Processing Black and White photos

     Materials

• A metal or plastic film tank
• Three dark plastic containers to hold chemistry
• Graduates (used to measure chemicals)
• A darkroom timer
• A can opener
• A room that is totally light proof (not even the slightest sliver of light should be visible).
• Developer (see other sidebar)
• Glacial Acetic Acid (optional, for Stop Bath)
• Fixer (Kodak Rapid Fixer with Hardener is highly recommended)
• Hypo Eliminator

     Chemicals

• Developer, which causes the silver iodide of the film or paper emulsion to darken if it has been exposed to light.
• fixer, which removes the undeveloped silver iodide from the emulsion. 
• A chemical used to completely stop the development process is called stop bath, and is used between the developer stage and the fixer stage in both b&w film & paper processing. 
• You can buy these chemicals at any good camera store, if not you can also buy online.  

    Process

         First, load your film and mix developer. Second, Mix your developer, stop bath, and fixer in the appropriate quantities and concentrations. Then, check times/temperatures and remove the fill cap on your tank (not the lid). Pour the developer into the tank, replace the fill cap, do 5-10 inversions, and start the timer. Do another 5-10 inversions every minute for the remainder of the development cycle. At 30 seconds, remove the fill cap and prepare to dump the developer. Then at 15 seconds, start pouring the developer out. Then, use the stop bath which only requires 30 seconds. After that, poor in water and wash it. Finally, dump the remaining water from the tank and remove the film reel.

Equipment necessary to process film 

 

1. Contact sheet: Any print made in which the negative is in physical contact with the paper is a contact print
2. Agitation: Continuous motion of a chemical tank or bath to ensure that the chemical solution inside it is evenly spread across the surface of the film or paper.
3. Enlarger: An apparatus used for making photographic enlargements.
4. Developer: Chemical solution used to render a latent image on film or paper visible.
5. Stop Bath: A chemical bath that stops development of a photographic emulsion.
6. Fixer: Chemical solution used to fix a developed image permanently onto film or a print. If you don’t use fixer then the developed image will vanish when exposed to light.