How to Make Positive Prints From Negatives
With the advent of digital photography, the film negative is becoming rarer and rarer. If you wish to print your own photos from negatives, you will need a number of items including a darkroom that you can seal light out of, safelights made for the developing process, a photographic enlarger, chemicals, safety equipment and other specific tools .
Things You'll Need
- Film negative
- Darkroom
- Safelight
- Apron
- Gloves
- Safety glasses
- Enlarger
- Easel
- Photo paper
- Chemical trays
- Tongs
- Developer
- Stop bath
- Fixer
- Print washer
- Water
- Clothesline and clothespins
Instructions
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1
Prepare the developer, stop bath and fixer chemicals as directed on the packaging. Pour them into separate chemical trays and place them on a table in the darkroom in the order above.
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2
Seal the darkroom against light leaks and turn on the safelight. Photographic paper must not be exposed to any kind of light except a red or amber safelight specifically designed for darkroom usage.
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3
Position the negative in the enlarger, turn on the enlarger lamp and focus it onto the easel below. The light from the enlarger should shine through the negative.
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4
Turn off the enlarger lamp and place an unexposed sheet of photo paper on the easel.
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5
Expose the negative onto the photo paper by briefly turning on the enlarger lamp. The time for the exposure will depend on the density of the negative, the size of the enlargement and the intensity of the enlarger lamp.
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6
Slide the exposed sheet of paper into the developer tray, making sure it is immediately completely submerged. Gently agitate the tray for the time recommended by the developer manufacturer, usually one or two minutes. You will see the latent image appear on the paper during development.
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7
Remove the photo paper from the developer tray by the corner with the tongs. Hold the sheet over the tray for several seconds until most of the developer drips back into the tray.
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8
Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for the stop bath and fixer trays. After the fixer bath you can then examine the print under regular lights.
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9
Rinse the print in clean, running water for a few minutes to clear off any remaining chemicals. You can save multiple prints in a tray of water after the fixer step, then move all of them to a print washer where you run clean water over them to fully wash. If you area using fiber-based (FB) paper, rinse it for at least 25 to 30 minutes. If you are using resin-coated (RC) paper, you will only have to rinse it for about five minutes.
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10
Hang the print by a corner with a clothespin on a clothesline until it is dry.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a scrap sheet of photo paper for focusing the negative in the enlarger so that when you expose it onto a fresh sheet of photo paper the focus is the same. Otherwise, if you focus on the easel and then put a piece of paper on it for the exposure, the plane of focus will change.
Repeat the whole process if the exposure is not what you want. Expose the paper longer if the print needs to be darker; expose it for a shorter time if the print needs to be lighter.
Make a test strip to avoid using one sheet of paper for each attempt before you find the correct exposure. Use a piece of unexposed photo paper to make a print with multiple exposures on it. Choose from among the multiple exposures for the final print.
You can print color negatives on color photographic paper in a similar manner, except you will use color filters in the enlarger to adjust the color balance of the finished print. In addition, you will have to work in complete darkness; safelights will fog color print paper.
Use separate tongs for each tray of chemistry. If there is fixer on your tongs, for example, and you use them in the developer tray, the fixer will prevent an image from forming where the tongs touch the paper.
Make sure the darkroom is ventilated and that you wear gloves during printing; some photo chemicals and their fumes can be toxic.
