Film Development, Part 3: Black and White Film

Thanks for coming back for Part 3 of my film development series. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 where I talked about loading your tank and mixing the necessary chemicals.

Developing film is the best and most fun part about being a photographer. You'll probably get this response from most photographers who started their career with film. The ones who don't, probably never developed black and white or bought into all of the false digital is better than film propaganda.  But this isn't about what is better than what. This is about a fun hands on project that everybody should try at least once, at least if you're a casual photographer.

So in Part 1, I showed you how to load your tank. What you should do first is to do a pre-wash of your film in the tank. Now if you have a Paterson tank, and some of the stainless steel tanks, make sure to check that your lid is secure at all times. It tends to loosen up during some of the steps and can ruin your film if even the smallest bit of light hits it. To pre-wash your film, just stick it under the faucet and let it fill up, sit for a few seconds and then dump it. You can do this two to three times or however much you fancy. 

Next, you need to pour your developer into your graduated cylinder. Depending on how much control you want, you can dilute your developer to give you a longer time. But for this guide, dilute your developer with a 1 to 1 ratio. So if you are running 35mm film, pour in 6 oz of XTOL developer and 6 oz of water. Unfortunately, unlike color film, there isn't any standard development time for black and white film. This website Massive Development Chart, will give you the amount of time for a given film and developer combo. I primarily use Ilford HP5+ so at a 1:1 ratio, my development time is 10 minutes and 30 seconds.

After you have poured the developer and water into the graduated cylinder, you need to get the temperature to 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Film is also temperature sensitive. if you  raise the temperature any higher, the film will develop faster, colder the slower. So get it as close to 20/68 degrees as possible. 

When the developer/water mix is at the right temperature, set your timer for the 10 minutes and 30 seconds, start your timer and dump the mixture into the tank and invert/flip upside down your tank for the first 30 seconds. Make sure you tap the bottom of the tank afterwards. If you let it sit without tapping the bottom a few times, the air bubbles might stick to one spot on the film and make an undeveloped spot on it. Every minute after the initial 30 seconds, invert your tank for 5 seconds while tapping on the bottom afterwards until the timer runs to zero. When the timer reaches about 20 seconds, you'll want to take off the soft lid of the container, but make sure the strainer part stays on, and dump the mixture down the drain at about 10 - 5 seconds remaining. Do one quick rinse of water before we move to our next step.

Measure, in the graduated cylinder, the stop bath. The timer for this should be set at about 30 seconds to 1 minute. If you're using water in lieu, set the timer at about 2 minutes. Like the first step, you need to invert for the first 30 seconds, but you don't need to tap the bottom anymore. And tap for 5 seconds every 30 seconds. when the timer reaches zero, dump it back into the container you poured it from.

Next, pour your fixer and set your timer for about 8 to 8 and a half minutes and pour it into the tank. Like the last, invert for the first 30 seconds, and then for 5 seconds every minute. This is probably the easiest part. When the timer hits zero, dump the used fixer back into the container of fixer and stick the tank under the water, fill it and dump it a couple of times.

pour and add the 12 oz of hypo clear to the tank and invert for the first 30 seconds. Then invert for 5 seconds every 30 seconds. And set the timer for 2 minutes. 

At this point, you can remove the strainer part of your tank and put it under running water for about 3 or 4 minutes. when the four minutes are up, pull the reel out and dunk it into the container of Photo Flo for about a minute. When removed from the Photo Flo, unwind the film from the reel and clip it to your drying line and clip another clothespin to the bottom of the film.

Many people will press the film in between their index and middle fingers to squeegee as much water off, but I've gotten scratches this way, so I just transfer it directly to the line. and let it dry for several hours. Then you can cut the film and stick it into the negative sheets.

See? Easy peasy. I promise, once you do it a couple times, it'll be like second nature. I don't even look at my old directions anymore. If you have any questions about this process, go ahead and shoot me a question in the comments below. Have Fun!!

Film Development Part 2: Making the Chemicals

A few months ago, I started a series talking about the development process. I'm going to continue on with it today with Part 2 of my guide. Better late then never, or so I was told.

This week I'm going to show some pictures from when I was mixing my chemicals to be used. This was my first time mixing chemicals for black and white film so I've since learned what I like, what I want next time and how to mix it easier/better next time.

Here is a quick shot of what you need to begin

A thermometer. These are really cheap at your local photography store

A funnel for pouring the finished product into the bottles

A stirring device

1.25 Gallon jug Prefferably brown times 2

Developer. I use Kodak XTOL

Scissors

A Graduated Cylindar and a measuring cup. This patterson grad cyl is a workhorse

Thats the big ol list of what you need to make it happen. The only items not pictured are the fixing agent (fixer) and the 5 gallon mixing bucket. Home Depot sells a generic 5 gallon bucket. I'll use one of these next time because the pitcher I used REALLY wasn't big enough. It was about 2/3s the space I needed. And its easier to mix when you dump the powder packets in the water.

First you start off with the developer. The package of XTOL has the directions on the label and they should be followed as closely as possible. Mix Packet A Into the water and then dump in packet B. You'll want to stir the solution with a a wooden spoon or mixing paddle until each one dissolves. It might take a little while so be patient. The bigger bucket should help out with it because you'll have more room to dissolve

The other chemical I got for developing was a fixing agent, but I highly reccomend you pick up some stop bath because it will speed up developing times and in my opinion it makes everything work smoother and you probably get a better result in the end. If you smell the stop bath, it almost smells vinegarish because it is pretty much the same. Its called Acetic Acid, but it stops the actual development process of the silver crystals. I just substituted water for this chemical which is cool too.

For the fixing agent, I just picked up the generic store version. From Freestyle Photo, the brand is called Legacy Pro, but its supposed to be a direct copy of the Kodak Hardening Fixer. That comes in one mondo powder packet. It takes a bit longer to dissolve into the water than the developer did and it kind of has a sulfuric smell to it. If your nose is sensitive, I would suggest mixing this in a well ventilated area while wearing a face mask and gloves.

The fourth chemical in the process is called Hypo Clear. Its used to really reduce the washing time of the film. I didn't get it this time either, but I did mix some before that I used on my darkroom prints. You use it when you're washing pictures made with Fiber based paper. I also used water in lieu of this chemical, but it takes about 10 minutes longer if you don't use this chemical.

The last chemical you have to make is called Photo Flo. Its what is called a wetting agent. Its used to keep water spots from developing on your film when its drying.in the dryer or on the line. This needs to be measured correctly or else you'll get spots from too much of the chemical. The bottle I got will last me forever because there is way more water then the chemical itself. I also bought the generic version of this one as well.

The last on the checklist is to have a line you can pin your finished roll of negatives on so they can drip dry. I went and bought a camping clothesline because it was 2 bucks and I bought a bag of clothes pins for hanging them on the line.

On the next in this series, I'll go through the actual process. Here are a list of links for the chemicals I used from Freestyle Photo.

XTOL Develpoer
Stop Bath
Fixing Agent/fixer
Hypo Clear
Photo Flo

Developing Film, Part 1

I got a great comment from Joker last night

          "So weird how shooting with film is only for the hardcore these days..."

Shooting film is such a fun experience that it doesn't need to be only for us crazy people. So here is a  3 part guide on how to develop your film. Its probably the most fun part of 
shooting film in general. I'm going to go through the process and I will have a list of what you need to do this.

This part is on probably the hardest part of the process which is loading your film tank with the roll of film you just shot. There are two different types of developing tanks, and then there are many sizes of those two types. Steel tanks and Plastic Tanks. Steel tanks are incredibly sturdy, they last damn near forever, and they are slightly more difficult to load the reels. Plastic tanks are less durable but are fairly easy to load. I've used both and I prefer my plastic Paterson tank to the steel ones my school used.

I use a dual reel paterson tank. My film is bigger than yours.

You might want to buy a junk roll of film so you can practice how to load your film before you use an actual roll. Its much harder when you get in the dark room and trying to load the film the first time anyways. The more experience you have the better you can do. I guess that last sentence was from the desk of Captain Obvious.

Ok, so you need to find the darkest room you can find. I use a small closet. You need to make sure there is very little light and if there are any leaks, they need to be covered. Shove a towel under the door, use some tape, whatever you can do. If even the smallest amount of light reaches your film, it will fog and that will be bad.

My bottle opener. Its seen the end of many beers. Also purchased at the 99 cent store.

take a can opener and open the flat end of your film canister and use the push tab to push out the film spindle. The end of the film has a small tab that needs to be cut off. When that is cut off you can slide it under the two tabs on each side of the reel.

A little blurry, but you can clearly see the two tabs and the film going beneath them.

You should hear or feal the film catch onto the ball bearings just behind the tabs. These reels are ratchet like, so you want to hold onto the left side and turn the right side forwards and backwards until the film has been fully loaded. Some of the issues you should worry about are creasing, tearing and sticking. The film only sticks if you didn't fully dry the reel beforehand. if you feel it start to crease or tear, then just do your best to try and get it in, but dont overly force it in. The shiny side of the film must be up, not the tan/whitish/pinkish side.

Depending on which length of roll you use, it will feel different when it is fully loaded. The 24 shot roll will end and have about a quarter of the reel uncovered. A 36 shot roll will end just inside of the tabs. If your roll ends really far outside the tabs, then you need to unload the reel.

Normal reel.

Reel after being liberated from its other side.

To unload the reel you want to hold the left side and turn the right side forward until you feel the click and pull both sides apart. Then just dump the film on the table and start again with either side. When you put the reel back together, make sure the grooves are set in the right place without it being forced together.

See the tabs on the inside of the middle section?

Match them with the corresponding grooves. This reel can be used for 3 different sizes of film.

Once you get the reel loaded while in the dark, you want to put the pieces back together. inside the tanks. The funnel piece keeps the light from touching the film so you can get to that point without the lid when you can turn the lights on.

I usually set all the pieces out on a table in order so its easy for me to put everything back together without fumbling around too much.

Part 2, I will jump into the actual process with times and chemicals you use and when to use them.

What you need:

Paterson Film Tank.     Single or Double

It beats my why the double tank is less expensive than the single, but thats the reason why I got one. and it came with 2 reels, not just 1.

I'm sorry if this guide was confusing, it was my first time at writing instructions like this. If you have any questions, I shall try to clarify.

Check out my most recent set of pictures from Venice Beach

Choosing a 35mm Camera

Check out my most recent set of pictures from Venice Beach Here.

I found a good article on I Still Shoot Film talking about what to look for when you buy a 35mm film camera for people who are looking to get into film photography. Shooting a film camera has great benefits such as slowing you down/thinking critically, higher quality images (even still at 35mm), and being a hell of a great time to shoot.

Finding them are ridiculously easy. I bought both of my 35mm cameras on ebay. My old pentax K1000 I got  for 45 bucks but regularly go for 45-100 for a decent one, and my canon rebel for $20 practically brand new. I highly reccommend it to anybody who shoots pictures regularly. Even more so to my readers in Japan since film is still fairly easy to find and get developed.

I've also shot with a Nikon FM10 and a Canon AE-1 and those were great options as well.

You can check out the article here.

 My newest set of pictures will be out on Thursday morning.

Go out and shoot this Wednesday and have a great time not blowing up your hands with fireworks, and enjoy your 4th of July. I think i am going to Downtown Disney to get some Firework shots.

Web Site Planning Part 1

One of the most important issues that artists have to deal with is how to show their work and how to get paying jobs. There are convenient sites on the internet that solve the issue of how to show their work such as Deviant Art and Flickr, but these sites can only take you so far. These sites are great tools for entering contests and getting noticed if you don't want to pursue a professional career, and they can help you get feedback from other knowledgeable artists. By the way, I have profiles on DeviantArt and Flickr where I actively post my work. Mostly my unedited shots go up on Flickr and my edited shots go on DeviantArt.

I'm at the point where I need something a bit more professional so I can get side jobs in the future, and having my own website is the way to go. The problems I face are very few but somewhat overwhelming. I, like most other photographers, am really cheap. Not so much cheap as I am frugal, which is a concept my friends don't ever get about me. They look at my over sized nose and go straight to cheap. So, I am looking to build and design my own website but there are a ridiculous amount of options these days for making a website. Before, you used to have to go down to the bookstore and pick up a book on HTML and Javascript and hope you don't get bored after 10 minutes. These days, there are about 15 different ways to make a site. The most plausible options I have seem to be either Flash or Wordpress.

Wordpress is a content management system that is basically a template that is very simple to add new content with very little to no change to the site other than the new content. It has several add-ons used for automating and simplifying the entire process so there is less to learn and less to do which is very easy for a person with little knowledge of how to run a website. There are several different addons to facilitate showing off my images, but it seems to be a bit too much for what I am looking for.

My other option is to design my site using Adobe Flash. Flash is a design system with an incorporated programming language called Actionscript. The hardest part about going this route is that I have to do every part of the process myself as opposed to wordpress where all the functions are done and ready to go and the design needs to be changed.

On Part 2, I will be going over the actual process of planning and what factors to think about when devising a concept for your site.