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u/Burner_Produce 1d ago
The matching expressions with the cat make this incredible. Really great contrast and tone on the print, too.
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u/TimenLight 1d ago
That excitement, never goes away.
From what I can see here; nice job! Good tonal range within high contrast.
Whats your setup; Graded paper or multigrade, which filter/s? and what temp is the developer?
You can do some seriously cool things in the darkroom to make incredible prints. You can develop prints in many many things... OJ, coffee Guinness "Guinnessol" anyway have fun! And remember darkrooms work better with jazz.
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u/Benny-Beans 1d ago
I used ilford multi grade fiber glossy paper and a 0 and 5 filter, I'm not totally sure the temp of the developer since this was at school but I think we keep it around 70ish degrees
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u/TimenLight 1d ago
The Cooler the developer 18c or less, you'll get longer dev times, but more mid range tones. Hotter, more contrast. I have techniques for applying temperature to specific parts of a print to bring up the contrast in just that area, and its completely different than burning-in.
I've done icy water, hot water etc. Hot water with soap will start to lift the silver and cause reticulation, the opposite of cracking, and you an manipulate it, for say a portrait, etc.
Dang they making you learn on fiber! Oof! Resin paper was designed for schools and commercial turn around's. Fiber needs way more water than resin coated. You should talk to your teacher about that. I used to teach so I have some knowledge about the logistics of high throughput darkrooms.
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u/Benny-Beans 1d ago
I never thought about how temp could affect contrast, maybe something to experiment with 🤔
I guess I should have specified university instead of school. we use resin for contact sheets but fiber for finished prints. I've printed on resin before but I honestly prefer the thickness of fiber, it just feels a tad nicer
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u/TimenLight 1d ago
Ah ok, that makes sense. Fiber is gorgeous, I dont know whats available today other than Ilford, which has always been and probably always will!
I have not been in the darkroom for a 25 years, I think you might have rekindled it for me.
The veryvery best to you going forward, enjoy it as much as you can.2
u/WhoAmI0001 12h ago
Ahhhh...could this explain why my prints come out more gray? Typically I make a batch of developer and leave it in a covered tray for a few days. It doesn't get cold but its far less than hot. Its only hot when its first made. Recommendations?
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u/TimenLight 5h ago
Agitation! Thats mor important at the very start, than temp is, the temp part kicks in after the paper has been fully saturated, that little tiny rocking motion, that sways the chemical over the crystals. Imagine waves on rocks.
The temp is really done to control ambient contrast, cold and youll get flat images, hot contrasty.
One thing I never tried, was to do a two dev wash, one cold, one hot on the same print. I suspect that it would produce a banger. If you have the time and light to do it, please let me know your findings!Also, concentrations of developer... you can do low concentrations like 50:1 or even 100:1 ratios and get different results.
Early on I worked in a newspaper pool darkroom, so making a LOT of working prints (not exhibition grade stuff, but enough to pass the half-tone printing newspapers did with lead based ink on well, 'Newsprint' paper). After than I was a personal printer for an artist. 90,000 5x7 prints in 4 years. I guess you could ask me anything.
Unless film actually comes back for real, and silver printing, all these skills are dead.2
u/WhoAmI0001 4h ago
I work as a teacher and have a darkroom! Im very fortunate. Lol. I have been a visual arts teacher for 16 years and last year I was hired in another district to teacher photo and visual arts so I have 2 sections of darkroom. Though still newer to it im always looking to learn more. I use Kodak d76 developer. Not sure how much of a diff that makes
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u/TimenLight 1d ago
I'm happy to talk to your teacher too, if they want to reach out via private message. Might help save your school some running costs.
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u/WillPHarrison 1d ago
Hey I’m proud of you too stranger! What a fun shot. Keep it up!