Darkroom Printing Help

[modusoperandi]

Hello friends,

I will be exhibiting in a collaborative exhibition in 2 weeks time, and am facing problems with printing my pictures. I was thinking of making darkroom prints of my B&W shots but have no prior experience nor the resources in doing so. It is also probably too late to join SAFRA Mt Sophia now since their course has been ongoing since August.

I was thinking if any kind soul out there could:

1) Recommend a commercial darkroom for rental?
2) Assist/guide me in making the prints.

Any help rendered will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[ellery]

Dude you are kidding rite ? To learn how to make a print - 5 minutes. To produce a print that says what you want it to say takes as long as it take to understand crafting that could be instantanous or take forever.

Try talking to Objectives Ling Seah street. Safra will most probably not rent out to you seeing that you do not know which end of the page is up. Please be candid about your know nothing about this status when you check.

Check with who ever is running the exhibition.

[enivre]

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but 2 weeks is way too short for you to prepare for an exhibition, let alone one where you are thinking of traditional B&W prints.

You might seriously want to reconsider just printing them digitally instead.

[yamcake]

hey i think its possible, u can learn the most most basic of printing in about 2 hours time, and of course, how good u can be depends on how much u practice.

ya, objectives provide rental for their darkroom, so u might want to ask someone u know to go with you and guide u how to do it..

and of course, u need to get your negatives ready..

[modusoperandi]

Hi guys, thank you all for the replies I've received. Most were very nice and helpful.

For now, I've more or less managed to gain access to the darkroom at SAFRA Mt Faber but only if I have a member who's willing to accompany and guide me with the workings of the darkroom.

Once again, help of any kind will be very much appreciated

[waileong]

There is a difference between knowing how to do something and doing it to exhibition-standard.

To learn to drive a car is easy. To learn to drive in F1 is a totally separate matter.

Originally Posted by yamcake hey i think its possible, u can learn the most most basic of printing in about 2 hours time, and of course, how good u can be depends on how much u practice. ya, objectives provide rental for their darkroom, so u might want to ask someone u know to go with you and guide u how to do it.. and of course, u need to get your negatives ready..

[catchlights]

no offends...


is the same like I just bought my first camera today , and I think I can create award winning photos two weeks later.

[Kimura_papaya]

Originally Posted by modusoperandi Hello friends, I will be exhibiting in a collaborative exhibition in 2 weeks time, and am facing problems with printing my pictures. I was thinking of making darkroom prints of my B&W shots but have no prior experience nor the resources in doing so. It is also probably too late to join SAFRA Mt Sophia now since their course has been ongoing since August. I was thinking if any kind soul out there could: 1) Recommend a commercial darkroom for rental? 2) Assist/guide me in making the prints. Any help rendered will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

for your info, our master in bnw class display his exhibition in ngee ann city last year. all his 20 years masterpiece took him more than 2 months to print out.

not offence nor trying to splash cold water to you,but exhibition standard and amatuer standard are different, have you ever thought of that? don risk your own reputation by putting those not up to standard picture to public. it doenst you any praises. you may see all senior here comment you badly. but ppl at exhibition might throw carrot and eggs into your picture if you bring bad quality picture.

[waileong]

Analogy not valid.

Most cameras today are auto everything, almost zero learning curve. You don't need to know a single thing about focus or exposure.

There's no auto in the darkroom. You need to know everything.

Awards are given to photos for content, composition, decisive moment, etc. If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, it's not difficult to shoot a good photo.

Darkroom work is about getting the best out of your negative and paper. It's not about serendipity. You have to know what you are doing.

The difference between normal quality and exhibition quality is huge, esp to discerning viewers. Don't underestimate it.

Originally Posted by catchlights no offends... is the same like I just bought my first camera today , and I think I can create award winning photos two weeks later.

[waileong]

In fact, I might add that if you have no darkroom experience, your negs would prob need more manipulation than you expect because you did not expose them with printing in mind.

A neg is the input to a process of creating a final print, thus the visualisation of the print ideally drives how you expose and develop your neg in the first place.

Originally Posted by waileong Analogy not valid. Most cameras today are auto everything, almost zero learning curve. You don't need to know a single thing about focus or exposure. There's no auto in the darkroom. You need to know everything. Awards are given to photos for content, composition, decisive moment, etc. If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, it's not difficult to shoot a good photo. Darkroom work is about getting the best out of your negative and paper. It's not about serendipity. You have to know what you are doing. The difference between normal quality and exhibition quality is huge, esp to discerning viewers. Don't underestimate it.

[catchlights]

Originally Posted by waileong Analogy not valid. Most cameras today are auto everything, almost zero learning curve. You don't need to know a single thing about focus or exposure. There's no auto in the darkroom. You need to know everything. Awards are given to photos for content, composition, decisive moment, etc. If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, it's not difficult to shoot a good photo. Darkroom work is about getting the best out of your negative and paper. It's not about serendipity. You have to know what you are doing. The difference between normal quality and exhibition quality is huge, esp to discerning viewers. Don't underestimate it.

I'm just put it in a layman term, so it is easy to understand.

anyway, whether they want to listen or not, is up to them, even you explain down to the last fine details.

especially now, the show must go on........

[canturn]

If you're doing it for exhibition, it's best to leave the printing to the pro printers. B&W is easy to pick up , but mastering it takes years of experience and lots of wastage before you can get your prints to look right. Especially if you had put lots of effort to capture some great shots on your negs, do yourself a favour and do some justice to your photos, get the pros to do it for you.