Dark Room practice and print exposures.

Hi everyone ! 

Today I would like to present you my prints I have produced in dark room, how they have been taken etc. 

First of all I want to say that all the images of my prints you see on my blog are my own pictures, and I have taken them by Expera Z3. They aren't with best background or high quality! I have taken quick images of them to show you what I was experimenting with, how I was producing prints in dark room and everything else you need to know about them. 

I have taken pictures of test strips and trail prints, because I want to show you what went wrong, what went well, what I could improve and all my experience I would like to share with you. 

The topic of all the pictures isn't the same, but while I was taking photographs at River Dee and local Park in Chester I wanted to present a beauty of our beautiful nature, landscapes and positive energy. The reason behind these ideas is, because I am a very positive person and I would like to explore it onto my prints and create some sort of story and meaning behind it. 

I have to admit that before I have made my first prints for my Photography module I have never ever taken any photographs with film camera and never expose any films in my life. So this was the very first time I actually discovered something like black and white prints in person, even though I had a dark room at my College ( seems like teachers were not too keen to show me how to experiment with black and white film ). I was very excited that I have a opportunity to play with photography in an "Old" way, and I am very delighted that I can show them off to others and talk about my inspirations and feelings about my work in dark room.

So lets talk about them one by one. 

This is first film sheet I have done. As you may see (or not) but a lot of prints are pitch black. The reason behind it is because I had no idea how to use SLR Camera.... First I have been given a SLR camera where I was told to set up "green" light, so I've done so, then I've discovered my camera is broken and I need a different one. But this time I had "needle" instead of flashing "green light" , and I wasn't sure what that "needle" actually means in that camera. I wasn't also aware of the fact that the light need to be good to take good bright picture. So I ended up with "few" totally black prints. But that wasn't a problem for me because I've learned from this and I tried not to make the same mistake again. Some of the shots went really very well as for the first time. I was just taking pictures of everything. But usually I was following a colour scheme, like beautiful "orange" trees or landscapes or anything that had bright coloured contrast. Of course it couldn't be shown on my black and white prints, but some of the contrast was nicely done even as a black and white prints. 

On this print you can see all of my negatives from first film. And I said before. Many of them did not go well because of my luck of knowledge and experience in black and white filming. I only picked two "best" shots to expose. 

Here they are. 

I have taken an image of them two prints because I don't have many trial strips of them to show you ( lost it ) , but I have edited that image with couple of notes. As you can see, I have mentioned the times of the exposures of each print. Both of them prints were not the best quality because I couldn't set up the focus manually. 

My left print "Forest" is good print but I would have to change the sharpness for better because if you look closer, you will see some bluerly texture. 

On the second Print on the right "Flowers" is pretty good, but yet again the sharpness of the focus could be improved. It is hard to say on your contact sheet print which print is best quality and has got the best focus. I thought these two prints could have good quality and focus out of all but I was wrong. However I was learning on them how to expose films. I was suggested to start from 2 s time and then 4 and 6 and so on. Finally I have decided myself to try bigger test strip with 10 s expose time. I thought its going to work well, but at the end I found out I was wrong again, and I should try go for 11 or 12 s time next time. 

My another film and negative and contact sheet. It looks much better now than my first exposure for sure!
Because of it I could choose couple of very nice shots I turned into prints. 

This is one of my favourite Prints. I actually have asked this couple if I could take some shots of them together cuddling on a bench, and they were more than happy to do it for me. I was absolutely delighted to take some shots of them, and the reason why I have that point of view is because it's just so nature and the image represents eldery couple with their push bikes resting on a bench at one of most beautiful places in Chester, River Dee. The bridge , and the river just brings everything that this image needs to fit with that couple. The final exposure of this print was 16 s. 
And to end with effect like this I had to make many test strips and spend very long hours in dark room. Here are some of pictures of the trial strips. 

So many test strips.... Why ? While I was exposing my test strips I've notice that the level of the mix of Devon in the tray was bit low even for small strip, but I still gave a go and it went as it looks now.  However later I wanted to try to expose a bigger picture of my test strips but each time the contrast and colour went worst and worst, so at the end I wasn't really sure what time exposure should I choose because every test print was different to each other even with the same time of exposure.

This print is pretty much the same as the above one, however the process of the exposure is with the same liquids and devon etc. as before. I kept trying to make some test strips which were getting worst on quality. They were almost blur and white or brown-ish at some point. It was very difficult to make any prints with those liquids etc.... So I came back the next day, told my tutor about it, and she has changed the mixes of the liquid, and my life became much better place. Print started to be very clear and contrasted with pure black and white colour on it. However I had to start from the scratch. So this images of the prints (and above) proves that you have to have good mixture of your liquids such as Devon, because it starts your process of making prints, and if does let you down, you're wasting your time and effort and paper and everything else. 

So the final print looks like this now. This is with totally different test strips , exposure time etc, so please don't compare them with the final print. 

I must admit all my prints looks better in life than on a photograph as it doesn't show the real contrast and colours, but I hope my Photography tutors will remember my prints. So end exposure time for this print was only 16 seconds. I think it could be bit lighter though, but I like dark prints , and I don't know why, that's the way I am with them prints to be honest. 

During this print I also have learned not to be hurry and do things in correct order otherwise you will ruin a lot of paper even if they are just test strips.  So correct order of exposing process is very important. You also have to have big patinas and good eye for details.

Producing this print I was very fortunate to have Andy Sanderson with me in a dark room. He though me very inspirational lesson, and made my life a lot easier regarding exposure time and the process of the photographic print. 

I went for this particular print because I thought it has a good focus, contrast and texture overall. I am happy me and Andy agreed on the same exposure time as soon as possible. 

And this is the test strips I was exposing. Yes there are only 2 test strips, which is pretty amazing to be honest with you. Usually it takes me about 3-6 test strips (at least) to finally discover the correct exposure time for each individual print....

As you can see I numbered each exposure time,so you can clearly see the difference between for example 4 seconds exposure and 6 seconds exposure. 

Andrew told me before I started exposing the strips that when we start using the print machine to expose out prints or test strips, we have to realise that the machine isn't warmed up so that start of 2 second time is just nothing. So if you want to save some time you can start of doing 3 or 4 seconds exposure time to make quick results etc. This was very handful to know because next time when I was doing my prints I went straight on 4 seconds exposure, and I have ended up with better results than when I was doing 2 seconds break. Very quick and effective method that every beginner should start to use. 

And the second and last strip was made with 18 seconds time, which was just perfect for this print, but Andy recommended me to cover some parts of the print with a hand while exposing, to avoid too much light in a tree area. I think without this method print could look different and not the way I planned to. Honestly I wouldn't change a thing about this print because I think is one of the best prints I have done so far from this film. 

That is it for today people ! I will post other posts about all my final prints later on, so you can see all of my final prints in a full shape of form.