Film Developing:

Preparation: In the darkroom (in complete darkness, with no safe light): Load the film onto a reel and place into the tank. Make sure that the lid is securely fastened for processing.

Gather the necessary solutions:

1) developer
2) pitcher of water
3) fixer
4) permawash
5) photo-flow
6) thermometer

Start the timer and pour the developer into the tank through the funnel opening. Put the cap on the tank. Rap the bottom of the tank solidly against the counter several times to release any air bubbles. Begin agitation. (Turn the tank completely upside down, then right side up five times) Agitate for the first 30 seconds, and then for 5 out of every 30 seconds (Watch the timer carefully!). Begin pouring the developer down the drain a few seconds before the time is up. (DUMP DEVELOPER)

2. WATER BATH
Quickly fill the tank with water from the pitcher. Agitate 10 rotations; dump water down the sink. Refill the tank with water and repeat.

3. FIXER (5-6 minutes) - (DO NOT DUMP FIXER, RETURN TO BOTTLE!)
Pour the fixer into the tank. Set the timer for five minutes. Agitate continuously for full five minutes. After five minutes (and before you dump the fixer out of the tank), carefully unroll the first couple of inches of your film and check to see if it is clear. If it still has purplish color, fix for another minute. After you are done – return the fixer to the container!

4. SHORT WASH (30 seconds)
Fill the tank with water; agitate for the full 30 seconds. Dump water down sink.

5. PERMAWASH (2 minutes)
Pour into the tank. Set timer for 2 minutes. Agitate continuously for 2 minutes.

6. FINAL WASH (5 minutes)
Put the water hose into the center of the reels in your tank. Start running the water and leave it running for 5 minutes.

7. PHOTO-FLO (2 minutes)
Fill tank with water. Add 2-3 drops from the Photo-Flow bottle. Agitate gently for about 45 seconds. Let sit for remaining time. Dump down the sink.

8. DRYING (30 minutes)
Unwind the film from your reel; go to the film drying cabinet and attach one end of your film to the clips on the rails. Weight the other end of your film with a film clip. Turn the film drying cabinet on when all the film is inside for 30 minutes.

*This is a worksheet provided by Eastside College Prep's Photo 1 class by teacher, Angela Buenning.

CAMERA CONTROLS

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Aperture – like your eye, it dilates and contracts to let light in. A bigger hole lets more light in; a smaller hole lets less light in. Apertures are numerically designated by F-stops. From the biggest hole to the smallest hole, typical apertures are:

1. 2.8  4  5.6  8  11  16  22  32

Shutter Speed – controls the amount of the time the shutter curtain is open and light exposing the film. Faster shutter speeds freeze action, while slower speeds blur action. Typical shutter speeds are:
1  ½   ¼   1/8  1/15  1/30  1/60  1/125  1/500
You should not use a shutter speed that is lower than the length of your lens unless you have a tripod! Example: a 50mm telephoto lens requires a shutter speed of 1/60.

Lens length - for a 35 mm camera, 50mm is considered a normal lens, greater than 80mm is considered telephoto, less than 35mm is considered wide angle. The longer the lens is, the more camera movement affects the image.

Film Speed – film is coated with light sensitive grains. The bigger the grain, the faster the film, and the more sensitive it is to light. Example: 50 ISO (speed) film is very slow and has fine grains. 3200 ISO film is very fast, and has large grains to let more light in.

Depth of field –Small (shallow) depth of field means there is little sharpness; great (wide) depth of field means there is great sharpness. Depth of field can be controlled by aperture. Example: F2= shallow depth of field, F16= wide depth of field. It can also be controlled by distance. The closer you are to the subject, the shallower the depth of field becomes. Likewise, if you step back from the subject, the depth of field will automatically become wider.

Stops/ F-stops – F-stops are the increments between whole apertures. The increments between shutter speeds are just called stops. The difference between each stop (shutter speed or aperture) is 2x or ½ the next stop. If you open up (stop up) one stop (ex: from F8 to F5.6), you get twice as much light. If you close down (stop down) one stop (ex: from F8 to F11), you get half as much light.

Bracketing – allows you to ensure proper exposure by exposing the film at what the meter indicates is balanced exposure, as well as exposing it at one stop more and one stop less, wither by moving the f-stop or shutter speed settings.

Overexposure – too much light is let in, which results in lack of detail in highlights. On the negative, the highlights will be black and on the print, they will be too white.

Underexposure – not enough light is let in, which results in lack of detail in shadows. On the negative, shadows will be clear, and on the print they will be too black. Underexposure is a much more serious problem than overexposure. It’s better to Overexpose than Underexpose!

* This worksheet was provided by Eastside College Prep's Photo 1 class by teacher, Erin Williamson.

This image portrays the former ways of photo developing. The man has taken a picture of his family.