sing offers too much illumination and will wreak
havoc on unprocessed film.
Traditional black-and-white film processing
requires a sink with a faucet, processing tanks for
roll film, trays for sheet film, timers (with a second
hand), thermometers for the processing tanks, che-
micals, sponges, scissors, a negative carrier, a squee-
gee, and a drying cabinet. To develop roll film, a
bottle opener is generally used to open the film
cartridge. In complete darkness, the photographer
carefully and gently extracts the film and rolls it
onto a reel, which fits inside a light-tight processing
tank. The reel is a small stainless steel spiral. Hand
placement is very important to avoid scratches or
fingerprints on the negative, and the film must be
touching only along its sprocket hole edges when
transferring from cartridge to steel reel. The film
should rest as smoothly as its original position
within the cartridge, as lumps in the film will be
developed irregularly by the developing agent.
Black streaks, blotches, rows of spaced marks,
transparent negatives, and streaks indicate pro-
blems when the developer touched (or did not
touch) the film. These problems may also indicate
that light reached the negative during the loading,
light leaked in the developing tank, the temperature
of the developer was miscalculated, or the film was
not left in the developer for the proper length of
time. Student photographers practice loading a roll
of old negative film onto the reel in daylight until
the motion and task become easier.
After transfer to the reel, the film is inserted into
the sealed, lightproof development tank. The film
developer generally provides instructions regard-
ing chemical ratios, the number of times to agitate
the tank, and the amount of time in each stage of
development, none of which is strictly standard.
For example, a photographed subject might lend
itself nicely to cross processing for intensity of
contrast. ‘‘Cross processing’’ is the use of color
slide film chemicals to develop negative film and
vice versa. So called ‘‘push processing’’ is used for
overexposed or underexposed film, increasing
graininess and contrast, and decreasing details in
shadows. ‘‘Pull processing’’ intentionally overex-
poses the film to bring out details in the dark
areas. Cross, push, and pull processing are experi-
mental techniques to consider once one is confi-
dent in processing film. After processing with the
developer, it is discarded and the film is washed
with water introduced into the tank until all devel-
oper has been removed. Sheet film is similarly
processed, using trays instead of tanks.
Upon the completion of film processing, the nega-
tives are no longer light-sensitive and generally are
placed in a dust-free cabinet to dry, with roll films
weighted to prevent curling. Once the negatives are
dry, a light box and a loupe are helpful to decipher
the quality of the negatives. ‘‘Thin’’ negatives with
little detail indicate that the film was underexposed,
underdeveloped, or both; ‘‘thick’’ negatives with
dense areas of blackness and few fully transparent
(white) areas indicate the film was overexposed,
overdeveloped, or both. Recognizing the quality of
the negative suggests adjustments available through
further darkroom techniques to create the optimum
print from that negative. Roll negatives are tradi-
tionally cut into strips of five or six frames and
stored in archival sleeves (traditionally waxed
paper, which has been supplanted by plastic), then
placed in an indexed book of some sort. Larger
format films are also stored in archival sleeves.Print Processing
During the print process, light projected through
the negative film strikes the surface of the light-
sensitive photographic paper, most commonly sil-
ver bromide and gelatin. The simplest way to make
a print, however, is by direct exposure to light,
which results in a photogram. Most photographs,
however, result from the transfer of the image on a
negative to the photographic paper, either through
direct contact (contact printing) or enlargement,
which requires a relatively complicated piece of
equipment that combines changeable lenses with a
built-in light source.
Yet no matter what method is used to expose the
photographic paper, the developing process is con-
sistent: the exposed paper is placed in a bath where
the chemicals react with the silvers in the papers,
producing patterns of light and dark that must be
stabilized with further chemical treatments.
Most darkrooms for processing prints are painted
white to reveal chemical stains, which show up as
brownish, indicating areas that have been contami-
nated. Ideally a darkroom has both hot and cold
running water, good ventilation, a minimum of nat-
ural light, and electricity, although many a fine
photograph was created under less than optimal
darkroom conditions, including many early photo-
graphs, which were developed literally ‘‘in the field.’’
Black paper is generally sufficient to block out light
remnants and light leakage can easily be accessed by
standing in the darkroom for about five minutes.
Many photographers work at night if light control
is a problem. For the home darkroom, while bath-
rooms or kitchens provide many of the necessary
features, these areas should be avoided for obvious
health reasons: the chemicals used in traditionalDARKROOM