Health & Safety
- Limit access to the darkroom. Only approved persons should be allowed to work in the room.
- Practice good housekeeping. Keep the work area clean and uncluttered to prevent tripping over hazardous chemical bottles.
- Separate the wet and dry areas.
- Always segregate chemicals. (Don’t store acids near reducer).
- Use the least toxic chemicals available. Avoid cyanides, heavy metals and developers containing pyrocatechol or pyrogallol when possible.
- Do not store chemicals on the floor.
- Do not eat, drink or smoke in the darkroom.
- The darkroom should be well ventilated.
- Wear appropriate protective equipment whenever possible, such as gloves, goggles, etc.)
- Always wash hands with soap and warm water after working with chemicals.
- Know how to use emergency equipment prior to an actual emergency.
- Always Add Acid to water, never water to acid. (Remember ‘AAA’)
- Keep a spill kit in the darkroom.
- Do not use paper towels or saw dust to clean up acid spills as this may cause a fire.
- Pregnant women should not be exposed to powdered developer.
- Store all chemicals in locations that will minimize the chance of breakage and splashing.
- Label all containers.
- Keep all containers and trays closed or covered when not in use to prevent the release of toxic gases.
- Do not wash any chemicals down the sink (exceptions noted below).
• All spent chemicals should be placed into an appropriate waste container. (A container the same as the one the chemical was originally shipped in is best).
Terminology
Aperture - The opening in a lens through which light passes to expose the film
Exposure - The quantity of light allowed to act on a photographic material; the lens aperture controls intensity or amount of light, and the shutter speed (or the enlarger timer in printing) controls the time.
Shutter - Blades that controls the time during which light reaches the film
Temperature - is a numerical measure of hot or cold
Agitate - Keep a chemical moving
Developer - A Chemical bath which converts exposed silver halides to black metallic silver, so making the latent image on exposed films or photographic papers visible.
Fix - Chemical process which converts unused light-sensitive silver-halide crystals to a soluble silver complex in both negatives and prints, making the image stable and permanent.
Developing tank – Hold the film and spirals for developing
Spiral – Holds the film for developing
Latent - Exposed but still invisible image, not yet developed
Analyse – to examine in detail
Contact frame – holds the negatives to make a contact sheet
Enlarger – machine to produce and enlargement of a negative
Photographic paper - Is coated with a light-sensitive chemical formula, used for making photographic prints.
Focus finder – Used in the darkroom to find the grain on the image
Timer – used to calculate the exposure of photographic paper
Printing (masking) frame – holds the paper flat during exposure under the enlarger
Chemicals – Developer and fix
Composition - Arrangement of visual elements
Focal point - The most important, interesting part of something
Contrast – The difference between extremes of lighting /the difference between the color or shading of the printed material and the background on which it is printed
Reciprocal relationship - In photography a reciprocal value is used to explain the F/stop to Shutter Speed relationship.
Depth of field – Distance between nearest and furthest parts of a subject which can be imaged in acceptable sharp focus at one setting of the lens.
Shutter speed - the length of time a camera's shutter is open when taking a photograph.
Emulsion – The coating on film or paper. A mix of light-sensitive silver halides
Enlargement - A print larger than the negative used to produce it (blow up).
Test strip -Method of calculating exposure in photographic printing. A range of exposures are given to a strip of paper, from part of the image, this helps judge the correct exposure for the final print.
Under exposed - A condition in which too little light reaches the film or sensor, producing a thin negative, a dark positive image or a muddy-looking print.
Over exposed - A situation in which too much light reaches the film or sensor and produces a dense negative or a very light positive image.
Exposure - The quantity of light allowed to act on a photographic material; the lens aperture controls intensity or amount of light, and the shutter speed (or the enlarger timer in printing) controls the time.
Shutter - Blades that controls the time during which light reaches the film
Temperature - is a numerical measure of hot or cold
Agitate - Keep a chemical moving
Developer - A Chemical bath which converts exposed silver halides to black metallic silver, so making the latent image on exposed films or photographic papers visible.
Fix - Chemical process which converts unused light-sensitive silver-halide crystals to a soluble silver complex in both negatives and prints, making the image stable and permanent.
Developing tank – Hold the film and spirals for developing
Spiral – Holds the film for developing
Latent - Exposed but still invisible image, not yet developed
Analyse – to examine in detail
Contact frame – holds the negatives to make a contact sheet
Enlarger – machine to produce and enlargement of a negative
Photographic paper - Is coated with a light-sensitive chemical formula, used for making photographic prints.
Focus finder – Used in the darkroom to find the grain on the image
Timer – used to calculate the exposure of photographic paper
Printing (masking) frame – holds the paper flat during exposure under the enlarger
Chemicals – Developer and fix
Composition - Arrangement of visual elements
Focal point - The most important, interesting part of something
Contrast – The difference between extremes of lighting /the difference between the color or shading of the printed material and the background on which it is printed
Reciprocal relationship - In photography a reciprocal value is used to explain the F/stop to Shutter Speed relationship.
Depth of field – Distance between nearest and furthest parts of a subject which can be imaged in acceptable sharp focus at one setting of the lens.
Shutter speed - the length of time a camera's shutter is open when taking a photograph.
Emulsion – The coating on film or paper. A mix of light-sensitive silver halides
Enlargement - A print larger than the negative used to produce it (blow up).
Test strip -Method of calculating exposure in photographic printing. A range of exposures are given to a strip of paper, from part of the image, this helps judge the correct exposure for the final print.
Under exposed - A condition in which too little light reaches the film or sensor, producing a thin negative, a dark positive image or a muddy-looking print.
Over exposed - A situation in which too much light reaches the film or sensor and produces a dense negative or a very light positive image.