The Chemicals: There are three basic chemicals in the printing process. These are Developer, Stop and Fix. Developer brings out the latent image, the magic part of the process. Stop does what it says, stops the image from coming out any further. Fix prevents any white light from darkening, fogging, fading or otherwise affecting the finished print i.e. fixing it.
Printing Equipment and materials you’ll need
Making a Contact Print Step by Step
Processing a Print Step by Step Development
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PDF: Black & White Photographic Printing
Photographic Paper
Most black and white paper is coated on a base consisting of paper fibre sealed front and back in clear plastic. Chemicals cannot sink into the base, so that processing, washing and drying times are shortened. The plastic coated paper has a layer of silver halide emulsion and a gelatine supercoat at the top to protect the emulsion surface from normal handling damage. Plastic paper may also have an antistatic backing. …see full text
PDF: Photographic Paper
Making a Black and White Print
1. Your darkroom (kitchen or bathroom) needs to be well blacked out to stop light from entering. For windows use thick card cut to shape and held in place with black canvas tape. …see full text
PDF: Making a Black and White Print
Solving Printing Problems
Uneven, mottled, or mealy appearance, Fingerprints, Prints fade, Yellowish or brownish stains, Fogging, Entire print out of focus, negative is sharp, White specks …see full text
PDF: Solving Printing Problems
Burning in and dodging
Once the overall density (the lightness or darkness) of a print is right, you will often find smaller areas that could be a little lighter or darker. For example, a face might be too dark or the sky too light, even though most of the scene looks good. Burning in (shown below and opposite) adds light after the basic exposure is made in order to darken an area. Dodging (shown on page 114) holds back light during the basic exposure to lighten an area. …see full text
Archival processing of fibre-base paper is simply a matter of fixing, washing and toning, to certain standards, to ensure the longevity of the photographic material. …see full text
PDF: Archival Processing
Printing Record Sheet
Health and Safety in the Darkroom and Processing Room
PDF: Health and Safety in the Darkroom and Processing Room