The Darkroom

Leonard Bernstein's Mass is the next thing I want to buy for my darkroom. It might seem an odd choice, but for me the darkroom is not only a place of work: it is also a place of sanctuary. We quite often get letters from people who are returning to the wet darkroom, or are setting one up for the first time. What is the appeal? After all, you can now just sit down in front of...

The way the battle lines are drawn, you might think that all photographers are committed exclusively to silver halide or exclusively to digital and n'er the twain shall meet. It isn't so. In reality the twain have met. More and more photographers weave seamlessly between the two without a thought. It's only the die-hards in each camp that refuse to acknowledge...

Photos © 2004, Frances E. Schultz, All Rights Reserved

How brown do you like your toast? The answer, of course, is "It depends." What kind of bread is it? How old is the bread? How thick? What are you going to put on it? How are you feeling at the time? You can't make hard and fast rules, even for yourself. It's even harder to make toast for...

The easy way to make a great print is to start out with a great negative. In theory, it's not that difficult to learn to make great negatives. Each film you shoot and process, you learn a little more about how to get closer to the perfect negative. But there are two large, active flies in this particular ointment. One is that you don't want to throw away all your old...

Photos © 2004, Frances E. Schultz, All Rights Reserved

Large format is fun: magical tonality, and detail in the print that goes on and on. Better still, it's easy. If you already have a darkroom, you probably have everything you need to make large format contact...

Wrinkles or character lines? Few people want their portraits to show every line on their face. The camera may not...

There's no denying the greater convenience variable contrast printing paper affords. With only one box of paper and using appropriate filtration you can get virtually any contrast rendition you desire. But another benefit of multicontrast papers is...