Developing Skill

Dear All,

Thursday I took a great leap and developed my own film. Amazingly it came out :D ! I was afraid that it would not come out and I would have ruined the entire roll. It was crucial that this roll come out though, as it was for my photography class. Imagine if I had to do it all over again :eek: :rolleyes: !! I guess I hadn't realized that developing your own film was so easy (well, I say easy, so long as you pay attention!!). Another thought, I just saved $5.60. Now I just pay for prints. Now if my custom lad would just stop messing up on my prints...

Dzerzhinski

Good for you! I know it was a big leap of faith for me with my first roll. I couldn't believe it would actually work - and it did. One thing though - in the future, important rolls are best processed with proven technique. Don't use a new film type, developer type, agitation technique or anything else on something important. Chances are you won't have any serious problem if you're careful, but maybe you won't get exactly the look you wanted.

I haven't done it for awhile and won't develop anything important for the first roll. I can't imagine any problems but feel more comfortable doing this with the first roll.

Are you doing BW? If you are, you'll have so much fun printing your own film. Ohhh, that is such a cool process I used to love. Haven't done it in ages since I don't have anyplace at home now to do it, but in college I looooovvved printing my stuff. It's nerve wracking when you first start, but exciting at the same time - watching the image develop. Then there is the dry mounting, lol, which I used to be horrible at for some reason!

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Originally Posted by another view

Good for you! I know it was a big leap of faith for me with my first roll. I couldn't believe it would actually work - and it did. One thing though - in the future, important rolls are best processed with proven technique. Don't use a new film type, developer type, agitation technique or anything else on something important. Chances are you won't have any serious problem if you're careful, but maybe you won't get exactly the look you wanted.

I haven't done it for awhile and won't develop anything important for the first roll. I can't imagine any problems but feel more comfortable doing this with the first roll.

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Originally Posted by Janie

Are you doing BW? If you are, you'll have so much fun printing your own film. Ohhh, that is such a cool process I used to love. Haven't done it in ages since I don't have anyplace at home now to do it, but in college I looooovvved printing my stuff. It's nerve wracking when you first start, but exciting at the same time - watching the image develop. Then there is the dry mounting, lol, which I used to be horrible at for some reason!

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Dear Janie,

Yes, I am doing B&W. I just love B&W more than I do color at this point. So stark, and yet so beautiful.

Alas no, I have no place to set up a darkroom, so printing is kind of out of the question for right now :( . I must be satisfied with what the local custom lab sends me. And I don't have an enlarger, not with the college budget I have now. So I shall have to wait until I can find a place to set up as a darkroom. This might not be too hard at home though. Both my parents were great photographers in their own right, developing and printing their own, so they might be willing to help me a little. I guess I kind of inherited their love of photography along with everything else.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Dzerzhinski

They don't have a dark room at your campus? That's where I used to print a lot of my work - in the college photography lab! They had the best equipment! Also, check some photo shops. Around me there are some shops where you can print your own work! Ya never know!

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Originally Posted by Dzerzhinski46

Dear Janie,

Yes, I am doing B&W. I just love B&W more than I do color at this point. So stark, and yet so beautiful.

Alas no, I have no place to set up a darkroom, so printing is kind of out of the question for right now :( . I must be satisfied with what the local custom lab sends me. And I don't have an enlarger, not with the college budget I have now. So I shall have to wait until I can find a place to set up as a darkroom. This might not be too hard at home though. Both my parents were great photographers in their own right, developing and printing their own, so they might be willing to help me a little. I guess I kind of inherited their love of photography along with everything else.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Dzerzhinski

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I remember my first roll, it was only a few months ago. It came out with a few light leaks on the film but all in all, I had negatives. There were a few people in my class who went thru a few rolls before they got anything at all. I was comuting to school so I set up my own darkroom at home to save me some trips to the lab. I can't wait till it warms up again, cause I plan on doing more b&w this summer, and I will fire up the home lab again. Congrats and good luck!

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Originally Posted by Janie

They don't have a dark room at your campus? That's where I used to print a lot of my work - in the college photography lab!

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You are showing your age! Chemical darkrooms at schools are difficult to find these days. Very few people are interested, the upkeep of chemicals is time consuming and costly, and there are lots of OSHA regulations regarding the storage and disposal of the toxic chemicals. These days, electronic darkrooms, including film scanners, are made available to students.

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Originally Posted by Michael Fanelli

You are showing your age! Chemical darkrooms at schools are difficult to find these days. Very few people are interested, the upkeep of chemicals is time consuming and costly, and there are lots of OSHA regulations regarding the storage and disposal of the toxic chemicals. These days, electronic darkrooms, including film scanners, are made available to students.

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Hey! I'm only 34! lol Not that old! That's a shame that they don't have that anymore - such a disservice to the aspiring photographers! You learn so much more when you are there, using all different types of equipment and learning with instructors at your side, pointing out various ways of doing things. Infrared was one area I reaaaalllllyyyyy wanted to play with in the lab, but since I no longer have a lab or access to one, it won't be worth it for me. :(

The campus I took my photo class at last semester has a pretty nice lab to work in. My only complaint was having to share it with 100+ other students. The university is also in the process of adding a photo emphasis to their Communications Technology major, so they are adding more photo classes!!! If I can fit some more into my work schedule and get my company to pay for them, I will be going back to school again! Last semester they also purchased a bunch of DRebel's for students to check out and they are budgeting for more systems for digital imaging as well!

All of my local colleges still have chemical darkrooms - even the community college.

Danielle

I'm a young lad of 25 and I was astounded when I realized I had the capability to develope my own film. I took a class at Des Moines Area Community College that had us photograph different subjects and experiment with different developing techniques. I now use B&W more because I can develope film and prints myself and work with them the way I WANT TO. If I had more space than my current appartment I would set up my own lab. Being in a darkroom with the radio playing and watching my work progress at MY pace gives me a great feeling of control over my work. I choose chemical over digital because I am not at the mercy of my (at times dodgey) computer and internet service provider. Plus, I love the surreal images I produce from infrared film. A few area labs butchered my IR work because they use a digital scanner.

Way to go. I remember doing my first roll about 10 years ago... Its so much fun. My favorite part was popping the top and winding in the dark. :) I loved mixing all the chemicals and was so happy the first time I saw my film appear with images.
Keep at it :)

Cool! It is a lot of fun, isn't it?
I do it for all of my black and white because I've got control over it - and the lab charges extra for push/pull processing, so it's just easier for me to do it. And If I feel like adding a few extra seconds, I can do it!

Megan