Black and white film photography

Just lately i have been using a college film camera and loading it with an FP4 black and white film. Clive has been teaching me how to use it correctly by getting the right exposure. Once i have used my role of film i have been developing it in the dark room. I have to first use a black bag to un-role the film onto a film role then i put it in a light proof container. The bag has arm holes so you can do this but these armholes do no allow light in. If  light reaches the film before it is developed the film will be fogged and damaged. Once the film is in the light proof container you can take it out in the dark room.There is a hole at the top of the container where you can pour in the developer. The developer must first be mixed with water to reach the right temperature.Once the temperature is correct you can pour it in to the container and shake for 30secs. You must leave the developer in for 12 mins. shaking every minutes for 10 seconds. Once this is done you can pour this away. Then you can pour in the stopper. Just enough so that you can see it running out of the hole. You must leave this for 6 minuets, once again shaking every minuet for 10 seconds. The same thing is repeater with the fixer. Then you must leave your film in the wash for about 30mins. Then hang it up to dry.
  After i developed my first role of film i printed each film strip out onto a piece of photography paper. This is so you can see what photo's are worth printing as some of them may be over exposed of under exposed. Here is an example from my first developed role of film.

When you've chosen a photo you want to print you put it into the enlarger. You need to use a scope so you can make sure you get the focus just right. You know its right when you can see the grains in the scope. After this you need to do test strips. You need to set the timer on the light for 2 seconds and then expose the paper to light. When the timer goes off  you need to cover a quarter of the paper and expose the rest of it for another 2 seconds. You do theis until you've reached 8 seconds and then develop it. This way you can see how many seconds of light the final version of the photo will need. The longer you expose it to light the darker it will get. Here is my test strip.

When you know how many seconds to set the timer for you can then add some color to the picture if you need to. Either magenta, yellow or cyan. After you've added the color you just turn the timer on for the set amount of time then develop the photo. This is my final piece.

First photography lessons

Ive really enjoyed my photography lessons so far. We only have it once a week on a Wednesday afternoon. The first lesson we were in the dark room and we made photograms. You don't actually need a Camera for photograms. You just put some objects on photographic paper and expose it to light so that the pattern shows through. For example keys, or a bracelet. The longer you expose the photographic paper to light, the darker it will get when you develop it. So if you have an object covering parts of the paper from the light, it will stay white.

    After we've made out photogram designs we develop it still in the dark room because you cant expose paper to light. Their are 4 stages to developing a photo/photogram. First you put it in the "developer" for 1 and a half minuets. This is a slightly Alkali substance. When you put the picture in their you see it developing over time. Next you put it in the "stopper" which is slightly acidic,  you can also use vinegar for this if you really had to. You leave it in the stopper for 30secondds before transferring it to the "fixer" for 2 minets. After this stage, you can take your picture into the light. If you like it, put it in the wash (massive tank of water) for five minuets to wash the chemicals off. Then dry it and its done!!!

After we did photograms for a few weeks we did pinhole photography. This also doesn't require a camera, but a light proof box. This box has a tiny hole on it which you can cover.

You put a piece of photographic paper into the box and take it outside. You need to have bright sunlight. you point the box at whatever you want to take a photo off...either a person or a building etc. The you uncover the pinhole. The light reflects of whatever's in view and shines through the tiny pinhole, that acts as a prism, and onto the photographic paper. You do this for 30 seconds approximately, depending on how bright it is, Then you recover the pinhole and take it to the dark room to be developed, exactly the same way as a photogram. When you develop pinhole picture, they come out as negatives, so you need to reverse them. You lay the picture face down on top of a blank piece of photographic paper, inside a glass lid. You expose it to light, then develop it again. Then you have a picture.

With pinhole photography, if you a photographing a person you need them to stay really still. If they move, whatever is behind them will be in the photo as well. If there is a brick wall behind a person and they move their head. When you develop the photo the person will have their head but it will be see through with the brick wall imprinted on it.

I've really enjoyed photography so far. I love the fact that i now know how to uses a dark room. We are also keeping a black paged A4 journal to keep all our darkroom work in. The only problem is the photographic paper is £25 ponds a pack. But its worth it because i find i like the pictures so much better when i know its me thats taken and developed it.