UNIT 4 - AO2 (1/3) - Developing film.

INTRODUCTION

Since I started shooting film a hundred years ago in the summer of 2014, I've always had a huge aspiration to learn the processes of the medium and a year and a half later I've finally aquired the tools I need to start self-developing black and white film. To prepare I bought two rolls of 35mm HP5+ and one 120mm roll so I could fill the tank, I planned on shooting my 35mm first as my camera had a light meter built in so this would be easier to calculate however my battery died halfway through a roll I was shooting, I decided to instead shoot on my medium format TLR, afterwards I looked up on the development times I would need for HP5+ with the chemicals that I have. Below I have attached a guide that was written to me by my Uncle.

DEVELOPING FILM

1. In complete darkness or by using a lightproof changing bag, load the film onto the spiral and pop it in the tank. The darkness has to be complete. Incomplete darkness is just the same as "a little light" and light will fog the unprocessed film and quite probably ruin it. First of all, trim off the tongue of the film with a pair of scissors, push the film into the start marks on the spiral and then twist the spiral two and fro to "walk" the film onto it. Then put it in the tank and close the lid. 2. The next stage involves development. Start with the right amount of developer according to the instructions (25ml for HP5+) and aim, through carefully adding warm water or cold as needed to get it to the desired temperature. That's usually 20C. If you've mixed it up to the right volume and it's still too hot or to cold then sit the container in a bath of hot or cold water checking it regularly and making sure that it doesn't up-end itself in the water bath. Get your clock or watch ready and pour the developer into the tank starting the timing when you're sure the developer has covered all the film. Tap the bottom of the tank a few times on a solid surface (gently) to dislodge any air bubbles sticking to the film and invert the tank continuously for ten seconds - usually about four or five inversions. Invert the tank once or twice every minute until the time for the developer has finished (6 minutes for HP5+). About ten seconds before the allotted time for development is up, either pour the developer down the drain if its a one-shot type or into a storage bottle if you want to re-use it. Try to keep the room temperature at about the same level as the developer or sit the tank in a bath of water at the same temperature throughout development to avoid a drop-off that could lead to the film emerging underdeveloped. 3. Next comes the fixer which, in the manner of the stop bath, should have been prepared in advance and kept at the same 20C in readiness. Once the stop bath has been drained, pour in the fixer and invert for 30 seconds then twice on the min. After the correct time is up (normally around a couple of minutes - it'll say on the fixer container) pour the liquid back into a storage bottle for future use. 4. The final stage is washing the film. You'll notice a pattern beginning to emerge here - it's a good idea to have some water at 20C to hand just to rinse the fixer off the film a couple of times before proper washing. Staying in the fix too long can bleach delicate highlight detail. For most of us it's more a theoretical risk but life's risky enough without wantonly threatening our highlights for no good reason.

5. Once washed, the film is hung up to dry in a dust free place where the air wont be disturbed. I find the shower cubicle is an ideal spot. First of all, run the shower for a few minutes to generate some steam and then wait for the water droplets to fall to earth taking airborne dust with them. I suspend a wooden clothes peg from the shower rail by means of some plastic-coated wire, attach the film and hang another one on the bottom to weight the film so it dries nice and straight.

SCANNING

With scanning I used the same technique that I used for my final piece in UNIT 3 -- however I came across some issues. When I was drying the film in my shower over time the negatives started to curl, I added a weight to the bottom however this became problematic later on. After the negatives had dried I cut them up into four strips with three photographs a piece. To scan them I layed the a strip onto my scanners glass and digitised them with a high DPI value. Once they opened in Adobe Photoshop I did my standard process of inverting and adjusting the levels until the images tones and contrast were correct.

Some of the problems I encountered with this scan included:

- Some of the negatives were not in focus

- This was because of how the negatives had somewhat curled, so when they were in the scanner they bended slightly - to solve this I could get a piece of glass that was around the size of the strip of film and lay it on top of the negative so that it would lie completely flat and therefor be more in focus and sharper.

- A lot of the negatives were dirty and had smudge marks.

- This is due to me scanning them with my hands alone and not using some micro-fibre gloves or cleaning the scanners glass. Before I scanned them I cleaned them using a microfibre cloth but I forgot about cleaning the scanners glass itself.

- Quite a few of the photographs appear to be blown out with the light

- This is mainly a technical fault but its because the flatbed scanner I'm using doesn't back-light the negatives well so the dynamic range of the negatives is reduced substantially.

- To solve this my best solution would probably be to get a specialised scanner for scanning film negatives, not only do they properly back-light the negatives - they often come with specialised film holders which hold the strip the exact distance away from the scanner and are also keep them far straighter so they'll be much sharper than what I've been doing recently.

THE FINISHED NEGATIVES

first develop 1 3

first develop 1-3

first develop 1

first develop 1 2

first develop 1-2

first develop 1 1-3