I got bit by the RA-4 reversal bug a few weeks back, diving deep into chemistry, filtration, processing, and rinsing (more on the rinsing a bit later). The RA-4 development process is used to produce a color print on (you guessed it) color paper in the darkroom. In this article, I cover my RA-4 reversal […]
Category: Darkroom printing
Find all EMULSIVE articles dedicated to darkroom printing – aka “wet printing” – right here; from traditional black and white and RA-4 (colour) darkroom printing processes to lith, platinum-palladium.
Posted inArticles
Making trichromes with Solarfast dye: A cheap and fast alternative to gum bichromate printing??
Last year, while browsing in my excellent local art supply store, I noticed the rack of Solarfast dyes from Jacquard. It was there with their cyanotype supplies and I was fascinated to learn that it is a photosensitive dye that acts like cyanotype sensitizer but is available in a wide variety of colors. Above: My […]
Posted inGuides & How-Tos
How-to: Develop paper negatives “out and about” with a field development kit – by Jim Skelton
After I learned a bit about using my Polaroid camera to take pictures on paper negatives, I made up a little kit that included a Polaroid camera, tripod, a dark box with paper negatives loaded into empty film cartridges, and a changing box in which I could swap out the cartridges as I took pictures. […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
My Quest to make art for the living room wall – Part 2: Paper negatives
In part 1 of my Quest to make art for the living room wall, I went over the process I use to make black and white 8×10 prints in the darkroom. I want to make bigger prints though — 16×20 and bigger. Although silver gelatin darkroom paper is available in big sizes (especially if you’re […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
Elevating the humble cyanotype…with a UV-enlarger!
I’ve been shooting black and white film for over 18 years, and since a few years ago, I have had my own darkroom set up in the basement. I love to do some uncomplicated printing on RC paper every now and then. When I built my own XPan-format panoramic camera, I was confronted with a […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
My Quest to make art for the living room wall – Part 1: Iterating contact prints
In this article, I talk about my progress so far on my quest to make art for the living room wall. In this, part 1, I cover making an initial contact print, and through my process of iterating test prints to a “final” outcome. I put “final” in double-quotes because, well, you’ll see! I hope […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
It all comes out in the wash: a cheap DIY print washer for darkrooms without water
I left an essential item off of the shopping list for my sub-$500 darkroom article: the print washer. As much as I am very proud of my less-than-$500 basement darkroom, it is a dry darkroom. I’m lucky, the water pipes are visible in the exposed ceiling, and plumbing parts are relatively inexpensive. I could run some plumbing and […]
Posted inOpinion
Pricing your work: Economies of print, or “assigning worth when value is subjective”
When looking back on my photographs, even as “recently” far as 2019, I feel an abstraction in what my role in these images ought to be. In the moment of pressing the shutter, I feel I am the photographer, I have taken this picture.
Posted inDarkroom printing
Printing from slide film using RA-4 reversal processing
Being partial to shooting some slide film where financially possible has always left me with a big frustration when it comes to viewing my precious slide film photos. I own a slide projector and a very good 35mm scanner but with the last real darkroom process for printing slide film: ILFORD’s Cibachrome having been out […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
Four very different darkroom printers test ILFORD’s new Multigrade RC Deluxe paper
ILFORD released a raft of new and updated products in late 2019, one of which was brand new Multigrade RC Deluxe paper. Called “MG V” by some in our community, I was provided a box some weeks before the official release to either test myself or give away as part of a competition/event. I decided […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
Making colour prints in the darkroom: welcome to RA-4 printing
If you’re reading this guide, you’re probably new to RA-4 colour printing. Don’t worry, until recently, so was I. Over the past few months, I have spent a lot of time finding information about and practically learning the process. Since what I needed was scattered around the internet in small bits on different websites, forums […]
Posted inDarkroom printing
A practical guide to… Lith printing
When mainstream photography was entangled with the darkroom, the act of printing a photo would show the artist’s hand as much as what was photographed.
Posted inArticles
The Simple Enlarger: compact, portable, low-cost darkroom printing for all
I want to spread the idea that a photographic enlarger is fundamentally a very simple thing.
Posted inArticles, Darkroom, Darkroom printing
Darkroom technique: fine-tuning the negative
Back over the summer of 2018, my beloved Bronica SQ-A became gravely ill, and I sent it off to the camera spa for some TLC.
Posted in5 Frames..., Articles, Darkroom printing
5 Frames… With Lomography Color Negative 400 (EI 400 / 120 format / Fujifilm GA645Zi)
Here is an introduction to a local festival that may surprise you! And a camera that I have not mentioned before, although it is featured in my contributor’s portrait: My Fuji GA645Zi.
Posted inDarkroom printing, Film camera reviews, Reality So Subtle film camera reviews, Reviews
Camera review: the RealitySoSubtle 6×12
I have been using digital cameras for the past 20 years. Like many of us, my love of photography began when I was a young using a little Kodak Brownie camera.
Posted inDarkroom printing, Film stock reviews, Kodak Film Stock Reviews, Reviews
My first time with slide film: new Kodak EKTACHROME E100
Most of the frames which make up this mini-review are from the first roll of slide film
Posted inDarkroom printing, Film stock reviews, Kodak Film Stock Reviews, Reviews
Film stock review: Kodak Pro Image 100
I’ll begin this review with a quick disclaimer – I’ve been shooting film for less than a year at this point.
Posted in5 Frames..., Articles, Darkroom printing
5 Frames… With Kodak Tri-X 400 (EI 400 / 35mm format / Nikon FM2n)
Aside from the fact these photos were taken in the streets, they stray far from traditional street photography.
Posted in5 Frames..., Articles, Darkroom printing
5 Frames… With Kodak EKTACHROME E100 (EI 100 / 35mm format / Leica R5)
I have to start with saying of late my taste in colour film has been changing.
