Search results for: 'ea fine'

ILFORD PHOTO offer the biggest range of black & white films on the market today. While this is perfect for experienced film photographers who love having a choice, we appreciate that it can be a bit confusing for people new to film photography. If you are looking to try film photography for the first time and are wondering where to start, then you have come to the right place. We should start by pointing out that there is no ‘wrong’ choice when it comes to ILFORD films. They are all fantastic,...

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...

What are film developers? Film developers are a photographic chemical that turns your exposed film into working negatives as part of a processing workflow. (You will also need a stop bath and fixer - for more information on how to process your film or which chemistry to choose read our guides). We offer a broad range of film developers that are designed to exploit the different characteristics of our films. Developers are available in either powder and liquid concentrate form and have a range of charact...

Although many film cameras have inbuilt light metering systems, a light meter instrument can also be used. Light Meters can measure the amount of light falling on a subject (incident light), or being reflected by a subject (reflective light). By converting these measurements, it defines what would be the most beneficial shutter speed and f/stop to use for that given subject. Light Meters are particularly helpful where subject matter / lighting conditions are difficult. Some light meters are also able to...

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...

 A lifelong hobby One of my lifelong hobbies is photography. I have been taking photographs since I was about 10 years old when I was given an old Kodak folding pocket camera that had belonged to an uncle, Bertrand Perrett, who was a professional photographer and painter in England. I learned to develop and print black-and-white film at school when I was a teenager back in the 1970s. The Slower Pace When digital photography came along I moved to that medium, but recently I’ve come back to film aga...

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...

Lifelong love of black and white Growing up in the late fifties and sixties, one of my favourite movies was The Day the Earth Stood Still, a lot of which was shot at night in black and white. That early exposure to film noir inspired a lifelong love of black and white photography, especially at night. When I first started shooting pictures in 1967, though, the only option for night photography without a tripod was “pushing” 400 ASA film and using specialized developers. While what was essentially un...