AS199/1and"/Museo del Risorgimento. A good work!

Click on the image to see the gallery...but not before sunday!

"Fogli dei giorni" 150 pieces/2002-2008

See you on Thuersday Nov the 6th. I'm going to Turin.

If someone of AS199/1 wants to make up the lesson of Nov the 3th, can reach the AS1998/2 gclass on thuersday nov the 6th in Via del Mattonato.
We are developing and printing...

ARTIFACTS 4 - 30 novembre 2008
La Galerie - Mirafiori Motor Village
Piazza Cattaneo 9, Torino
Dal 4 al 30 novembre 2008 il Mirafiori Motor Village ospita la mostra Artifacts, curata da Daniela Trunfio ed inserita nel calendario delle manifestazioni di Contemporary. L’esposizione fa parte del Progetto di Ricerca AlbumdiFamiglia, sostenuto dalla Fondazione CRT e coordinato da Mario Renosio per l’ISRAT e Luisella d’Alessandro, direttrice della Galerie, e prende in considerazione gli sviluppi e le evoluzioni che l’oggetto “Album di Famiglia” ha subito nella più recente contemporaneità artistica.
Fin dal suo nascere, l’album era un work in progress per fermare la memoria e destinarla alla stretta cerchia dei parenti/eredi; oggi viene invece ricostruito a posteriori, secondo una lettura operata nell’assemblaggio dei reperti, e il prodotto artistico che ne deriva diventa patrimonio di tutti coloro che fruiscono l’opera.
L’album così “ricostruito” viene vissuto, a seconda degli artisti, come mezzo per ripercorrere la propria storia individuale; o per evidenziare il paradigma di lettura di una generazione, di uno spaccato sociale, e a volte anche razziale; o, infine, per sviscerare problematiche riconducibili agli archetipi della famiglia: la complessità dei rapporti e delle relazioni, il sottaciuto o meglio quanto di complicato, e inconscio gioca nella banalità di certi riti e dinamiche familiari.
L’oggetto album muta nei suoi contenuti, nella sua fruizione: da privato si fa collettivo; muta nelle sue rappresentazioni spaziando dalla performance, al cinema, video, scultura, web, pittura e ovviamente fotografia.
Il risultato sono installazioni, dipinti, fotografie e performance che interpretano l’album di famiglia attraverso reperti, ricordi o anche solo la memoria dei racconti.
L’azione è mirata alcune volte a preservare e ricostruire le testimonianze, altre ad interpretare e perfino a inventare la storia del passato, ma la finalità resta la medesima: definire un’identità nella quale riconoscersi. In un periodo in cui l’identità è un fragile vessillo che aiuta a distinguersi e ritrovarsi, il recupero delle proprie radici è il primo passo verso la definizione di una specificità che può essere individuale e collettiva come sociale e territoriale. Studiare il passato per capire il presente: questo è dunque l’intento degli artisti in mostra.

Gli artisti in mostra
Serafino Amato, Delphine Balley, Maggie Cardelús, Giuliano Cocco, Cristiano De Gaetano, Uwe Dressler, Giuliano Galletta, Guerrieri/Dallavalle, Huang Yan, Francesco Lauretta, Salvatore Licitra, Glenn Ligon, Ugo Locatelli, Fulvio Magurno, Sally Mann, Alina Marazzi, Kristine McCarroll, Malekeh Nayiny, Sylvie Romieu, Ferdinando Scianna, Gabriele Trabia.

Serafino Amato, Italia - installazione
I suoi Fogli dei giorni. Istogrammi di vita quotidiana, sono una biblioteca/libreria (e come tale si presenta) da cui sfilare immagini: luoghi, oggetti o persone che evocano parole e segni.
“Questo lavoro è cominciato in realtà assai prima che iniziassi a fotografare con la piccola macchina tascabile comprata per l’occasione. Ho ripreso “cose così”: voglio dire, cose che non necessariamente avessero per me valore particolare da un punto di vista visivo”.

ARTIFACTS
4 - 30 novembre 2008
La Galerie - Mirafiori Motor Village
Piazza Cattaneo 9, Torino
Dal lunedi al sabato: 9.00-19.30 orario continuato
Domenica 9.00-12.30 / 15.00-19.30
Ingresso libero tel. 011.0042000
8 novembre: Apertura straordinaria serale in occasione dell’appuntamento di “Saturday Art Fever”.

AS199/1 "Museo del Risorgimento"

AS199/1
If you missed the appointment at the "Museo del risorgimento" oct the 27th,
you can reach us AS199/2 Thuersday the 30th at 10:30
see instructions below.

AS199/1and2 Museo del Risorgimento, Piazza Venezia

On monday October 27th AS199/1
and on thuersday 30th AS199/2
we are going to visit the: "Museo del Risorgimento" in Piazza Venezia. The entrance is free. The Museum is rather interesting, but the most important thing is that the light is really low.
We will have a good opportunity to solve some technical problems...
Our appointment is at 10:30 in front of the Altare della Patria, Vittoriano - The big white building in Piazza Venezia. I'm waiting there untill 10:45, then, if someone delay can reach us in the Museum. We will work with two cameras of mine, but, please, bring your camera too.
Here some information about the museum. Please read it.

The Central Museum of the Risorgimento at the Vittoriano

In 1878, at the death of Victor Emmanuel II, who had assumed the title of King of Italy in 1861 with the creation of the Italian State, the parliament decided to build, in Rome, a monument dedicated to the first king of unified Italy, thus called Vittoriano (from “Victor”).
This monument – which was inaugurated in 1911 would have housed the Central Museum of the Risorgimento, destined to gather the testimonies of the political, economical and social transformation of Italy during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
These testimonies consist of papers (letters, journals, and work manuscripts), paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, prints, arms, which recall the events and chief protagonists of this important period of the history the Country, thus forming a vast memorial archive of the Risorgimento.
The walls of the Museum, within the Vittoriano’s complex, carry engraved in the marble, extracts of significant texts by the major witnesses of the history of Italy, so rendering the Victor Emmanuel Monument itself an integral part of the Museum.
The expositive route currently proposed follows the fundamental stages in the history of Italy, from the reforms of the various peninsular States occurred during the second half of the 18th century to the end of the First World War, through testimonies of different kinds, which lay themselves open to various interpretations.
All along the walls of the staircase leading to the museum there are numerous engravings that illustrate the events which prepared the Risorgimento, from the diffusion of the ideals of the French Revolution to the evoking of the exploits of Napoleon: in general, these are symbolic depictions which sometimes take up themes from the classical antiquity and turn them into allegories of modern history.
The first section of the Museum is dedicated to the chief protagonists of the Risorgimento. Big caskets expose relics, paintings and documents concerning Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour, while parallel sections illustrate other figures associated with the history of the 19th century.
The gallery is divided into single sections pivoting on the major stages of the Risorgimento struggles: from the Restoration which followed the fall of Napoleon, to 1848; from the Roman Republic set up in 1849 to the exploits of the Thousand (1860), to the rejoining of Rome to Italy (1870).
At the same time, along the gallery, a parallel and complementary route aims at illustrating particular historical “themes”: the Civic Guard, the brigandage, the political satire, the historical depiction techniques during the 19th century (from drawings to photography), the relics, the Italian Flag, the coins and the medals.
The whole route is scanned by a selection of the arms that belonged to the Risorgimento “heroes”.
The final section of the Museum is entirely dedicated to the First World War. In the middle of the section there is the gun carriage used in 1921 for transporting the remains of the Unknown Warrior, while the walls bear large paintings illustrating the exploits of the Gold Medals and a series of drawings and paintings realised by painter-soldiers Anselmo Bucci, Aldo Carpi and Italico Brass, together with other relics from the First World War.
As ideal conclusion of this route appropriate video-installations realised by the Istituto Luce offer a reworking of images taken from the film Gloria, made in 1934 with original materials shot by the cine-operator party of the Italian Army, suitably linked to photos, paintings and relics of the Museum in such a way as to evoke the exploits of the Italian Army during the war, in the most complete and correct way possible.
Thank you. I'll wait you there!
Serafino Amato

I suggest you to go. Oct. 22, 18:30

The Department of Art History and Studio Art is hosting a lecture night on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 18:30 in classroom 1.1 of the Tiber Campus

Laurie Kalb (Museum Studies) ,"The Capitoline Hill and the First Modern Museum in Rome."

Augusto Pieroni (Modern/Contemporary art), "The Evolution of Artistic Languages in the Avant-Gardes"

Crispin Corrado (Ancient art), "Wishes for Eternity: Deity Assimilation Statues of Boys in the Roman Imperial Period".

Refreshments will be served after the lectures.

AS199/2 Orto botanico 35mm BW

AS199/2 Orto botanico 6x6 color

AS199/1 Orto botanico 6x6 color

AS199/2 Orto botanico 6x6 cm

Click on the image to see the gallery (but wait untill saturday...My assistant in Venice...with her girl friend)

AS199/1 Orto botanico 6x6 cm

Click on the image to see the gallery (from Thuersday)

AS199/1 Orto botanico 35 mm

Click on the image to see the gallery (from Thuersday)

For your prints...

You can buy photographic paper to:

Fotoforniture Sabatini
Via Germanico,166/168 a - 00192 Roma
tel. +39-063207278 r.a.- fax +39-063212304
http://www.sabatini.ws/chisiamo/chisiamo.htm

or to
E. De Bernardis Fotoforniture Srl
Piazza Della Cancelleria,63
00186 Roma
http://www.prontoimprese.it/lazio/roma/roma/fotografia-apparecchi-e-materiali-produzione-e-commercio|577446.html

you can share (2 or 3 of you) the same paper if you want, to save money.
I suggest you to buy an envelope of 24x30.5 cm (10 sheets)
and an evelope of 18x24 cm (25 sheets)
Multigrade RC Ilford or Tetenal

Thank you, I'm receiving yours mid term tests
For AS199/2 remind to bring your camera on Thersday at the orto botanico.

Mid term-step/1-Try to explain...Have a good week end. (start from the bottom)_AS199/1/2

Now you are ready to start reading this book

p.9..."The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
Dorothea Lange

The Fine Art Approach to Black and White Print Processing

http://reviews.ebay.com/Traditional-Black-amp-White-Print-Processing_
W0QQugidZ10000000005661073

I have written a guide on Black & White Film Processing, and when I sum up the facts, it is a lot easier to process film than it is to make a print in the darkroom, one that displays all of the intent you had when you pressed the shutter of your camera.

Let's start from the beginning. I’ve come to find out that print processing takes a lot of experience to do truly well. How to maximize the inherent potential in a given paper with a certain developer and to eke out the maximum of each negative is knowledge that is seriously hard work to come by. I'll try to advice on how to get a good start.

1. To choose a negative. If you look at your negatives on a light table, or hold it up against a window while there's daylight, to choose a 'technically' good negative, you should see detail in both the 'thinnest' and the 'densest' areas of it. Ideally it should also not have completely 'empty' thin areas (shadows or dark areas in the print) and completely black or opaque dense areas (highlights). That is more brightness range than most papers can handle.

2. To get a print without worrying about quality, it's easy to put the negative in the enlarger, raise the enlarger head to the appropriate height and printing size, focus on the paper easel, turn the enlarger lamp off, insert a paper, turn the lamp on again for some arbitrary time, move the print to the developer and leave it in there while agitating and removing it when it looks OK, then put it in the stop bath and finally fixer.
This way you will get something resembling a photographic print, but most likely a really bad one.
Getting good prints is really down to developing a good process, and for that you need a few things:

- Paper. I started with resin coated variable contrast paper, because it's cheap and available in many places still.
- Enlarger, with a lamp, lens, negative carrier, easel, focusing aid, and variable contrast filters.
- Paper developer, stop bath (water works fine if you change it every few prints), and fresh fixer.
- Safelight.
- Trays (one paper size larger than the paper you're using preferably), tongs.
- Beakers / graduates to mix chemistry, and a thermometer for temperature.
- A dark space.
- Dry compressed air to blow dust off negatives.
- Patience of a saint, dedication, and an understanding that it takes a LOT of time to get the results you want.

3. Contrast - what is it?
Contrast is the difference in tone between the darkest black and the brightest white that you produce in a print. There is overall contrast and local contrast.
Overall contrast is a judgement of the entire print where you see a good range of tones between black and white, along with a strong black and crisp whites.
Local contrast is basically the same thing but it talks about minute details of the print. Good local contrast aids in seeing the details of the print clearer, by having clear distinctions between bordering or 'local' tonal values.
Low contrast prints are thought of as looking ‘muddy’ by some, but can be very effective and beautiful with the right subject matter. High contrast prints look very ‘snappy’ to some and can be equally beautiful if used appropriately and creatively.

4. Paper Grades – Contrast Variations
Let's talk about paper, the first item needed. There are many kinds, but basically there are two categories:
A. Graded - graded paper has the same contrast from sheet to sheet in the same box, but are available in various contrast grades to purchase. Ilford Galerie is an example, and it is available in contrast grade 2 and 3. Once upon a time you could get 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 with 0 being the softest (least contrast) and 5 being the hardest (highest contrast). The availability today is grades 2, 3, and 4.
With graded paper, what determines the final contrast in the finished print is almost exclusively the contrast of your negative. This requires experience because you have to be able to interpret negatives and their contrast before you print them in order to select the correct paper. (Or if you are really good at what you are doing you can 'tailor' your negatives to always print well on a certain grade of paper).
B. Variable contrast - this type of paper is available as one single 'type', but you can vary the contrast by using multi contrast filters. With these filters you can vary the contrast according to the same contrast levels as graded paper, and sometimes more. The Ilford set that I have contains filters for grades: 00, 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5. It is my opinion that not all of them are necessary, and I actually only use two of them, and I will explain why a little bit further down. These filters are designed to be introduced somewhere in the 'light path' between the enlarger light source and the printing-paper surface. Some enlargers have drawers they go in, others have small fixtures under the lens. The effect is the same.

Black & White photo paper is essentially sensitive to blue and green light. The graded papers are used without filters and are exposed to whatever blue and green light the light source (filtered through the negative) produces.
The variable contrast filters vary and determine how much blue and green light reaches the paper and therefore alters the contrast.

5 – Choice: Variable Contrast Paper
I will focus on using variable contrast paper, as it is by far the most commonly used, and it is the most economical to stock in your darkroom as you only need one box for all grades needed, while if you used graded paper, you would have to get one box of each grade, at least until you learn how to master 'tailoring' the negatives to a certain grade. Some people use graded paper with beautiful results, others use variable contrast; it’s mainly personal preference that dictates what you actually use.

6. Print density.
Print density is basically how dark the whole print becomes after it has been processed. There are three factors determining how dark your print will become.
A. Enlarging lens aperture. The enlarging lens has an aperture. This device has a ring that fits around the lens, and as you turn it, metal blades located between the glass elements of your lens move. They move to make the opening in the lens smaller or larger. There are numbers that correspond to which aperture you have chosen. The smallest number is the largest opening, and vice versa. A large aperture (low number) will let more light through the lens to reach the paper surface. Think of it as sunbathing. The longer you stay in the light, the more tan you will become. Same thing with photo paper. The more light that reaches the surface, the darker the print will become.
B. Enlarging time. According to the same reasoning as aperture - to get more light to the paper surface, you can either open the lens wider, or you can illuminate it longer.
C. Developing time. Many people make the mistake of taking the paper out of the developer when it 'looks right'. The amount of time it's in the developer is different every time, and that is a disaster if you want any consistency in your printing at all. You need to have a predetermined time, and if you think your print is either too light or too dark, you will have to lengthen or shorten your exposure time, or change your lens aperture.
I have chosen 3 minutes as my development time. It is pretty long by most standards, but it works for me and the results I desire. Most people use 1m00s, 1m30s, or 2m00s. Settle for one (I don't think the 1 minute option works real well in most situation, longer times mean the dark tones settle down much better usually).

7. Split Grade Printing
I use a technique that is called 'Split Grade Printing'. Straight filter printing means that you examine the negative and choose which variable contrast filter you use to make your print. Split Grade means I use two different filters in succession, but regardless of negative contrast.
I feel that Split Grade allows me a degree more control of the outcome and a nicer tonal range. I also have a much higher success rate in making prints I like – both my own and when I make prints from negatives that others bring.
Filter number 0 is a low contrast filter. It prints a negative of normal contrast to have less contrast in the print. The blacks are not as intense and rich, and the whites can seem a little dull. That is really useful if you have a negative with a lot of contrast, but we can also use this particular filter with a normal contrast negative and focus on printing the highlights to our liking, while completely disregarding what happens in the darker sections of the print.
I do what's called a test strip. First I put my negative into the negative holder, and adjust the enlarger to the column height that yields roughly the size print I want. Then I bring out the focusing aid and focus the enlarger until it's sharp (or sometimes I make it soft on purpose). I take one full sheet of paper, put it in the enlarging easel, and I cover 75% of it with opaque paper. I set my enlarger timer to 40 seconds, start it, and I count backwards from 40. When I get to 20 seconds I move the paper to cover 50%, at 10 seconds 75% and at 5 seconds I completely remove the cover to illuminate the whole print.
Then I submerse that full sheet of paper into the developer and agitate constantly for the first whole minute, then I lift the corner of the tray every 15 seconds. At 2m45s I lift the print out of the developer and let it drip off for 15 seconds. At precisely 3 minutes I put it in the stop bath. I agitate it there for about 20 seconds, lift it up and let it drain for 10 seconds. Finally I put it in the fixer. Usually fixing a paper takes about 1 minute for resin-coated (RC) stock (and 2 minutes for fiber based paper). I actually turn on the lights after 15 seconds because I'm full of anticipation to look at the results (and it’s safe to do so).
It is time to examine this first stage of the print. I look at the highlights only and determine at what exposure time I like the highlights.
Now I turn off the room lights and put a second piece of paper in the easel. I then proceed to expose this full sheet at the time I liked the highlights at Grade 0.

Now comes what you've been waiting for... Part Two…
I change the Grade 0 filter to the Grade 5, and on top of the initial Grade 0 exposure I now make the same 40 second procedure as before. From 40 to 20 seconds I cover 75%, from 20 to 10 I cover 50%, from 10 to 5 I cover 25%, and the last 5 I let the light fall on the entire print surface.
This sheet of paper now gets transferred into the developer, yet again for 3 minutes. At 2m45s I drain, at 3m00s I submerse in the stop bath. 20 seconds in the stop, let it drip off, and finally into the fixer it goes.

The Grade 5 filter is a high contrast filter. It will hardly make a difference in the brightest of the highlights at all, but it will significantly increase the density and the richness of the blacks. Mid-tones between black and white take on their final tone as well in combination with the Grade 0 exposure.

When safe I turn on the room lights and examine the print, and now I choose the combination of the Grade 0 and Grade 5 exposure I like the best. I make a note of these times and the lens aperture so I don't forget them. I actually take a lot more notes than that, and I keep them with the negatives in case I have to make a reprint when people order prints. This way I can make an exact copy of the original.

Step three of this Split Grade process is to expose the full sheet to your selected Grade 0 and Grade 5 times. Something extremely important is to always do them in the same order. Some people like to do the Grade 5 first, others like to do the Grade 0 first. I like the last technique of Grade 0 first.
So I remove the Grade 5 filter and put the Grade 0 filter back in the filter holder, set my enlarger timer for the time I chose, and expose a new sheet of paper. Then I again change to the Grade 5 filter and expose for the time chosen for that filtration. Now the paper goes into the developer of course, let the 3 minutes pass, stop, fix, and now you should have a print that is a good work print.

8. Work Print
A work print is the first step of making a fine print. A work print is a basic rendition of the subject you photographed. A fine print is one that has been refined in many ways. Here are a couple of techniques.

9. Dodging
I have a set of tools that are attached to steel wire. They are sized roughly like a 25 cent coin and I have an oval, a square, a rectangle, a circle, and a triangle. By putting this device under the enlarging lens during the time exposure, I can cover certain parts of the print that I believe will make it look better if it was brighter.
Since we're doing split grade printing, dodging the Grade 0 exposure would basically give you brighter highlights and mid tones. Dodging the Grade 5 exposure would give you less intense blacks and dark-gray tones.

10. Burning In
Burning in is something you do during additional time after your main exposure is over. You shine more light on certain parts of the print that you would believe look better if they were darker.
Once again in Split Grade printing, burning in Grade 0 would mean darker highlights and light-gray tones. Burning in Grade 5 would mean more intense and richer black and dark-gray tones.

After I am done with my work print I let it dry and I keep it around for a while. I pick it up once in a while and look at it. I hang it on my office wall. Then I decide before my next printing session what areas I want to burn in, which ones I want to dodge, and at what filter grade.
Then when I go in the dark-room again I have a clear idea of what I want to achieve. This is a technique that sounds like a lot of work. It is definitely a lot of work. But I believe that unless you did your absolute best with each print you make, then you cheated yourself of an opportunity to really learn about what works and what doesn't work. And I would much rather come out of the darkroom with one print that I am wholly satisfied with than ten of them that are mediocre.

A couple of final thoughts:
a) Get one type of paper, one type of developer. Always use the same dilution on the developer and get used to these materials. All, and I mean ALL, papers and developers are capable of fine results. The results you get are MUCH more dependent on your technique and skill than the subtle differences between various materials. Please don’t fall in that trap.
b) Buy fresh paper and fresh chemistry. Old paper usually looks very bad and has poor contrast. Old chemistry – the same thing. Fresh paper can be inexpensive if you look in the right place.
c) Have fun, be creative, shoot lots of film and experiment with lighting, subject matter, and print all kinds of negatives. It is rewarding in the long run.

Now it's your turn. I wish you good luck if you decide to use this technique, or any other for that matter. There is no shortage of advice out there. This is just my method and what works for me.

I wish you good light!

- Thomas

http://reviews.ebay.com/Traditional-Black-amp-White-Print-Processing_
W0QQugidZ10000000005661073

AS199/2/ 2nd portratit session

Click on the image to see the gallery

AS199/1/2nd portrait session

Click on the image to see the gallery

AS199/2Villa Sciarra

Click on the image to see the gallery

As199/1Villa Sciarra

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FILM 1

Obviously this process has to be done in a DARK ROOM

How to develop B/W film...search

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloritsch/sets/72157594172543125/

Black & White Film Developing Guide

http://reviews.ebay.com/Black-amp-White-Film-
Developing-Guide_W0QQugidZ10000000003726995

The first thing to remember when learning to develop film successfully is to stick to one film, one developer, and one method of development. It is the only good way to learn a sound technique and to fully explore and maximize the potential of the film and ultimately your print.

Keep in mind that the only purpose of developing film is to make the best prints you can make. It doesn't matter how the negatives look to your eyes as long as they produce the results in the prints that you originally wanted.

What films and developers to use? That is a question I get a lot. Any of the available ones will give you acceptable results, and you can't really go wrong. It also depends on what results you're after. Remember that there are no silver bullets when it comes to film or chemistry. They can help you get the results you're after, but the main factor is technique in exposing the film, developing it, and ultimately printing it. The work of the artist is by far more important than the materials used, so try to focus on repeatable results, and please remember to print your images often, only then can you truly know if your negatives are developed well or not.

Important factors:

1. Temperature. Some developers work fine in a temperature range between 65*F and 80*F, others don't. It's safest to keep the temperature you choose to develop at constant, at least in the beginning, and since so many recommended developing times are recommended at 68*F (or 20*C) I stick to that temperature religiously.

2. Time. Consistency requires exact timing, and the best way to achieve that consistency is to make sure the procedure for developing your film is the same every time. Don't change a thing.

3. Persistance. Don't give up if you don't get results immediately.

Basics:

When developing negative black and white film, the image is of course a negative of what your print will look like. That means the areas with the lowest density of developed silver will be the darkest in the print, and the areas with the highest density of developed silver will become the highlights. The dark tones in the print, or the 'thin' parts of the negative develop slowly, because they receive less light at the time of exposure. How much detail you get in this area of your negative depends on how you exposed it in the camera. Overexposed negatives will generally produce very generous detail in the print shadow areas, while underexposed (too little light) will invariably produce blocked up shadow areas without any detail at all. When you develop your film, the density of the developed silver in those areas is practically unaffected by developing the film longer.

The dense areas of your negative, or the highlights of your print, is a different story. This portion of your negative is determined solely by development. Several factors affects the results, mainly developer concentration, developing time, how you agitate your tank, as well as chemistry temperature. This is the reason why it's so important to be accurate in your methods of developing film.

My method of developing film:

The following method works great for me. You may wish to adopt it and do as I do, or you may find that some other method works better for you. We all have individual needs and desire different looks in the finished print.

1. Presoak the film in plain water. I do this for 3 minutes in water that is the same temperature as the developing chemistry. There are some developers that specifically shouldn't be used with a presoak, but 95% of them benefit from it. (The film emulsion is embedded in gelatin, and it swells. Presoaking makes sure the gelatin is properly swelled up by the time the developer is poured in and ensures more even development).

2. Developer. 20*C or 68*F, I mix one shot 'single use' batches of developer just minutes prior to developing the film. After pouring the presoak out, I immediately pour the developer into the tank. When it's all in the tank I start a timer that displays seconds and minutes, counting backwards from my predetermined developing time. I agitate for the entire first minute by inverting my tank with a lid tightly capped onto it. After about 50-55 seconds have passed, I very firmly rap the tank on the counter space six or seven times. This helps air bubbles that can get trapped on the film to dislodge and come to the top. The air bubbles will adversely affect your film development and turn up as marks, usually round and along the edge of the film strip.

3. Agitation. I completely invert the tank every minute a couple of times, and before setting the tank back down, I rap the tank on the counter top to, once again, dislodge those harmful air bubbles. The inversion ensures that the mixed developer acts evenly on the film surface.

4. Stop bath. 15 seconds prior to the film developing time being up, I start pouring the developer out. Then right as the development time ends, I pour pure water into the tank (at 20*C or 68*F, same as the developer). I do NOT use a stop bath since it is known to sometimes be the source of 'pinholes' in the film emulsion, showing up as dark spots on your prints. Developer is alkaline, stop bath is acid. The very large difference between developer and stop bath pH causes this phenomena to happen. You can use a stop bath if you like, but water stops development almost as well, and you run much less risk of pinholes. I change the water a couple of times for a total rinse of about 1-1.5 minutes.

5. Fixing. This is a critical stage of developing your film. It is extremely important to use fresh fixer, because it removes the unexposed silver in the emulsion that the developer didn't develop. If your fixer isn't fresh, or is spent, it will loose its ability to remove that unwanted silver. I always test my fixer before I use it by putting an undeveloped piece of film into the solution. The film strip should clear within the time the manufacturer recommends to use the fixer. I double the time it takes.

The fixer I use is alkaline. You can use acid fixer if you like. They are OK, but alkaline fixers wash out of the emulsion faster and easier. Do not use an alkaline fixer after using an acid stop bath.

I agitate constantly for the entire duration of the fixing. My fixer takes one minute to clear the unexposed silver when it's fresh, so I fix for two minutes. Then I pour the fixer back into its container and continue to use it until it's spent (when the clearing time exceeds the manufacturer's recommended fixing time, or preferably before that point, it should be discarded).

6. Washing. I use the Ilford-method of washing my film. After pouring the fixer out, I rinse with fresh water and a couple of inversions. Then I dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank five times. Dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank ten times. Dump water. Pour in fresh water, invert tank twenty times. Dump water. Rinse in fresh water for about five minutes, and finally do a rinse in distilled water to avoid drying marks on the film to the largest possible extent.

7. Wash aid. Some people like to use wash aids such as Kodak Hypo-clearing agent. With the alkaline fixer and the Ilford washing method there is no need. The purpose of washing film is to wash out unwanted chemicals. The hypo-clearing agent itself must be washed out for archival washing, so you're back to square one. With acid fixers, it may be necessary to use, however.

8. Rinse aid. Kodak Photo-flo (one among many similar products, Kodak is the best known), is a good tool to help the water to run off from the emulsion surface. Use distilled water and follow the instructions.

9. Drying. I hang my film from a nylon line with weights on the end. No air movement to minimize dust sticking to the film emulsion. Drying time varies with Relative Humidity level.

This method has been bullet proof for me. Which materials to use is related to personal taste and you will get as many suggestions as people you ask which film or developer is best.

Good luck, and remember to stick to selections that are the same every time, at least until you master those materials and explore them fully. Then you may venture off and try something else on an experiment level. Until then, keep it simple!

- Thomas
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