Processing Black and White Photos

Materials necessary to process black and white film:

• developer-converts the latent image to metallic silver
• stop bath-a dilute solution of acetic acid or citric acid (halts action of developer)
• clean water
• a squeegee
• fixer or hypo
• dust-free environment for the film to be dried
• a dark room
• film tanks
• stirring rod to mix chemicals
• thermometer

Chemicals:

• Stop Bath or Glacial Acetic Acid
• developer
• fixer
• hypo-clearing agent
• wetting agent

Process: Remove the film from the cassette in the dark room, pull the flat end off unwind the film and remove the end of the film. Load the film onto a film reel. Place loaded reel in the film tank the film is now in a light tight container turn on the light. Lay out the chemicals in front of you (film developer, stop bath, fixer with hardener, and hypo eliminator bath). Poor developer into open part of the sealed film tank and cover it. Pour running water into the pour spout for one minute to stop development. Remove all of the fixer by pouring in a tank of Hypo Eliminator and agitate for two minutes. Use washing pins or film clips to hand the film to dry in a dust-free area. 1-2 hours the film would dry.

1. Contact sheet: sheet of photo paper with multiple small format film strips
2. Agitation: putting into motion by shaking or stirring
3. Enlarger: specialized transparency projector to produce photographic prints from film or glass negatives using the gelatin-silver process or transparencies
4. Developer: a chemical, often mixture of metol and hydroquinone which converts the latent silver halide image in the exposed photograph material into reduced, opaque, black silver metal

5. Stop Bath: chemical bath usually used in processing traditional black and white photographic films, plates, and paper used after the material has finished developing
6. Fixer: chemical that removes unexposed silver salts from photographic media and renders them insensitive to light