The ‘darkroom’ technique derives from the daguerreotype process invented by Louis Daguerre, and is a method in which entails the use of chemicals as a way of developing captured images from paper negatives. As paper negatives are severely sensitive to light meaning the exposure would be affected before the photo is even produced, when in a darkroom, it is ideal that the lighting is switched from white to red to prevent.
In this image, you can see the paper negatives in the development process, meaning the photograph is starting to take shape.
Depending on what style of negative paper has been used, once the first 3 stages of development have been completed, the images are left to wash. The washing technique bonds, removes any excess chemicals before being left to dry
The development process for darkroom produced images are as follows:
Development- Resin Prints are left in a developer chemical for roughly 1 minute ensuring the tray is rocked gently back and forth as this allows the whole image to be covered and develop.
Stop- Carefully handling the prints either with tongs or manually with your hands, remove the negatives from the developer solution into a another tray for approximately 20 seconds.
Fixer-Similar to steps 1 and 2, once the 20 seconds is up, move the prints from the soap bath and into a tray of fixer for 5 minutes. After this, send them down a shoot into a tray of cold water to be washed.
