How I Print & Frame Black-and-White Photos - Darkroom Process (Mistakes Included)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- In this video, I’ll show you how I print and frame black-and-white photos. This isn’t a step-by-step guide (there are better tutorials for that), but rather how I do it-mistakes and all.
I’m working on a series of three medium-format prints for a customer who’s also an old colleague. Sadly, the first batch of prints didn’t age well due to my mistakes. So, I’m replacing them with fresh ones.
Here’s what you’ll see:
My Fujimoto 450M enlarger setup
Printing on Fomabrom 112 variable contrast matte paper
Developing, fixing, and washing prints
Framing with acid-free materials and touch-up techniques
Printing analog photos takes time-around 7-8 hours per framed print! But there’s nothing like holding a real photograph in your hands. Difficult things are worth doing.
🔔 Don’t forget to like and subscribe if you love analog photography and darkroom adventures!
You took us away on a magical mystery tour of your creative process.
Indeed. There is a Beatles tune for almost any activity in life! :-)
@@ShootOnFilm I like to whistle when I go into WinCo (a large discount supermarket with no piped in music). All the workers and some of the shoppers know me and make requests for particular songs. There is this one worker, who I usually meet in the beverage isle. He can guess any song I can whistle in a new notes, from classical to jazz to rock. I tried to trick him with fanciful things before his time like "Music Box Dancer" or "Gimmie Dat Ding" and he will guess it in three or four notes. The best thing about whistling, yodeling or singing is that you always have your instrument with you.
Thank you for sharing, Ari.
I am a film photographer, 35mm only. I go as far as developing, scanning, and then preparing selected 'files' for an online printer... but Boy! You go the whole hog.
It is very pleasing to see your meticulous and painstaking work. The final printed frames are priceless.
Take a bow, Sir!
Thank YOU for watching!! :-)
Really enjoyed this not tutorial and insight into your creative process. Loads of good info for me even though I’m not shooting film these days. It brought back some fond dark room memories when I learned about film development and printing at my high school in the early 70’s! Hold fast … only 39 days until spring! 📷🇫🇮🌨️🇨🇦🌞
The days are getting longer already! 🙂
I'm about to get back into darkroom printing after a break of over 20 years. Looking forward to getting started after watching your video :)
Awesome. Enjoy the ride!
Totally agree with you Ari in that it takes a lot of time to get to the final framed print, but it's worth it in the end. Love that shot of the reeds in the water.
I love that it is so difficult. Difficult is good. :-)
"Dust is such an enemy of photography". I think we can all agree! Thanks so much for sharing your process.
It is a constant battle. And dog fur. That's another thing! Thanks for watching!
Love it. Weekly inspiration. In the middle od some work deadlines but once through those I have some more printing to do.
Printing is so zen! 🙂
I think you have done a very good job. 👍👍👍
Thank you, thank you!
Your way of mounting is totally different from mine, although we both end up with the print fixed to the back mount by two little pieces of tape, one in each top corner. I greatly enjoyed watching this and will in future use my record cleaning brush to clean inside the frame!
Yeah, there are probably many good ways to do it :-) Thanks for watching!
Great work, Ari. I don't have a dark room to print my own photos but I have started sending a few out for printing to a lab and I completely agree that a photo isn't really a photo until it's printed and hung on a wall.
Thanks, thanks. yes, and on the wall you can really enjoy it properly!
Fabulous! My darkroom is too cold right now but soon...... Thanks Ari, great seeing your process and wonderful images.
The days are getting longer!!!
I enjoyed following your process. Your matting and framing process is exactly the same as mine. I have many framed prints around the house that were matted and framed this way. They’ve never come undone or gotten off kilter.
That's good to hear. Yeah, I want to let it hang loose :-)
Wow! I didn’t realize so much went into developing and printing at home. I feel like mechanically I could possibly do it, with many trials and errors! I don’t know if I would be stressing out or end up with the patience of a saint! Hahaha Thank you for a revealing insight!
Ha haa! It also stretches my patience -- which is good. I've got a temper!
Back in high school I used to make some extra pocket money by developing B/W film and enlarging prints in my spare time. I didn't have the equipment myself but I had free access to my school's lab. I did have to buy the chemicals and photo paper myself, but they weren't so expensive. It was fun and it was nice to be able to then process my own photos basically for free, plus have some money left over. Later I got my own equipment, but sadly I had to get rid of it when I emigrated across the ocean. Still have a couple of film cameras (A Zenit TTL and a Canon Elan 7NE). I should start doing it again.
You should. It sounds like it would not be a steep re-learning curve for you! :-)
Very interesting episode.👍👍 well worth keeping for future reference........Thank you...
Thank you for wacthing!
Super interesting.
@@AriValtanen you’re a very good photographer and your wife is a super talented painter. Why don’t you build yourself a dark room :-)
Ari, I am more of a Lightroom guy myself but that framing part is something that we'll be working on :-)
Lovely images look wonderful in the frames
Thanks thanks!
great video for my inspiration, i got lazy lately with my analog process, havent done a photo in a while. Regards from Austria
You should! You should! A lot of fun, as you know! :-)
Great video, Ari.
Thanks, thanks :-)
Such a significant part of your processing Ari thanks for sharing this peak into your printing/touch up/framing processes. Would look forward to a peak behind the curtain of your dodging/burning. Hey - your notebook must be worth a fortune but curious how you connect those "recipes" with a final end result you achieved. Is it pure memory of the print that came out of that particular page or . . . . . .???? While my photography doesnt rise to anywhere near the same level as your work, I do some woodworking that might come close and - to your point - I've been offered compensation to build some of these pieces (which I currently only do for family) by various friends or acquaintances. In each case the "buyers" are astonished to hear JUST the cost of materials (forget my time)! They always walk away shaking their heads and saying "I had no idea!" It feels as though, our modern society has a tendency to move consumers further and further away from the processes of producing/growing/fabricating/repairing for themselves - and the appreciation of "value" ends up being in a constant state of decline. Everything is "cheap" - right?
So true. We expect things just magically appear from China. When reading my book, I know that it produces "something I liked at that time". So it is a good starting point for any new work. But that's about it. Cannot get closer than that.
Let me think about that dodging/burning -video. My camera is pretty bad at recording low red light, but let me think...
Great stuff Ari. I started with Peerless, but I've since switched to Marshall's Spot-All liquid which I find better and easier to use.
Have you thought of dry mounting your prints? I was put off for a long time by the cost of the Bienfang heat presses, but for about 1/10th of the price I bought one of those heat presses that fix transfers to T shirts. Works perfectly!
Yes, dry mounting is the next thing. But I'm running out of space. I'm actually thinking about finding another bigger place for my darkroom ....
Hi, have you done any comparison of your prints from the traditional enlarger vs from a modern printer? Would like to know your observations on both. Thanks. Btw 30mins of running water for washing is quite a lot of water! Hope you saved it for other uses. Ha
I have not made picture-to-picture comparisons, but I made the same pictures using both methods. They are different. Especially fiber-based paper, through a silver gelatin process, makes paper visible. It is always an integral part of the picture. If I use resin-based paper, the difference to inkjet gets smaller.
If there is something we have plenty in Finland -- that would be water :-) And, of course, I can wash multiple photographs at the same time.
Your process mirrors mine !
There is no concept of time in the darkroom
I don't like those ikea frames . I find they often bow and lose shape over time
For small square prints Ikea make 12 inch square aluminium frames ( designed for albums ), they are excellent
These frames -- if you watch closely -- have a full size hardboard backs that keep them in shape. I have not had any issues so far .....
Heheee. Thats the content what im wayting for but not allways, just ewery naw and then. Thank you m8. 😊
:-) I personally should spend more time in the darkroom. A lot to learn and experiment with! :-)
I am first! 😊 Thank you very much! Interesting to follow your process! ! Why do you use fiber paper instead of RC ? Kind regards from Sweden!
Haa! :-). I use fiber-based because of the way the final print looks. The paper shows. I love its organic look.
I also find it even easier to work with in one aspect: less problems with dents.
Do you choose the color of your frame and the mounting paper, depending on the photograph?
Not really. Maybe I should!!!! Nowadays, I use "natural white" frames and white or black frames.
I'd love to have a bit of space to print my own images in a darkroom .Scans just fall a bit short 😂
yeah, I hear you. Space is an issue!
I’m am certain, knowing how careful you are, and informed you always are, that you are not only using acid free paper/mat materials, but also archival acid free tape, right? Of course you are, Ari. I know you thought of that. Yes. Silly me. I mean, you wouldn’t be using regular masking tape or frog painters tape, nawww. You wouldn’t know to use acid free archival tape. Yes. Because you’re completely aware that tape gum and paper backing are very high in non acid free chemicals and even one inch piece of tape can leech “brown” or rust colour into the acid free chemicals”book” you carefully constructed.
But you know all this. Also that leeching can happen over a matter of years.
Good, just wanted to be sure. 😉😉lol
Love your videos always and your cynical humour.
But of course I use. All this trouble and then I’d use duct tape? 😅
@ 😉 I was sure. Now I’m really sure! Lol
Nice work. Be sure to post on threads when you get sexist remarks about your process from the old timers. Is it just perspective or do you work on your knees at enlarger, it looks like table is barely off the floor.
It is a bit low, yes. The problem is with making larger prints. I run out of headroom. And I don't like using the enlarger sideways :-)
Before watching this video I was afraid of the jump from RC to FB. Now I’m really afraid.
No fear. All is good! :-)
✱
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