44 9 November 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI
Maskingframe/easel
Tomakeprints,youneedsomething
toholdyourpaperin positionandtocreate
a whiteborder.Themaskingframehasbeen
aroundfora longtimeandmanydifferent
typeswillpopupin a search.Theproblem
withmaskingframesis thatpeopleliftthem
bythebladesandtheygetbentoutof shape.
Oncethethinmetalbladesgetkinksand
creasesin,theywillnevergivea clear,straight
edgeagain.Buyonethathasbeenlooked
after,andtreatit withcare.Settingone
uptogivea borderat 90°
oneachcornershouldbe
simple,butcheapmodels
areoftena bitout.Put
a pieceof graphpaper
in tocheckalignment
andusea bitof
maskingtapetokeep
bladesaligned.
3
DIY darkroo
Ifyou’rethinkingofsettingupyour own
darkroom,photographerandmaster printer
AndrewSandersonhastheultimate shopping
listtogetyouprocessingandprinting in no time
Technique
Developing tank
If you’re a beginner to fi lm developing
youwillneed a decent developing tank to
process your fi lms. Personally I don’t think
you can beat those made by Paterson. You
can either buy a tank that will just do one
35mm fi lm at a time, or get the next size up
which will do either two 35mm fi lms, or one
medium format fi lm. The latter is known as
the Paterson Universal tank. See http://www.
patersonphotographic.com/product/
paterson-super-system-4-developing-tanks.
Measuring
graduates
Youwillneed something to
mix your chemicals in and to
measure them out. Paterson
makes excellent graduates in
a range of different sizes.
You will need three 600ml
size graduates. See http://www.
patersonphotographic.com/
product/paterson-
measuring-graduates.
Trays
Whateverpapersizeyouintendto
print,youshouldbuythreetraysin thenext
size up. So if you intend to print on 10x8in
paper, you should use 12x10in trays, or you
will fi nd that it is very diffi cult to get your print
out of the tray when you need to move it to
the next tray, or to the wash. Paterson
trays are excellent and will last a
long time. They often come in
three colours. I have white for
developer, red for stop bath
and grey for fi x. You could
buy a fourth to wash your prints
in, but a (clean), large cat litter
tray will do the trick.Tongs
To lift your prints from one tray to
another, you need to use tongs. You could
use your fi ngers, but the chemicals can get
into a cut, or sore skin and cause problems.
Also, your chemical-contaminated fi ngers will
transfer to the photographic paper that you
handle, to your eyes if you rub them, or to
your food later. Use one pair of tongs
for developer, and don’t get them
in the stop or fi x. The other
tongs can be used for stop
and fi x and must not
be put in the
developer. Tr y
Paterson or Kaiser.1
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© TREVOR YERBURY