There is nothing like the thrill of seeing your print appear in the tray (Page 4): Short story.--When I was young and my girlfriend took a job as a consular in a summer camp. The only...

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

Short story.--When I was young and my girlfriend took a job as a consular in a summer camp. The only way I could get to see her was to take a job with a photographer that took the photos for the camp. Before we left for the camp we were working in his darkroom. He took a print from his enlarger dropped in in the soup (developer) in front of me. As I worked on the print it came to life and there was a guy laying in his casket.

Kuzano

rpavich wrote:

I know this is boring and old hat to some here but it excites me; just seeing the print appear in the tray and looking amazing. I get such enjoyment from the second half of the photography process!

Yes, I do scan my negatives but the real fun for me is printing them.

Nice to see someone using "wet" chemistry throughout the process to the enlargement framed and hanging on the wall.

The only time my film gets scanned is if I take it to professionals using drum scanners. No home flatbed scanner can do a satisfactory scan without incredible loss to the image. In fact, that's why some people who want a scan set up a backlit frame or projection screen and get a first gen capture with their digital camera's.

Good lab, and those shooting digital will never enjoy the pleasure you get from a more complete process to the final print. Computers and Post Processing software do not constitute a dark room. But it's a personal choice for every one.

I don't find your posts boring, and I don't suspect many do. They just have not made the decision to go down that path, and enjoy that kind of reward. I'm always excited to see what I can get from a properly controlled mixture of Folgers Instant Coffee, Vitamin C Powder and Washing Soda. And I can always take a couple of teaspoons of the Folgers before starting the Caffenol process and relax a bit.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Thanks again everyone for the great comments and making this a fun thread. I hope you don't think I'm rude by not replying to each comment.

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

rpavich wrote:

Thanks again everyone for the great comments and making this a fun thread. I hope you don't think I'm rude by not replying to each comment.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

rpavich wrote:

Well, I'm not telling anyone that they should do one or the other...I'm just saying that for me...the mess and smell and wonder of it is an enjoyable part of the process..something that sending a digital file to an ink jet printer never gave me.

If others love their ink-jets...I have no quarrel with that whatsoever...I'm just proclaiming my joy at wet prints, that's all.

Whatever floats your boat... inkjet will do it for me. I still have all my darkroom gear, but haven't used it since 1993.

Photocraig

I remember my darkroom time and the wonder of seeing the image develop. And more often saying Ohh, Awww sh%$#T (Shucks). But my Photo 2 Class A+ print of an infrared image took me about 10 hours and 2 boxes of paper. But at 11x14 it is framed and still hangs on my wall 25 years later. I'm tempted to start shooting film again and get scans back and editing. That is once I can figure how to find my imports in my Lightroom catalog.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I remember my many many darkroom hours only to well. The photo of your DR really brought back great memories and I could smell the fixer! Have the equipment and the space, but not the time. One day, when I really retire!

Georgews Loc: Wellington, New Zealand

Used to spend hours in the droom. Loved watching photos appear - and then dodging, burning and applying hot raw developer sometimes. Think my record was 350 ten by eights one night and loved doing 20 x 16's. Thems was the days!

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

The Watcher

rpavich wrote:

And this is a shot of part of my darkroom area; it's not much but it works for me.

Is this a 35mm project or also medium format.

Weren't you looking for an enlarging lens awhile back? If so, what did you finally end up with?

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Georgews wrote:

Used to spend hours in the droom. Loved watching photos appear - and then dodging, burning and applying hot raw developer sometimes. Think my record was 350 ten by eights one night and loved doing 20 x 16's. Thems was the days!

Now-a-days I do my 16 x 20's and 16 x 24's on my Epson P800. Still fun to see them print out! Beautiful quality and 'color' too! Imagine that? (I never processed color prints myself, but I did produce 1000's of Black & White over my career, quite a few of those as my HS Yearbook co-editor. Still have the gear but I can't remember the last time it was used. Perhaps when I really retire!)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

rpavich wrote:

I know this is boring and old hat to some here but it excites me; just seeing the print appear in the tray and looking amazing. I get such enjoyment from the second half of the photography process!

Yes, I do scan my negatives but the real fun for me is printing them.

I was taught that if you watch the print appear, obviously you have them face up, and that the safelight is affecting the exposure.
So I have ALWAYS developed mine face down.
I get absolutely no thrill out of watching the image appear anyway. You'd have to be a bit deprived if that actually thrills you!! LoL
You really can't see anything anyway until you get it out in the light to examine it, after you've done all the strips.
That's where the thrill is for me, in the light!!!
SS

The Watcher

SharpShooter wrote:

I was taught that if you watch the print appear, obviously you have them face up, and that the safelight is affecting the exposure.
So I have ALWAYS developed mine face down.
I get absolutely no thrill out of watching the image appear anyway. You'd have to be a bit deprived if that actually thrills you!! LoL
You really can't see anything anyway until you get it out in the light to examine it, after you've done all the strips.
That's where the thrill is for me, in the light!!!
SS

Many years ago, I traveled to Salt Lake City to look at a Durst RCP color print processer, that was for sell.

When I arrived, the owner said he was finishing up some black and white photos and ask me to join him in the darkroom.

The first thing I noticed was how bright his was compared to mine. It looked like what you see in the movies. He said it was special safelight and it wasn't cheap. Somewhere around a hundred dollars,

I don't recall the name.

It was only good for B&W paper and since I was converting my darkroom to mostly color I never purchased one.

He processed his photos face up.

whitewolfowner

SharpShooter wrote:

I was taught that if you watch the print appear, obviously you have them face up, and that the safelight is affecting the exposure.
So I have ALWAYS developed mine face down.
I get absolutely no thrill out of watching the image appear anyway. You'd have to be a bit deprived if that actually thrills you!! LoL
You really can't see anything anyway until you get it out in the light to examine it, after you've done all the strips.
That's where the thrill is for me, in the light!!!
SS

If the safelight was fogging the print, you either had the wrong filter, ran too bright a bulb or had it too close the developer. For safety sake and to get thorough and even coverage of the dectol on the paper, I would start the print upside down and move it around gently for about 30 seconds before turning it around. Then the rest of the time in the dectol was done watching it come up. You had to see it, to know the exact time to remove it from the dectol; you could vary how long it was being developed; even affect the print by longer or shorter developing and even flash developing.

BebuLamar

Although I did quite a bit of darkroom work I missed out a lot of the magic of seeing the print coming out in the tray. I did only color prints and so I needed to do drum processing so when I took the print out of the drum the image is there fully developed.
Still miss using this enlarger though.