I read about people going into the darkroom and turning out huge numbers of prints per session. I'm curious. For me a good session (in at 6 pm out at midnight) results in about six finished 8x10 prints that I won't rip up a week later. I'm not talking about studio shots with identical lighting and exposure, or multiple prints of one frame. I'm talking a variety of shots with minor variations in exposure and moderate differences in contrast (I shoot mostly street photography). If the lighting and scene are constant throughout the roll(s) I can bang out a lot more prints, but when the roll is mixed I spend a lot of time and energy on exposures and test strips, contrast changes, burning, and dodging. I would like to hear what others consider a productive darkroom session. Thanks in advance.

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), August 22, 1998

Answers

When I enter the darkroom, I have no expectations of what I will accomplish. Generally I will complete several copies of one print. As Ansel Adams once said "There is often a small difference between an acceptable print and an exceptional print." My end goal is to have a framed print hanging on someones wall, when I used to try to complete more images in one setting the prints would look nice but I always felt they were missing some refinement so now I have slowed down once again. That is what works for me.

-- Jeff White (zonie@computer-concepts.com), August 22, 1998.

I've also slowed down a lot. Twenty years ago, I did 6 prints an hour. Now my standards have gone up (or I've got older), and I reckon on 3 "roughs" per hour, where a "rough" shows everything on the negative, so I can make the real decisions on cropping, burning, whatever. How long the finished print takes will vary enormously, from 20 minutes to 6 hours.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), August 22, 1998.

Darkroom Session

Sounds like you have the correct approach. Stay and print until you want to do something else, (like sleep?). I used to stay until I had accomplished something I wanted but always divide my time between making proof sheets, studying them and selecting the prints. Then it is only how long you wish to print in one day. I prefer to keep going.

-- H. David Huffman (craptalk@ix.netcom.com), May 12, 1999.

Re: What's a Productive Darkroom fSession for You?

I consider a productive darkroom session to be one that the Silver Gods allow me to work without making a lot of stupid mistakes. I guess we can all tell when it's not a day to be in the darkroom ... a day when I leave the paper open and fog it .... a day when I am all thumbs. When these days do come along, I fold my tent and leave! I print for the bromoil process in the darkroom and do not measure my productivity by numbers of prints.

-- Gene Laughter (genealt@aol.com), August 23, 1998.

Darkroom Session

My kitchen darkroom is somewhat cramped and very stuffy so I think my productivity could be better in a more comfortable environment. Also it would mean less ruined prints when I open the fridge for another beer at the wrong time. I usually shoot a couple of rolls of 35mm per week so I rarely seem to get around to doing that 'final' print and spend most of my time on rough work. Since I am only doing this for my own enjoyment it doesn't really matter. I am happy to get 6 prints done in a session.

-- Andy Laycock (agl@intergate.bc.ca), August 24, 1998.

Being an non-professional, I consider one acceptable 11x14 or 16x20 in a 3-4 hour session success. I may produce 4-5 small 5x7 or 8x10 work prints and then move ahead with one to produce an exhibution size print.

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@emji.net), October 12, 1998.

My darkroom is a 6' X 6' x 6'room that formerly served as a cedar closet. I have to mop it down before each printing session and I'm thinking about the judiscious use of a vaporizer or humidifier to help keep the dust from the basement down. I wash in the washing machine deep sink after rapid fixing and hypo clearing. I used to use an 11 X 14 tray with a pipe with holes on one end and holes poked in the tray on the other. I did one print at a time with this system. At a yard sale I ran into a Kodak tray siphon and some 16 X 20 trays. That has me up to 2 8 X 10's per wash but I still like to make sure that one fresh from the fix doesn't share the tray with one fresh from the hypo-clear. One year I'll luck into an affordable archival washer and then I'll be set. The point is, my wash time is the longest part of the process.

When I make RC enlargements from "studio" shots I can get 4 8 X10's that I'm reasonably happy with i.e. I won't throw 'em out, I reserve judgement on them until a week or so has gone by to clear my mind. That takes like 4 to 6 hours at a casual pace. Usually I decide to dodge here a little or burn there a bit but for the most part everything is intact. Other times I wonder what the hell I was thinking about when I printed that one.

Since switching to AZO contact prints things have slowed way way down because the wash takes longer, I have to allow for drydown, etc.

One persistent nagging question for me has always been the light by which you judge a print - shouldn't it match the exhibition light? There's obviously an enormous difference between window light, flourescent light and the clip-on flood lights in my basement work space. SO what are the odds of reproducing the appropriate light level & quality in either space?

I'm rather conflicted about the darkroom, it can be so discouraging that I look forward to the day I can get that Calumet 8 X10 polaroid processor and make emulsion transfers. Other times I like the trial & error experimentation and can convince myself that, like Daniel Baird Wesson said, "No thing of excellence comes without hard work".

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), November 23, 1998.

I had a great session the other night. (My first in my completed darkroom.) Three hours, three acceptible prints from the same negative. All 8 x 10's from 4 x 5 negatives.

Then, the final print from a different negative: a beautiful 11 x 14 of my grand daughter. Took ten minutes, and it was the first print after exposure sample. I had dodged and burned perfectly. I cleaned the darkroom while it rinsed and dried. I almost had it mounted, matted, and framed, when I noticed two tiny pinholes. Rather than get out my touchup stuff, I figured I could knock out those two little pinholes with the ink pen from my jacket.

Needless to say I (too late) got my touchup paints out to correct the mess, then two hours later, I pulled the REALLY final print out of the new batch of fix to check, still with the two pinholes. (I dare not touch negatives!)

You know, in a real good darkroom session you need a steady hand and a 000 brush.

-- A.C. Harrison (afonse@swbell.net), January 20, 1999.

Followup: I changed my style a bit. I now forgo the in camera meter. Too many variables. I now take an extra moment and take a handheld incident meter reading. I use the cameras manual mode. I double check my readings every few frames. My exposures are dead on, but most importantantly consistant from frame to frame. No more 36 exposure rolls with 1/2 stop variations in density. All 36 exposures are accurate and "nailed". The result is I no longer chase enlarger exposure times when I print. Usually my "basic" time results in a great "first print". I raely test strip now. I shoot one film. I process carefully. I only change contrast grades to adjust for scene contrast, not blown exposures. Just a tweek here and there for contrast. In fact grade two is often "dead on". My printing sessions that were unproductive were a result of sloppy metering, and nothing else. I know strive for a perfect exposure everytime. EVERYTIME. The dididend is a session in the darkroom where the trash can stays empty and my "keeper pile" is often a dozen nice prints. What a joy. In fact my favorite camera is now a pentax spotmatic with a dead meter. My 2 cents is buy a simple incident light meter and forget matrix except when the job requires it (news and reportage, etc).

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), February 21, 1999.

I suppose you have to decide ahead of time what you need or want to accomplish in that session. I have learned from experience that it is best for me to make a list of what I want to do in the session such as process film only, make contacts, or work on a particular print. I will usually spend 2hrs to process 10 4x5 negs including setup and cleanup. I may then spend a session making contacts or first work prints from 2or 3 negs and then leave them untill the next day to review. I can then make a few decisions out of the darkroom such as burning, dodging, bleaching or masking that may need to go into the final print. I will then spend probably a 2 to 3 hr session working with a single neg to achieve a "finished" print. Yes, it sounds slow and not very productive as far as quantitiy goes, but i believe you will "tear up" fewer prints the next week if you concentrate on just one or two images at a time.

-- Jim Nelson (ohelsie@AOL.com), August 23, 1999.

I recently finished a new house with a custom darkroom. I have found that sitting down in an office chair and rolling arround the darkroom improves my productivity. I can not standup on a hard surface for more than three hours. With the chair, I can worked without fatique for up to six hours at a time in the darkroom.

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@worldnet.att.net), August 23, 1999.