came with the stuff was from an earlier era when they probably only had Ortho. Anyway, I loaded my first film under a Red safelight just like the instructions and pictures showed. Of course, little did I know that my film was Panchromatic so no images, nothing. :confused: Complete failure.

But, I was hooked. Really like the whole process. I dont recall how we or I figured this out but the next time it was picture perfect. Eureka.

I still feel like a kid playing in the darkroom. Taking pictures is only half of it. Making pictures is the other half.

jasonhall · Aug 2, 2009

During my very first attempt to develop 120 on a plastic reel. I was useing a very small closet in my house. After a while it got rather warm in there am I started to sweat and get rather frustrated. In the end I dropped the roll twice, stepped on it, and dripped sweat on it. I had enough and just dumped the roll in the tank and put the lid on. No need to go into details what the results looked like.

Jason

mightyomega · Aug 2, 2009

I once went to the Jamaica train station in Queens, NY with my Speed Graphic, perhaps not the wisest choice of location and equipment. Anyway, as is perhaps obvious, I attracted the attentions of the local law enforcement community, who were (fortunately for me) satisfied with merely escorting me off the property with a stern warning not to do anything stupid like aim the giant black box at the train again.
Went home, loaded up all six sheets into the tank (an HP Combi-Plan, perhaps another mistake, but one for another time), sloshed around massive quantities of developer and fixer, and found, upon opening the tank, that I had loaded three of the films into the same slot. They don't come out so good when they're stuck together.
I also once managed to tear the last few inches off of a 127 roll while loading it onto the reel. Gee, said I, why is this tape so hard to peel off the backing paper? And then I opened the changing tent and found the paper with a nice chunk of film stuck to it. (Did you know that Efke 100 in 127 is a very lovely shade of blue when it's unprocessed?)

archer · Aug 3, 2009

In his smoke filled loft/darkroom, Gene Smith showed me how to load two rolls of 35mm film onto a stainless reel, back to back.When I got back to California I bragged to anyone who would listen and then would demonstrate my new skill in the darkroom...yes, you guessed, it emulsion to emulsion in front of fifteen laughing males, all happy to see me get my comeuppance. No matter how drunk he got, Gene Smith never made that mistake. Lesson learned...Pride goeth before a fall.
Denise Libby

clayne · Aug 3, 2009

archer said:
In his smoke filled loft/darkroom, Gene Smith showed me how to load two rolls of 35mm film onto a stainless reel, back to back.

I take it base to base was the right way? Does this even work?

Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

Andy K

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richard ide

Andy K

Vaughn

Mike Té

bennoj

TheFlyingCamera

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okto

Vaughn

michael9793

ricksplace

Paul.

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clayne

brofkand

fotch

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mightyomega

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clayne

Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

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