So You Want To Be A Great Darkroom Printer?

Making great prints in the darkroom doesn't happen by accident. Like anything done well, it is a labor of love and doers not come easily. If you are equal to the challenge it will open up an exciting lifetime avocation. It is a lot of hard work and involves many years of studying the technical aspects of photography. It starts with classes, workshops, textboxes on photography and supplies, including chemicals, photographic papers, films and a knowledge of sensitomitry. Also, it involves countless hours in the darkroom on a regular basis, not just a casual visit once or twice a month. Before one even opens the darkroom door, you must have in your hand exposed film that contains excellent "previsualized" images, not images made by a random pressing of the shutter release.

And last, after all of the studying and experimenting with various chemicals, papers, films and light sources on enlargers you must find the combination of those elements that produces the prints that please you and other viewers. By doing that you cease wasting hours endlessly experimenting, which time should be devoted to your own processing workflow.

Good luck
Robert Byers