How to develop B/W films (Guide)

http://reviews.ebay.com/Black-amp-White-Film-
Developing-Guide_W0QQugidZ10000000003726995
The first thing to remember when learning to develop film successfully is to stick to one film, one developer, and one method of development. It is the only good way to learn a sound technique and to fully explore and maximize the potential of the film and ultimately your print.
Keep in mind that the only purpose of developing film is to make the best prints you can make. It doesn't matter how the negatives look to your eyes as long as they produce the results in the prints that you originally wanted.
What films and developers to use? That is a question I get a lot. Any of the available ones will give you acceptable results, and you can't really go wrong. It also depends on what results you're after. Remember that there are no silver bullets when it comes to film or chemistry. They can help you get the results you're after, but the main factor is technique in exposing the film, developing it, and ultimately printing it. The work of the artist is by far more important than the materials used, so try to focus on repeatable results, and please remember to print your images often, only then can you truly know if your negatives are developed well or not.
Important factors:
1. Temperature. Some developers work fine in a temperature range between 65*F and 80*F, others don't. It's safest to keep the temperature you choose to develop at constant, at least in the beginning, and since so many recommended developing times are recommended at 68*F (or 20*C) I stick to that temperature religiously.
2. Time. Consistency requires exact timing, and the best way to achieve that consistency is to make sure the procedure for developing your film is the same every time. Don't change a thing.
3. Persistance. Don't give up if you don't get results immediately.
Basics:
When developing negative black and white film, the image is of course a negative of what your print will look like. That means the areas with the lowest density of developed silver will be the darkest in the print, and the areas with the highest density of developed silver will become the highlights. The dark tones in the print, or the 'thin' parts of the negative develop slowly, because they receive less light at the time of exposure. How much detail you get in this area of your negative depends on how you exposed it in the camera. Overexposed negatives will generally produce very generous detail in the print shadow areas, while underexposed (too little light) will invariably produce blocked up shadow areas without any detail at all. When you develop your film, the density of the developed silver in those areas is practically unaffected by developing the film longer.
The dense areas of your negative, or the highlights of your print, is a different story. This portion of your negative is determined solely by development. Several factors affects the results, mainly developer concentration, developing time, how you agitate your tank, as well as chemistry temperature. This is the reason why it's so important to be accurate in your methods of developing film.
My method of developing film:
The following method works great for me. You may wish to adopt it and do as I do, or you may find that some other method works better for you. We all have individual needs and desire different looks in the finished print.
1. Presoak the film in plain water. I do this for 3 minutes in water that is the same temperature as the developing chemistry. There are some developers that specifically shouldn't be used with a presoak, but 95% of them benefit from it. (The film emulsion is embedded in gelatin, and it swells. Presoaking makes sure the gelatin is properly swelled up by the time the developer is poured in and ensures more even development).
2. Developer. 20*C or 68*F, I mix one shot 'single use' batches of developer just minutes prior to developing the film. After pouring the presoak out, I immediately pour the developer into the tank. When it's all in the tank I start a timer that displays seconds and minutes, counting backwards from my predetermined developing time. I agitate for the entire first minute by inverting my tank with a lid tightly capped onto it. After about 50-55 seconds have passed, I very firmly rap the tank on the counter space six or seven times. This helps air bubbles that can get trapped on the film to dislodge and come to the top. The air bubbles will adversely affect your film development and turn up as marks, usually round and along the edge of the film strip.
3. Agitation. I completely invert the tank every minute a couple of times, and before setting the tank back down, I rap the tank on the counter top to, once again, dislodge those harmful air bubbles. The inversion ensures that the mixed developer acts evenly on the film surface.
4. Stop bath. 15 seconds prior to the film developing time being up, I start pouring the developer out. Then right as the development time ends, I pour pure water into the tank (at 20*C or 68*F, same as the developer). I do NOT use a stop bath since it is known to sometimes be the source of 'pinholes' in the film emulsion, showing up as dark spots on your prints. Developer is alkaline, stop bath is acid. The very large difference between developer and stop bath pH causes this phenomena to happen. You can use a stop bath if you like, but water stops development almost as well, and you run much less risk of pinholes. I change the water a couple of times for a total rinse of about 1-1.5 minutes.
5. Fixing. This is a critical stage of developing your film. It is extremely important to use fresh fixer, because it removes the unexposed silver in the emulsion that the developer didn't develop. If your fixer isn't fresh, or is spent, it will loose its ability to remove that unwanted silver. I always test my fixer before I use it by putting an undeveloped piece of film into the solution. The film strip should clear within the time the manufacturer recommends to use the fixer. I double the time it takes.
The fixer I use is alkaline. You can use acid fixer if you like. They are OK, but alkaline fixers wash out of the emulsion faster and easier. Do not use an alkaline fixer after using an acid stop bath.
I agitate constantly for the entire duration of the fixing. My fixer takes one minute to clear the unexposed silver when it's fresh, so I fix for two minutes. Then I pour the fixer back into its container and continue to use it until it's spent (when the clearing time exceeds the manufacturer's recommended fixing time, or preferably before that point, it should be discarded).
6. Washing. I use the Ilford-method of washing my film. After pouring the fixer out, I rinse with fresh water and a couple of inversions. Then I dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank five times. Dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank ten times. Dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank twenty times. Dump water. Rinse in fresh water for about five minutes, and finally do a rinse in distilled water to avoid drying marks on the film to the largest possible extent.
7. Wash aid. Some people like to use wash aids such as Kodak Hypo-clearing agent. With the alkaline fixer and the Ilford washing method there is no need. The purpose of washing film is to wash out unwanted chemicals. The hypo-clearing agent itself must be washed out for archival washing, so you're back to square one. With acid fixers, it may be necessary to use, however.
8. Rinse aid. Kodak Photo-flo (one among many similar products, Kodak is the best known), is a good tool to help the water to run off from the emulsion surface. Use distilled water and follow the instructions.
9. Drying. I hang my film from a nylon line with weights on the end. No air movement to minimize dust sticking to the film emulsion. Drying time varies with Relative Humidity level.
This method has been bullet proof for me. Which materials to use is related to personal taste and you will get as many suggestions as people you ask which film or developer is best.
Good luck, and remember to stick to selections that are the same every time, at least until you master those materials and explore them fully. Then you may venture off and try something else on an experiment level. Until then, keep it simple!
- Thomas

Shutter speed-diaphram

Diane Arbus and Sally Mann

Diane Arbus is an American photographer known for her square black and white photos documenting unusual people, typically performers. Her work is highly criticized because it causes the viewer to feel uncomfortable and not to feel compassionate towards the subjects that she has photographed. Many critics refer to the people she photographed as 'freaks' and they feel that she is exploiting these people's unfortunate qualaties rather than bringing out the best in them.

As I mentioned in an earlier post about Sally Mann, her photographs are controversial as well because people feel that it was inapropriate to photograph her young children with out clothing on. People accused her work of being child pornography, however I believe that her artistic intentions are valid. She explores themes of childhood as well as darker more difficult ones. She is a mother, she is their mother, which makes me feel like her position as artist and photographer is truthful and honest.

phoebe

This is why I love Portraiture.

I think that this is a beautiful photo.

From National Geographic.

Portraiture has the ability to truly capture the entire identity of a human being. 

-- Nicole 

Give a look, for today lesson

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/photo-development-film-developing-process.html 

Photo Development: Film Developing Process

Developing a photographic film negative into a beautiful picture is a fascinating process. Read on to find out more...

I still remember the euphoria of working in the darkroom during my photography classes in college. This was the place where we got hands on experience in developing a photographic film. The experience of watching the photograph develop in the solution was simply great. Although we live in an age where digital photography has made old photographic film development redundant, the magic of the old times still remains to be the choice for avid photographers who still prefer to develop their photographs in the darkroom rather than printing them on the laser printer.

Understanding the Working of a Photographic Film

A photographic film is simply a sheet of plastic coated with a silver halide emulsion. The silver Halide emulsion contains silver halide salts that are bonded by gelatin. A regular photographic film used for black and white photography is made up of the following components:

• The Base: The base of the film is made up of cellulose acetate and can be transparent, translucent or even opaque. The primary function of the base is to support the emulsion in place.
• The Emulsion: The emulsion layer is a thin layer of gelatin containing the light-sensitive silver halide salt crystals. The size of the halide crystals determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film.
• The Anti-halation Backing: The anti-halation backing layer is primarily a part of the photographic film to prevent reflection of light from the base into the emulsion.
• The Overcoating: The overcoating layer is a clear, protective sheath made of gelatin that protects the film from physical damage like scratches or abrasions before development.
• The Noncurl Coating: The hardened gelatin layer applied to the back of the film is called the non-curl coating. Since the emulsion swells when it is wet and shrinks when it becomes dry, there is a resulting strain on the flexible film base, which can result in curling. The non-curl coating prevents this curling.

How does Silver Halide help in capturing an image?

Silver halide is light sensitive and hence exposure to light causes a chemical change in the silver halide salt crystals. This reaction that occurs due to light exposure helps in the formation of a latent image on the film. This latent image is called the negative image, which can then be processed further with additional chemicals to obtain a positive copy or the developed copy of the photograph.

Film Developing Process

There are several development processes that can be used to develop the photographic film. Most of these methods only differ in the containers used to carry the chemicals but more or less use the same chemicals in the actual process. There are several processes like the tank method or the tray method for film development. Here is the description of the tank method for development of photographic film:

• Step One: This is the pre-soaking stage. Put some water in the tank; soak the film for a few minutes. The time for which you need to soak the film will differ with the size of the film. After the soaking, pour the water out.
• Step Two: The developer has to be diluted with water according to the standard measurements and then poured into the tank. The diluted developer should now be poured into the tank carefully to completely submerge the film. Once the developer is poured, start the timer and close the push-cap on the tank. Shake the tank by flipping it over for ten seconds after every minute. As the timer rings, pour out the used developer down the drain. Always remember that soaking the film in the developing solution is a crucial stage and the timing for which the film has to be soaked in the solution has to be accurately followed.
• Step Three: Use the stop bath solution (acetic acid) as a stop bath. Fill the tank with the stop bath solution, shake it and pour out the contents. Repeat the procedure twice.
• Step Four: The Fixer helps to fix the image on the photographic film. Pour the fixing solution in the tank and shake it for ten seconds after every minute. Continue the fixing process for five to ten minutes and rinse the rank after that.
• Step Five: Once the fixing process is over, the film can be safely exposed to light. Unscrew the top of the tank and take out the reel. Now fill the tank with fresh water and shake it for half a minute and pour the water out. Repeat this procedure for the following ten minutes. Make sure there are no remnant traces of the fixing agent, since that ruin the entire process.
• Step Six: Pour a small amount of wetting agent into the bottom of the tank and fill the tank with water until the reel is submerged. Make sure to shake the bubbles off the surface of the film and leave the solution for 30 seconds. After that, pour the contents out and take out the reel. Do not by any chance rinse the film now.
• Step Seven: Lift the film off the reel and allow it to unfurl. Make sure that it doesn’t touch the ground or anything else. Hang it up for drying for 4 to 8 hours so it has sufficient time to dry and harden.

Photo Development

Once the negative is ready, it has to be processed and transferred onto a photographic paper. The enlarger, which is an optical apparatus, is used to project the image of the negative onto a base, and finely control the focus, amount, and duration of light incident on the paper. A sheet of photographic paper is exposed to the enlarged image that projects from the negative. During exposure, the dodging and burning techniques can be used to adjust values of the image. These processes include reducing and increasing the amount of incident light selectively for part or all of the exposure time. After exposure the photographic printing paper is ready to be processed. The photographic paper is processed using chemicals in the following order:

1. The print is developed using a photographic developer
2. Rinsing with stop-bath
3. Fixing the image permanently with the use of photographic fixer
4. Washing to remove all the processing chemicals and then finally drying it

Photography is a fascinating art, and to experience the true magic of it you have to get your basics right. Go out with your SLRs, capture all you want and head right to the dark room, to experience the true beauty of photography unfold in front of you...

By Uttara Manohar

Toni Frissell

Toni Frissell was an American photographer known for her fashion, portrait and war world II photographs of both American and European woman. In a typical Frissell photograph she will portray an active woman in a surreal setting. What I find most interesting about her photography is her precision in capturing a moment and the delicacy that is encompassed in her shots. In this photograph the same traits of delicacy and precison can be seen. However, they are featured with sharp lines and extreme contrast... Both of which I love.

-bets

Sally Mann

Sally Mann is one of my favorite photographers. She is an American artist who is best known for her large black and white photos. My favorite collection of hers is called "Immediate Family" which was published in 1992 and features her 3 children all under the age of 10. She perfectly captured their expressions of innocence and childhood. The black and white makes it timeless. 

-Phoebe

Bursting Bubble

I took this photo when I was in Madrid. I changed it into B/W on Lightroom because I wanted to enhance the contrast between the light and dark areas. I love this picture because it freezes time making the bursting bubble and laughter of the child timeless.
-Rola

Exhibition (not far from JCU)

give a lolo to this link! http://espresso.repubblica.it/multimedia/fotogalleria/27864553

Un'amicizia che ha cambiato la fotografia del XX secolo. Quella tra Paul Strand e Walter Rosenblum, rispettivamente maestro e allievo, è una storia durata 25 anni. Il confronto tra due dei più grandi autori degli anni '50 viaggiava tra Parigi e New York e non si limitava alla tecnica fotografica e ai materiali, ma viveva soprattutto delle impressioni sulla vita, terreno d'esperienza e d'ispirazione profonda. Il loro percorso creativo, documentato da oltre cento lettere originali, ha ispirato la mostra "Corrispondenze elettive", che inaugura il 21 January Museum di "Roma in Trastevere". Up to March the 20th e, oltre a parte dello scambio epistolare, include alcune delle più importanti immagini fotografiche di entrambi gli artisti, numerosi documenti, libri e una brochure con un saggio di Strand scritto per la mostra di Rosenblum al Brooklyn Museum -
di Adele Sarno

This is the URL of one of my favorite photgraphers. After traveling to Africa together to work and to photograph, we have followed each others work.  Like me, she uses wedding/engagement photography to capture people and emotions... not poses. I usually can not stand posed photography and will, when I can, capture people in their natural emement and natural emotion. I love engagement photos for this reason. I am able to capture people in their moments of total happiness and love.

Abi Q Photography
http://www.abiqphotography.com/

-Nicole

Magnum Photos



http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.AgencyHome_VPage&pid=2K7O3R1VX08V

Leica M6 TTL .58x, 50mm f/2.0 Summicron-M, Kodak T-400CN, 1/125, f/2.5

Click on the link below to read more about the 50mm lens:

http://vothphoto.com/spotlight/articles/forgotten_lens/forgotten-lens.htm

Annie Leibovitz

     Annie Leibovitz began taking pictures I beieve at the San Francisco art institute.  She originally went for painting but fell in love with photography.  She started taking pictures for the Rolling Stones and then after touring with them she began to take pictures for Vanity Fair where after a couple of months she was promoted to

syllabus advanced

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY COURSE CODE: "AS 289-3" COURSE NAME: "Digital Photography" SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring Semester 2011

SYLLABUS INSTRUCTOR: Amato Serafino HOURS: TH 14:15-17:00 TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45 CREDITS: 3 PREREQUISITES: OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE AIMS: Time, space, light, infinity, and human sensibility. For the last century and a half, photography has been following changes in humankind’s external and internal environments. The core idea of this course is that photography is related more closely to philosophical, literary, and narrative ideas than to art history and the visual arts. The specific aim of the course is to help students evaluate different types of photographic images and to find the genres and types of images closest to their own sensibilities. The theoretical objective of this course is to find techniques to “re-create” any sort of place and space, whether it be exterior or interior. Most lessons are taking place outdoors in and around the city of Rome. We will create individual and group electronic portfolios that will be shared through the class blog. The entire class will have access and be able to upload content to the blog to create one final “product”. Students use digital or film cameras. The teacher will follow them step by step as they produce an original portfolio.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT: Various genres of photography will be analyzed: Portrait Landscape Reportage Close up Theatre and arts (artists at work) Fine art. 1. Introduction to terms used in photography, both technical and theoretical. 2. Detailed examination and review of the camera and all its mechanisms. 3. Discussion of optical principles, in particular with regard photographic lenses: focal lengths, apertures, etc. 4. Introduction to black and white film, color film, and negatives. Film speed (Iso/Asa). Techniques of film developing. Techniques of photographic printing. 5. Ways of editing and displaying photographic images; presentation in the context of a photographic exhibition. The single image, the series, the essay, etc. 6. The photographic genres 7. Natural and artificial lighting in photography. 8. The course will focus on the relationships and advantages offered by ne tchnologies for traditional film photography. 9. It is highly recommended that students come prepared to class with, if possibile, a laptop.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The objective of the course is for students to achieve a technical knowledge sufficient to realize images in different contexts. These skills will develop in controlled environments, in order to be verifiable technically and conceptually. Early in the course, a working context will be proposed. This context, or contexts, will be the environments of the theater, of architecture, and also of the studios of visual artists. Among the problems proposed is to photograph actors as they prepare a theatrical performance.

TEXTBOOK: NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING: NONE RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING: NONE

GRADING POLICY -ASSESSMENT METHODS: A group project will involve documenting museums or classical sites offered throughout Rome.  Students will organize their own photography projects under the supervision of the professor, in class and/or on site. -ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C,D, and F. A:  Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course. B:  This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised. There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments. C:  This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings. D:  This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material. Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail. F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant. -ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

ACADEMIC HONESTY As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE