Into the darkroom (wet work)

[RoadKingLarry]

I'm now fully up and running with my B&W darkroom.
I got my trusty Canon AE-1 back from overhaul Monday and promptly ran a roll of film through it. Conditions were about as crappy as you could get for B&W photography, moderate overcast and pretty much flat, shadowless light.
 
All images shot on Kodak T-Max400, developed with Ilfosol3 and printed on Ilford Glossy RC Multigrade IV
Scanned on my wife's POS scanner and uploaded with no image manipulation.
(they lose a bit in the translation)

Some of the wife's yard junk art-





The Jeep-



Woodpile-



I don't hold any illusions that these are particularly good images but I'm kind of amped to be back doing old school photography.
And my 8 year old grand daughter was at the house and I got to show her "the magic" of making a print. She was pretty impressed.

[230RN]

Yeah, it's always somewhat magical to see a print --especially of a person --come to life under the developer.

Brings to mind the old superstition about stealing someone's soul when a photo is taken.

Not bad shots.

[MechAg94]

My first thought on the top one was it was some kind of toilet. 

Kind of dreary looking.  Must be a dim/overcast winter up there. 

[RoadKingLarry]

The first one is a very old hand cranked cream separator.  And it was a dreary day.

[Monkeyleg]

If you've never tried it, give Agfa Brovira paper a shot (if it's still made). Back in the 80's and 90's, it had the highest silver content of any of the papers. I'd let the print sit in the developer tray for 5-10 minutes to get every last bit of silver. Beautiful deep blacks.

A lot of people I knew used selenium toner, but I never liked the bluish cast.

Now, if you could do platinum prints... :)

[Nick1911]

My first camera was an AE-1.    I was quite fond of it, and learned a lot.

Nice shots.

[KD5NRH]

Don't have any of the original to compare to, but http://www.freestylephoto.biz/12054-Adox-Rodinal-Film-Developer-500ml is really good with T-Max, especially on portrait work.  For some of my high-contrast desert and mountain landscapes, I stand developed 35mm and 120 T-Max and HP5 at 1:100 with good results.

[wmenorr67]

Nice pics Ansel.

Lot of great areas up where you live to get great B&W pics.

[rcnixon]

The first one is a very old hand cranked cream separator.  And it was a dreary day.

AHHHH! Cream separator, I recognized it immediately; devil machine, run away!  Before Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Bertha got electricity, cousin Roddy used me twice a day to power one.

Regarding the original topic, I used to do wet photography many years ago, for pay even.  About eight years ago I got dragged, kicking and screaming into the digital age.  I'm learning to use the GIMP as a digital darkroom but progress is slow.

Russ

[RoadKingLarry]

Don't have any of the original to compare to, but http://www.freestylephoto.biz/12054-Adox-Rodinal-Film-Developer-500ml is really good with T-Max, especially on portrait work.  For some of my high-contrast desert and mountain landscapes, I stand developed 35mm and 120 T-Max and HP5 at 1:100 with good results.

I've found a couple of places to get Rodinal and I'm going to have to try it.
I've also come across quite a bit of "alternative" developers that at least sound interesting. Caffenol uses instant coffee and ground up vitamin C with washing soda. I've also seen Beerenol, which uses beer for the base ingredient.
Right now I'll be mostly concentrating on rebuilding my skill with the basics though.

[RoadKingLarry]

Here's one more I played with a little tonight.
Still loses a lot from print to scan to computer.

[zahc]

Every time I scan darkroom prints and look at them on a computer screen I get agitated at how it doesn't look like the print. And it never will, since the medium is totally different (reflective vs. emissive).

TMAX400 is a badass film. Probably the pinnacle of the technology. I will miss it when it's gone.

[AmbulanceDriver]

I always loved the Ilford paper.....  Nice warm tone, even if it tended to be a little grainier...

[RoadKingLarry]

Every time I scan darkroom prints and look at them on a computer screen I get agitated at how it doesn't look like the print. And it never will, since the medium is totally different (reflective vs. emissive).

TMAX400 is a badass film. Probably the pinnacle of the technology. I will miss it when it's gone.

Unless Kodak goes completely TU it'll be around for a while yet. Ilford has a number of good films to offer and there are quite a few other players. Film is seeing a bit of a resurgence of late and I think it will stick around for the foreseeable future. 

Of course there was a time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsDxvAErTU&list=RDpLsDxvAErTU

[zahc]

Yeah, it will be around for a while, at some price. But not for long. Film, at least black-and-white film in popular formats, will be available in some form, but the good stuff is on borrowed time. The photo engineers are already retired, and the supply chain is drying up. Fuji killed Neopan because it used PFOS, and Kodak is having problems with their 120 backing paper, undoubtedly because of modern inks. I'm sure vendors of photo-grade gelatin will be reconsidering their contracts a few times. Film technology will die a slow-motion death until we are back to 1930s-era emulsions from China and Eastern Europe. Color...it's damn near already happened. I always said color photography would never catch on.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've seen some incidents of the 120 backing paper problem on photo forums and it isn't just Kodak. 120 is a new format for me and I've only ran 6 rolls through my little Yashica and it's all been Ilford, I have had no problems with it.
I kind of think there is a better market now for film, both B&W and color,  c41 and e6 than there was even 5-6 years ago. I think more people are digitaled out and are embracing the "real" of film, some,like me, are going back for the nostalgia and the hands on aspect.  Only time will tell if it's a passing fad.

[Regolith]

I'm learning to use the GIMP as a digital darkroom but progress is slow.

Russ

If you can afford it, I suggest you either pay the $9.99 a month sub for Lightroom/Photoshop, or try and find a copy of CS6 (or whatever it is they got up to before going to the subscription model). GIMP is better than nothing, or MS Paint for that matter, but in my experience doing anything with it other than very basic editing is a pain in the ass when compared to Photoshop.

[RoadKingLarry]

I'll second Regolith's suggestion. For basic editing and retouching digital images I much prefer Lightroom. I'll only use Photoshop when I want to do any heavy image manipulation like composites or major clone work like removing a telephone pole.

[KD5NRH]

Unless Kodak goes completely TU it'll be around for a while yet.

That's what we all said about Kodachrome :(

[KD5NRH]

Color...it's damn near already happened. I always said color photography would never catch on.

What's saving color still is the number of Hollywood traditionalists still buying miles of it to shoot movies.  If they drop 135 and/or go all digital, I'd expect that to dry up quickly.