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Photographic Paper FAQ's Which paper product is best/suitable for photograms.  All of our ILFORD photographic papers will easily produce photograms, so the choice will depend on which surface finish you prefer and whether or not you want fibre or resin coated. Resin coated paper is lower cost, easy to process and dry flat and would be a good choice for starting out. Does reciprocity affect paper? Paper products are designed for much longer exposure times than film and are less sensitive to reciprocity...

Why print? When you can get excellent prints from your black & white negatives by sending them off to commercial processing laboratories, why make your own? For many photographers, making a photographic print is as much a part of the process as shooting the image itself. For a start, it is a creative process that is both enjoyable and fulfilling and, much like the role of a post processing tools such as Photoshop or Lightroom in any digital workflow, (although much more fun) a darkroom provides film...

The first stage of making a darkroom print is to determine the exposure time. If you have already created a contact sheet of your negatives, and they appear correctly exposed, then you should have a rough idea of the necessary exposure (provided you haven’t moved the enlarger head or aperture setting after exposing the contact sheet). Note: If you change the degree of enlargement you will also need to adjust the exposure. Some enlargers have scales printed on their columns to make this easier. Another...

Contact sheets are a great way to review and record your images. They allow you to view all the negatives on a roll of film before deciding which ones you want to print and how you may want to crop them. They also provide a permanent record of those negatives for filing purposes. How to make a contact sheet To make a contact sheet we recommend using ILFORD MULTIGRADE RC DELUXE Set the enlarger head to a height that gives a 40cm (16in) wide rectangle of light on the baseboard Put a MULTIGRADE fil...

Retouching is normally done to remove blemishes from the negative or the final print. It can also be used to change the tone or remove unwanted detail.  As retouching can be difficult, care is required. Advice for retouching The most risky retouching techniques involve removing parts of the image, by bleaching, cutting, or scraping with the edge of a sharp knife. The addition of density is generally less risky, and can be done using dye, paint etc, or a suitable soft pencil. When retouching prints from o...

A black border often enhances a print and does not involve any sort of mounting or overlay. Ink or tape borders The easiest way to produce narrow black borders is to rule them with a pen directly onto your finished print: an India-ink pen gives the most solid line, but most permanent (all surface) spirit based markers are much less expensive and will do the job. For slightly wider black borders, narrow, self-adhesive strips are available from graphic arts suppliers. Supplied in dispensers, of various w...

Mounting your Prints Even the most stunning print can look better when it has been properly mounted. Mounted prints are also better protected as they are kept flat with the image separated from the immediate surroundings by unobtrusive margins. There are no hard and fast rules about mounting prints; the most suitable results will depend on individual preference, the nature of the image, the intended use and other circumstances. It is recommended that only boards and other materials intended for the p...

Split grade printing The version of split grade printing described here is that taught to me by the ILFORD head printers, Mike Walden and Terry Offord, and is the simplest, fastest way to make good darkroom prints from pretty much any negative. (The exception is really underexposed negatives to print these you usually only need high contrast). This is a very powerful technique that can be used routinely with variable contrast (VC) papers, such as ILFORD MULTIGRADE. It makes use of the differing performa...

ILFORD PHOTO offer an extensive range of black & white photographic paper. A photographer's choice of paper is a subjective decision based on personal tastes and preferences. It can also be impacted by the type of images you shoot and the final look you want to achieve. Papers all have different characteristics and purposes and so this guide will walk you through the terminology and choices available to help you pick the perfect paper for your darkroom printing. Base: Resin coated versus Fibre base...

All ILFORD Inspires content has a common goal: To inspire people to try traditional analogue black and white photography by showcasing the power and potential of this highly creative medium. New York Silver Stories Working with the talented team at Exploredinary, this series features four short documentaries telling the stories of silver gelatin darkroom printers in New York City. The Bronx Documentary Center - Turning Negatives into Positives Founded by Michael Kamber, the BDC is a non-profit aimed at ...