Introductory Course on B&W Film Photography Autumn 2022

04.09.22 12:34 PM - By Paul Smith

Introduction

The course is organised as a collection of sessions and provides a solid ground of base darkroom techniques. It is oriented to club members who want to start processing and printing their own rolls or members keen to learn the process.

All sessions will take place in our darkrooms or our gallery and will be mostly practical, with the little needed theory “diluted” along the practice. The courses will be run by Marco Masetti.

If you have ANY QUESTIONS please use the comment box below.

Each session can be booked on its own and is self-consistent, a member can just book the sessions he wants to attend.

The first and last sessions will take place on a Saturday, all the others will take place on Wednesdays evening.

Session	Date and time	# Participants	Cost p.p.
0. Camera meter testing & Film Development	24/09, 10am - 4pm	Max 3	£ 40
1. B&W Film development	28/09, 6pm - 10pm	Max 3	£ 25
2. B&W Film printing	05/10, 6pm – 10pm	Max 3	£ 25
3. Exploring different types of printing paper	12/10, 6pm – 10pm	Max 3	£ 25
4. Print Spotting	15/10, 10am - 12am	Max 4	£ 30

All materials are provided by the club, what you need to bring to each session is detailed in the following paragraphs.

0. Camera meter testing and Film Development

This session is for those photographers who want to enhance their exposure skills or just check that their cameras are working correctly. Given the age of our beloved cameras, most often than not our meters are not accurate anymore and this could lead to frustrations and/or a waste of time/money.

This is quite a technical session and is only meaningful if you want to start shooting in manual mode and have a better control on your exposures. Those who shoots street photography in auto mode can skip this session.

The session will touch the following topics:

A recap on the relationship between shutter speed/lens aperture/film sensitivity
A very gentle introduction on film structure, sensitometry and the zone system
Each participant will expose and develop a roll at nominal speed
We will then see the effects of under/over development

This session hence includes the session #1 on Film Development.

Each participant needs to bring:

a 35mm film camera with manual exposure settings (shutter speed/lens aperture/ISO) with possibly a prime lens and a functioning meter (can be an handheld one)
a towel
a notebook to take notes

What the club provides:

films
chemicals
archival sheets

1. B&W Film Development

In this session we will go through all the phases of basic B&W film development.

Topics:

Introduction to B&W chemicals
Preparation of chemicals
The film development process
Film washing drying
Film storage

Each participant will bring:

an exposed B&W film
a towel

The club will provide:

all needed chemicals
archival film sheets

2. Basic B&W printing techniques

In this session we will go through the basic printing techniques.

Topics:

Structure and types of B&W papers
B&W printing chemicals
Darkroom layout
How to use the enlarger
Preparing your frame
How to make a test strip
How to make a contact print
Dodging & burning
Split grade printing
Print washing and drying
Prints conservation

Each participant will bring:

a set of B&W negatives
a towel
a box to store dried 8x10 inches prints

The club will provide:

all chemicals
B&W printing paper

3. Different paper types

In section 2 a brief overview of all different paper types and surfaces is provided but only 1 type of paper will be used.

This session is meant to explore a few different types of papers, printing the same frame and understanding the different visual characteristics of each one.

Each participant will bring:

a B&W negative
a towel
a box to store dried 8x10 inches prints

The club will provide:

all chemicals, B&W printing paper

4. Print spotting

In this session we will gather around a table in the gallery and we will see how to (try to) delete or make less visible all those marks on our prints due to dust/hairs/etc. This is quite important if you want to expose your prints in an exhibition.

Each participant will bring:

a set of prints with some dust spots

The club will provide:

all needed tools and dyes

Please Note:

All sessions are open to club members only.

Sessions 0, 1, 2 are also valid as darkroom accreditation sessions for members who are not yet accredited to the use of the club darkrooms.