Color Printing & Why I Do It

The darkroom is nothing to fear.

I've been printing my own photographs for quite some time now. I work only with color because that's the way I see the world. I spent time learning to process monochrome long before and decided that while shades of gray may evoke emotional responses to the viewer better, landscapes, sports, nature and most people form a pageantry of color and shapes that demand their proper rendition. I do not intend to impart any negative feelings or dissuade anybody from creating monochrome prints. But if you wish to set up a darkroom for that purpose, the equipment mentioned here will not be able to help you very much (unless you wish to produce toned prints with very little effort).

My printing is done to provide a recording of moments in time that I wish to share with others. That is not to say that I make photographs that are exact duplicates of what I saw, for no one can do that. Modern color films have a range of 7 stops from pure black to pure white (the human eye can often see more than 9 stops with ease). Color paper can only handle about 5 stops. Clearly a compromise must be made in order to produce a good representation of what was seen. It is here that a darkroom technician becomes an artist. Color printing is the art of extracting as much detail and compressing the range of information present so as to create an enlargement that is pleasing.

The darkroom is the place where I have the most fun with my negatives. I get to control what the final print will look like. It is my job to decide whether to dodge part of the image to lighten it, burn in to darken it, or mask out the area so that I can alter its color for more dramatic effect. What I create in my darkroom, is my art and my vision.

Most people take pictures and think that the image coming out of the computerized printer in 3R or 4R format is all it can be. A few will have enlargements done, often the technician will look at the information recorded on the back of the small print, punch it into his computerized enlarger and voila, the small light averaged image is now a big light averaged image. In other words, the print has had its color analyzed so as to produce a fairly accurate skin tone, or in prints lacking people, an attempt is made to produce white whites, gray grays, and black blacks. The image is not important to the computer. If you want to test a computerized printer, try taking a photograph of a katydid on a green leaf, a woman's face lit by the light of a single candle, or a polar bear on a snow covered surface. In each instance, the computer will have to be overruled in order for an acceptable image to be printed.

I used to do this. I was a very satisfied customer until I noticed that my negatives were often being returned with scratches on them. What finally convinced me to break down and buy my own enlarger, was the time I presented a series of rafting shots to my normal printer. His first version lacked detail in the whitewater around the rocks. The second try, color balance was off and the water that should have been white was now a shade of blue white. Correcting that, he then made the faces too dark and he was quickly running out of patience with me. His frustration and inability to satisfy me was caused by the equipment not allowing for differential printing within a scene (dodging or burning). Rather than continue to frustrate him and because he decided he'd prefer I stop bringing my work to him (at least as long as I insisted upon being so demanding), I left his shop angry and determined not to let anyone force me into accepting an image I didn't like.

Not willing to compromise my values, I bought an enlarger and learned how to use it. This article is meant to serve aspiring photographers in creating images for their walls, relatives and friends for I know very few people (camera club members excepted) that are eager to sit through slide presentations.

Prior to moving to Arizona, I set up a darkroom in the basement of my house. The room had an exhaust fan ducted to the outside for ventilation (extremely useful, as most processing chemicals aren't the best things to breathe). I had ample shelf and counter space for storing paper, drums, easels, chemicals and for keeping the enlarger available. I had one other feature in the room that I found valuable, my computer. There was no safelight (color paper doesn't allow for one). If you don't have a computer in or near your darkroom, don't sweat it, a pen or pencil and paper will serve just as well. Note taking is extremely valuable tool when you enlarge prints, for the information found in your notes can often help you avoid some costly mistakes and allows you to repeat good results months or even years later. Aside from retaining all my negatives since I bought my first Nikon, I also have the information needed to reproduce all of the shots that I've given to friends and family members (now that scares me).

My enlarger was mounted on a utility cart with 4" wheels because I didn't have enough space to make a room exclusively devoted to photography. The cart provided a storage area for the enlarger's accessories (timer, voltage regulator, focusing aid, dodging and burning tools, etc.) and I added a few more braces to make it more stable as the platform for the enlarger. I tried at first to use one of the bathrooms, but found that the exhaust fan had a light leak and even worse the heating and cooling duct was just barely offset from the living room which made it useless when that room was being used. Even worse, I didn't have enough sink depth to process anything bigger than 8x10 (a size that doesn't fare well in the competitions of most camera clubs). I've since moved the cart into the laundry area using the washer and dryer for counter space to hold the paper and dry drums. I use the kitchen counters (covered first with newspapers and paper towels in case of a spill), and the sink for the wet operation, mainly because it's so close.

As all darkrooms have their idiosyncrasies, the first thing one has to learn is the layout of enlarger, paper and drum. It should be positioned so that one can be comfortable working at the station in complete darkness. You've got to be able to open the box, remove a sheet of paper, expose it for enough time to cover any manipulation you need to do, place it in the drum and close the drum without being able to see except for the brief time the enlarger is on. This is done in the same way one gets to Carnegie Hall, practice, practice, practice. Familiarity with the layout will enable you to be comfortable working and leads to greater safety in the pitch-black room.

Now that you think you'll be comfortable with the dry part of printmaking, prepare your chemistry. I print from negatives, I used the RA4 process which entails a developer and bleach fix (blix for short). Some people find that a 15-second stop bath between the developer and the blix improves their results. Since the process has changed over time, I won't discuss processing times (they're temperature dependent and your results may vary) in this article. Prints made from color slides use different processes and since I don't print from slides (anymore), I don't plan to get into that area. Practice filling your drums and agitating them (motorized units work much better than rolling the drum by hand and Jobo makes a unit that is even easier), for the time each step will take. You have to include drain times as part of the processing time so don't skimp on the practice here (consistency is the key to reproducing your results for more than a single print). Keep in mind that the last step is to wash your prints for at least 3 minutes and less than 10 minutes. Often the lid to the drum will stick a little when you try to open it, but you have to open it in order to get a thorough wash. When you've had enough practice, mix your chemistry, select your negative and get ready for some real fun.

As with monochrome, a test print should be made to help determine your exposure time. I use 8x10 paper for all test prints (the manufacturer of your papers must be consistent, no mixing Kodak and Fuji to try and get results). For this reason, I try to order my 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20 paper at the same time and store them together so they remain fairly close in their quality. Note the f-stop, height and dichrohead settings (or filter pack). Process the paper in accordance with the time and temperature of the developer you have chosen (here's where the practice pays off most). Unless you have a true white line found in each section of time zone, you have to wait for the second print before you try to do any color correction. Please note that if you use a zone grid the white you see in the words and numbers can't be used as it wasn't exposed!

Once you have determined the proper exposure time and aperture, expose a sheet of paper, process it, wash it, and DRY THE PRINT. If you're in a hurry, a hair dryer (blow dry type) can be used to speed up the process (Do Not Use a Heat Gun). If the print isn't dry, you can't determine color balance correctly. I know some of you have spent good money for the color analyzer you use, but an analyzer can only approximate the proper color balance. It can be fooled as it determines color balance based upon an average print (true you can adjust it for your own average), and each print will want your undivided attention. I usually try to start my evaluation for color balance by looking for a white area. If the white area is white and shows a touch of detail, you're almost done or done if the shadow area also shows detail. My second point of interest, that's right, shadows. A good shadow is black, without any color tinting the black. If the black is tinted, the odds are the rest of the print is probably off in the same manner. More than 95% of the color prints I've made were balanced using the above information (I've made artificial sepia tones for several people and some artsy effects that I chose not to balance correctly).

The direction of the color adjustment is determined by the color tint. Using my equipment (other equipment may and does vary), if the print is too yellow, add yellow for color negative printing and subtract it for a print made from a slide. It really is that simple. But maybe I should complicate the issue by introducing you to the other settings on my dichrohead, magenta and cyan. When printing from negatives, magenta and yellow will have a value greater than zero. Reversal prints use cyan and yellow so when making them, cyan and yellow will be greater than zero. I make extensive use of my Kodak Color Darkroom Data guide to assist in determining my color adjustments. I find it easier to use than viewing filters, but any method you choose can enable you to out perform a color analyzer in short order.

Whatever you choose, I wish you well and hope to see your prints either on the web or at a camera club event. Have lots of fun!

In late 2002 I entered the realm of the digital darkroom. I now scan my negatives and use Adobe Photoshop and a calibrated monitor to produce images using either my Epson 1280 printer and Premium High Gloss Paper or a printer at Costco on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper. I find the results far better with no wasted paper. I still think that a print you produce yourself is far more satisfying than one made by a commercial lab.

The biggest advantage of Photoshop over my old chemical darkroom is its ability to enhance the lie that all photographs tell. All photographs are lies of omission. The sensor of a digital camera and color slide film have about 7 stops of range between the brightest and darkest tones. Paper and inks or pigments, can only reproduce about 5 stops of range. Since you have to compress the data, you inadvertently leave some out. Photoshop lets you become very selective as to which information you choose to omit and allows you to embellish the information you choose to leave in. My most recent work is evidence of that!