Make Positive Prints From Negatives
With the advent of digital photography, the film negative is becoming rarer and rarer. If you wish to print your own photos from negatives, you will need a number of items including a darkroom that you can seal light out of, safelights made for the developing process, a photographic enlarger, chemicals, safety equipment and other specific tools .
Instructions
1. Prepare the developer, stop bath and fixer chemicals as directed on the packaging. Pour them into separate chemical trays and place them on a table in the darkroom in the order above.
2. Seal the darkroom against light leaks and turn on the safelight. Photographic paper must not be exposed to any kind of light except a red or amber safelight specifically designed for darkroom usage.
3. Position the negative in the enlarger, turn on the enlarger lamp and focus it onto the easel below. The light from the enlarger should shine through the negative.
4. Turn off the enlarger lamp and place an unexposed sheet of photo paper on the easel.
5. Expose the negative onto the photo paper by briefly turning on the enlarger lamp. The time for the exposure will depend on the density of the negative, the size of the enlargement and the intensity of the enlarger lamp.
6. Slide the exposed sheet of paper into the developer tray, making sure it is immediately completely submerged. Gently agitate the tray for the time recommended by the developer manufacturer, usually one or two minutes. You will see the latent image appear on the paper during development.
7. Remove the photo paper from the developer tray by the corner with the tongs. Hold the sheet over the tray for several seconds until most of the developer drips back into the tray.
8. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for the stop bath and fixer trays. After the fixer bath you can then examine the print under regular lights.
9. Rinse the print in clean, running water for a few minutes to clear off any remaining chemicals. You can save multiple prints in a tray of water after the fixer step, then move all of them to a print washer where you run clean water over them to fully wash. If you area using fiber-based (FB) paper, rinse it for at least 25 to 30 minutes. If you are using resin-coated (RC) paper, you will only have to rinse it for about five minutes.
10. Hang the print by a corner with a clothespin on a clothesline until it is dry.
Tags: enlarger lamp, photo paper, bath fixer, corner with, developer tray, Make Positive