>i finally found some access to a darkroom. the problem is,
>that i never developped pictures myself...
>...ask if anybody had any pointers to books, web resources
>containing useful advice & beginner tips/guides.
Well? Where to start?
My advice would be to immediately standardize on the Ilford
system. There is no "black magic" (only black and white magic)
with their modern materials and chemistry. Their info sheets
are excellent and give you all of the times, temperatures and
handling instructions you could ever hope for. Very readable.
Very usable.
I would find somebody locally that is actively doing their own
BW so you can learn by example how to process film. There are
some things you can read about, others it helps to be shown.
It helps to quickly "standardize" your printing process. In
otherwords, a properly exposed and processed HP5+ neg will
require x-number of seconds at F-x at height-x to produce a
normal 5x7 print. This eliminates the need to constantly guess
your way to a proper print. Having a start-point is critical.
Initially, I wouldn't mess with anything but the Ilford
Multigrade RC papers and Multigrade developer. You can process
a proof or test strip to the point of "lights-on" in under two
minutes.
Do I sound like a commercial for Ilford? Believe it or not, I
do use other stuff too, but only for very specific purposes.
Anyway, your most valuable learning tool is a mentor. I grew up
in the darkroom. I learned how to process pictures before I
even went to kindergarten. Even so, it was a dozen years before
I started up my own darkroom. Relearning everything was tough
and I wasted a lot of time and materials getting back in action
again.
Most important tip for printing: Learn and use the "F-Stop"
method. There are various time charts available on the web to
get you going. (I eventually bought expensive timers and
analyzers that do this for me).
I would recommend that you do not use any C-41 process films
except Ilford XP-2. You will spend most of your time chasing
the film-base all around. C-41 process films are much more
difficult to print in the BW darkroom than traditional films.
Ilford has their 8x10 with two rolls of HP5+ student packs.
These are GREAT! The price for the 8x10 paper (slice and dice
to get the smaller prints) is about the same as their regular
packages of 8x10 and they give you the two rolls of film for
essentially free.
AG-Schnozz
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