How to Make Silver Gelatin Black and White Darkroom Contact Prints

Introduction

This article is directed at people who have no previous experience making black and white darkroom contact prints or may have some experience from the past but forgot what they knew.  Making a black and white contact print is different from making an enlarged print via an enlarger because your negative is literally on top of your paper as apposed to the image being projected on the paper from an enlarger.

There are two type of contact prints that are most commonly used today and I will discuss both.  The first approach is for people that do not have access to an enlarger for a light source but do have a regular household light bulb and can make a temporary dark place to work. The second type of contact print that will be reviewed is for people that do have access to an enlarger that can use it for your light source and this approach has a couple advantage that I will discuss later in the article.

You might be asking yourself why make contact prints?  The answer could be anything from it is someones preference to they don’t have access to an enlarger or the enlarger they do have does not accommodate their negative format.  Some people claim contract prints are sharper as opposed to enlarged prints although I have no evidence to support this claim.  I personally contact print my large format negatives for two reasons.  First, I don’t have an enlarger that supports all of the formats I photograph on and secondly I enjoy the process.  The vast majority of my prints are rarely over 10 inches which I mount on a 20 inch archival mat board.  Contact printing my large format black and white negatives is a good solution for me.  I don’t have the room and I have no desire to own an enlarger that supports 8×10 negatives.  Since my final prints are typically either 4” x 5” or 8” x 10”, contact printing is a great solution for my style of photography.  Furthermore on an artistic level I like using some of the contact printing papers which I discuss later in the article.  I do also on occasion contact print some medium format negatives which are typically called miniatures.  There are entire art shows dedicated to miniature prints.  A medium format 6×6 negative produces a 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” print roughly and other formats 6×7 (2 ¼” x 2 ¾”), 6×9 or 6×12 are obviously larger.  Medium formats such as 6×6 represent 6 cm x 6 cm.

Why Make B & W Prints in the Digital Age?

Before we get into the details and specifics I want to discuss why in the age of “everything digital” would anyone want to make black and white prints by hand in the darkroom?  The response to this query may vary depending on who you ask.  I personally think a fine art black and white print that has been hand crafted in the darkroom employing two hundred years of knowledge and experience produces a beautiful piece of art.  The sense of accomplishment that comes from making your art with your hands can’t compare to manipulating a digital image on a computer screen in my mind.

My next comment may be a little advanced for beginners but if you come back and read this after you have been printing for a while you will get more out of my thoughts.  When you look at a fine art print that has been crafted by a professional you will notice many things in the print that you won’t likely see in other art forms.  A silver gelatin black and white print can exhibit visual elements not possible via other methods.  The silver halide suspended on the gelatin is a beautiful site to my eyes.  Under certain conditions the subject can appear almost three-dimensional although it is printed on a two-dimensional object (paper).  The brilliance of the print, sharpness and overall mood is something to be enjoyed.  The contrast and DMAX when properly Selenium toned is a beautiful site to me.  I am not going to address the similarities or techniques that can be simulated in Photoshop and digital inkjet prints in this article because in my mind there is no reason to compare two completely different approaches to the same end goal.  If you want to learn how to edit digital pixels on your computer screen you can stop reading now and save yourself a lot of time and better invest your time in learning a digital editing program.

A black and white fine art print created on a fiber-based variable contrast silver gelatin paper and then finalized for archival and tonal characteristics is not comparable to a print made via any other method.  Notice I refrain from saying “better” because art truly is something for each of us to consider and take in via our own way.  The fine prints that I create in the darkroom give me a sense of pride and enjoyment that I am not able to achieve any other way in photography.  I think this is largely because the process is a mix of art and science and my hands are deeply involved along the entire journey while making aesthetic and personal choices that affect the outcome of my photograph.  There is a sense of accomplishment along with an element of “magic” that one gets from hand making their own prints in the darkroom.

It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss alternative printing methods and techniques that exist today.  If you are curious about what that might mean you can google “alternative photography” and spends weeks reading and learning about your options.  There is a website and blog dedicated to alternative photography located at http://www.alternativephotography.com in case you are interested in reading more about this.

The Science Behind the Art

Most photographers and even some highly successful professional fine art photographers may not fully understand the science and chemistry involved in making beautiful black and white silver gelatin prints.  However, they know based on experience how to achieve certain results as should you if this type of printing is your goal.  No one can give you the knowledge needed to create and produce fine art prints.  This is a journey that may start today for you, but make no mistake it is in fact a journey and you will want to keep very good notes along the way.

Just like you don’t need to know how the engine in your car works to drive your car, you don’t need to be a scientist or chemist to be a great photographer and fine art print maker.  However, I do think a black and white fine art photographer should understand the basics in order to be creative and leverage everything that is possible in this art form.  I will attempt to provide an overview to help you, but understand people sit in college classrooms for years to learn these concepts and topics.

Before we jump into the science you should have a basic understanding of the process to make a print.  In simple terms you must: a.) expose your paper with the negative via a light source b.) use developer to activate the image on the paper c.) use a stop bath to stop the development process and e.) use fixer to make the image and paper light safe as well as protect the print and f.) wash away the unwanted chemicals.

Photo Paper Emulsion

With that basic understanding let’s dig into the details a little deeper.  Before we get to the negative and light source we need to learn a few things about paper.  Contact and enlarging darkroom papers have a light sensitive coating called emulsion.  This emulsion that you can’t see with your eye is the gelatine that holds the light-sensitive particles called silver halide.  Photo paper actually contains a mixture of silver halides and this is what responds to your light source and darkens when the paper when exposed.  So we are clear, halide is a group of elements consisting of bromine, chlorine, iodine and fluorine and their corresponding salts are what we refer to as “halides”.  These halides are referred to as bromide, chloride, iodide and fluoride.  I will explain this in more detail below, however the key part you should take away if nothing else is that silver halides are the magic ingredients in your photo paper and films.

The silver halides used in photographic paper are silver bromide, chloride and iodide.  Silver bromide emulsions are considered to be “fast” meaning they react very quickly to light.  Silver bromide are associated with large silver grain and contain a cold black or a blue-black color range.  You are not likely to see too many pure bromide papers any longer other than a few niche products.  Freestyle Photographic Supplies at the time of this article carries and stocks the Kentmere Silver Bromide Fiber glossy papers in several grades.   Refer to the diagram below to get an illustrated view of how the Kentmere Silver Bromide paper is constructed.  The illustration is not to scale and is intended to be used as a visual teaching aid.  The light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer has a silver content of approximately 1.7 g/m2. This is covered with a gelatine supercoat which protects the emulsion from stress fogging and physical damage and also contains a small amount of developing agent.

Silver Chloride papers are considered to be very slow papers meaning the paper is too slow to be used as an enlargement paper and suited for contact printing.  Kodak AZO is the best known paper and is no longer in production.  Chloride emulsions are fine-grained and be considered warm brown-black in color.  This fact alone may direct or steer you away from this paper based on your artistic goals.  Historically silver chloride was combined with silver bromide and therefore called “bromochloride” for neutral tone papers they were “chlorobromide” for warm-tone papers.  The only known silver chloride paper available today is Lodima Silver Chloride available exclusively via Michael A. Smith via his web site.  I purchased 100 sheets of the Lodima Grade #3 contact paper from Michael and I am in the process of testing the paper with my contact printing style and methods.  I have included Michael’s comments on the Lodima Silver Chloride paper:  “We feel that this paper is as good as, if not superior to, the Kodak Azo paper that it has replaced. The print color of Lodima Fine Art™ is excellent; it is slightly warm. The printing speed is only slightly slower than Azo, and most important, the tonal characteristics are excellent. This is a long-scale paper with very rich blacks that have a D-Max even higher than the D-Max of Azo. On the Azo print, the D-Max of the dark part in the area above the figure is 2.08. On the Lodima Fine Art™ test print the D-Max is an astounding 2.26. The midtones of Lodima Fine Art™ have slightly greater contrast than those on Grade 2 Azo, lending a brilliance to prints made with this paper. The developing time for Lodima Fine Art™ is the same as it was for Azo—one minute in our Amidol formula. Last, the paper reacted to Rapid Selenium Toner exactly like Azo”.

Silver iodide is used in very small amounts in some papers in combination with bromide and chloride to modify the paper’s properties and characteristics.

Let There be Light

When you expose your light sensitive photographic paper via your light source you may have guessed that the light-sensitive silver halides will darken in various shades.  Modern day photo papers don’t require nearly as much light as the papers in the past because there is an electrical charge affecting the halide in the paper.  Once you expose your paper and negative to light there is actually an image on the paper but you can’t see it yet.  This is referred to as the latent image.  Now you will need your first chemical in the print development process called “developer” to darken the image on the paper.

The Developer

The latent image that was exposed with your negative and light source is now ready to be developed and darkened on your paper.  The development step is where the “magic” happens for many people.  You can literally see the image appear in front of your eyes.  Your developer chemical is actually changing the invisible silver halides into grains of metallic black silver resulting in the image you see with your eyes.  As you may have figured out the developer only acts on the silver halides that were exposed to light.  Now you have those magical particles of silver suspended in the gelatin emulsion.  We need to stop the development from continuing next.

Stop & Take a Bath

The stop bath does exactly what is sounds like, it stops the development process from continuing.  It literally neutralizes the development from continuing.  Some will argue that you don’t need a chemical stop bath and just use plain water at 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  I use a stop bath from Ilford that is considered to be an acid stop bath.  Besides obviously stopping the development process the use of stop bath drastically extends the life of your fixer which we will discuss next.  By using the stop bath I am done in 30 seconds versus having to thoroughly soak the paper in a water bath and rinse frequently turning over the water supply.  I also use it because I don’t want any of the developer getting carried over into my fixer.

Getting Your Fix

Remember that only the silver halides that received enough light were converted to metallic silver by the developer as discussed above.  For example your highlights and shadows received much less light because your negative was more dense in these areas.  Because of this your paper still has undeveloped silver halides and if you have white borders on your print from a frame, mask, etc. then there is a significant amount of silver halides still on the paper.  We must remove these halides or they will expose or print out over time.  Removing these halides is the job of your fixer.  Your fixer will dissolve the halides but now you need to wash them away.

Doing the Wash

After we have completed the fixing step we need to literally wash away the dissolved silver halides.  Depending on the type of paper and archival intentions the washing time and technique will vary.

Summary

I hope this section has given you a better understanding of the science that is taking place when you are printing your masterpieces.  This knowledge will serve you well in many different ways.  When you read the technical specifications on your paper of choice this information should make more sense to you now.  There are many other more advanced variables to discuss such as toning, bleaching, redeveloping and others at a later time.  You need to master the basic process of creating black and white silver gelatin contact prints and then you can move into topics such as fine print archiving, toning, etc.

Chemical and Supplies

Before we can step through the process of making your first black and white contact print we need to get a few things ready.

First you need to find a work area that is completely light safe.  This could be anywhere from an interior room in your house like a bathroom with no windows, a closet or maybe your basement if you have one.  It doesn’t matter where, just that the room is completely dark or could be made that way.

You will need a darkroom safelight and I recommend you get one that says it has an “OC” filter.  This could be a special small red lamp that you could screw into the light socket to a more expensive safelight that has an on/off switch and rotating head on it with the proper filter.

Depending on the size of your contact prints you will need four trays that will handle your paper.  For example I use my 8×10 trays when developing 5×7 prints and below.  Trays area typically made a little bit larger than their reference name so technically if you were very close on space you could probably use 5×7 trays to develop prints up to 5×7 in size.

You should be able to find these trays and safelight used on your local Craigslist, on e-Bay or usually new at your local photography store.  You could of course go to any of the online retailers such as B & H, Calumet or Freestyle Photographic Supplies as well.

Now that you have a dark room, a safelight and processing trays you will need to get the required chemicals, a way to store them and of course your paper and a light source.

I will tell you the standard chemicals that I use in my darkroom.  There are many other choices so don’t be afraid to explore and use something else.

For your developer, stop bath and fixer you will need photographic containers or jugs to store them in after mixing them up.  If you are on a super tight budget you could use old plastic milk jugs but I don’t recommend that unless you have no other option.  You will need some type of graduate so you know how much chemical to mix.  I use my 1 liter graduate the most but any size can technically work.  Next, you will need the actual chemicals.  I use Kodak Dektol as my developer, Ilford Stop Bath and Kodak Fixer.  For water I just use my tap water from my local water supply.

You will need to read the mixing instructions on each chemical and follow it to the letter.  The manufacturer will also tell you how long the chemicals will last when mixed, when used in open trays, etc.  For this reason I mark on my containers with a marker so I don’t forget.  You will mix each solution per a ratio.  For example, when I use Dektol as my developer I empty the packet into my 1 gallon jug per the instructions.  This makes what we call a stock solution.  I dilute my Dektol to 1:3 mean 1 part stock solution to 3 parts water.  For an 8×10 tray I put 8 ounces of stock Dektol and 24 ounces of tap water.

You should put your trays in the order of the process (developer, stop bath, fixer, wash).  Just fill your wash tray with tap water and this is where you will initially wash off your prints when removing them for the fixer before ultimately washing them properly for your paper type.  As a rule of thumb RC (resin coated) paper washes in 2 to 4 minutes where fiber papers require 30 to 60 minutes depending on your washing technique.

Since you are making contact prints you need a way to make your negative lay very flat on top of your photo paper.  You have many different options here.  You could get a printing frame which is basically a frame that can be locked down around your negative and paper making a very flat negative/paper sandwich.  Another option is to get a piece of 3/8th inch plate glass from your local glass company.  If you are going to print up to 8×10 contact prints then get a piece of plate glass a little bigger such as 10 x 12 and make sure you ask them to polish the edges.  I use the plate glass method and lay the plate glass on top of my negative and paper that sit on a piece of rubber mat that I got from Home Depot.

If you have access to an enlarger as your light source then you should start out with RC (resin coated) paper because it is easy to handle, produces beautiful prints, and requires the least amount of work to make a print.  Fiber papers are for professionals that need to create fine art archival prints.  Art collectors require fiber archival prints for example.  If you enter an art show then make sure you read all of the requirements.

As you will read next your light source also impacts your choice of papers.  You will need to pick your own paper out yourself but I can give you a little guidance.  If your work or eye is drawn to cooler tones (blue, purples, etc) then Ilford makes an excellent RC Cooltone paper available in many different sizes and finishes.  I prefer the Cooltone Pearl for my work.  If you want a neutral paper then I would recommend either the Ilford Glossy, Pearl or Satin papers as well.  Ilford as well as others also make warm-tone papers that are towards the brown and copper end of the scale.  Only you can decide what you envision for your prints.

The last topic to discuss is your light source and how this variable relates to your paper choice.  When making contact prints you can get papers specifically made for contact prints such as Lodima SIlver Chloride, Foma Fomalux 111 Fiber or 312 RC Matt and others.  These papers are exposed with regular household lamps because if you recall they are much “slower” and require much more light than modern enlarging papers.  The other option if you have it available is to use any type of enlarger as your light source opening up the use of enlarger type papers.  You should be able to figure out based on the information I presented in “The Science Behind the Art” section why the different papers require different intensity of light.

You will need some method of timing your exposure.  I use an electronic metronome that I picked up from my local music store and set it to 60 beats per minute so it represents one beat per second.

It would be ideal if you had a paper safe to store the paper you are working with, although this is not technically required if you put your paper back properly in its light-proof storage bag.  It is just more time consuming and susceptible to errors.

I suggest keeping a notebook and pencil with you in your darkroom.  You can write on the back of your photo paper with pencil and it will stay on the paper.  Also, everything you do should be documented so you can reproduce the print again once you get all of the details to your liking.

I don’t recommend that you touch the processing chemicals with your bare hands so you could use special photographic development tongs or you could use protective gloves such as latex type gloves.

Step by Step Instructions

Before making a good contact print we must first determine the base exposure for our paper as it relates to the negative and light source.   On my contact prints I expose for highlights and then burn and dodge as needed.  When taking your photos you should be exposing for shadow detail.

1.) Enter your darkroom and turn on safelight and let it warm up for a few minutes.  Pour room temperature chemicals into your four trays.  Most chemicals are optimized at 68 degrees.  Remember to line up your trays: Developer, Stop Bath, Fixer, Wash.

2.) Turn off room lights and rest for a minute or so to let your eyes adjust.

3A.) For enlarger type papers that use an enlarger for the light source I set the enlarger head all the way up as a standard because it will provide enough coverage for contact print size and I can easily repeat this distance each time I want to make prints.

It doesn’t matter what lens you probably have on your enlarger, but as a general rule I normally step down two stops on the aperture as a starting point.  I use variable contrast paper so I will need to add one of my Ilford Multigrade filters to the enlarger.  I typically develop my negatives with Diafine so they are typically “thin” so I start with a #3 1/2 filter as my standard.  I use a 75mm lens at f/11 to get an exposure base between 10 and 15 seconds for most papers based on my configuration.  You need to develop your own standard.

3B.) For contact papers like Foma Fomalux you can use a regular light bulb from around the house.  I got a silver light reflector from Home Depot for a few dollars and inserted the light in the socket and use the dome as a way to direct my light source.  You will have to test for your specific paper but as an example I use a 40 watt bulb at 3 feet above my Fomalux 111 fiber paper to get a base exposure in the 10 to 15 second range.  For my Silver Chloride paper I use an R40 120 watt flood lamp.

4.) Get your negative to be contact printed and place it directly on top of a piece of photo paper.  The negative should be on top (emulsion side down towards paper).  The emulsion side should look dull to your eye.  Then place your glass on top to hold everything flat.  If you are using a print frame then place everything in your frame.

5.) Cover your negative/paper sandwich with a piece of thin mat board, poster board, etc so it is protected from the light.  Turn on your light source and then in synchronization with your metronome pull the mat board back in approximately half-inch increments for a predetermined interval.  I recommend using 2 or 3 seconds as your interval.  You should end up with your paper exposed at 2 or 3 second intervals.

6.) Remove paper from under the glass or contact printing frame put it in the Dektol Developer.  Based on your paper you will need to determine your development time.  As a general rule you typically use 1 minute for RC papers and 2 minutes for fiber but be sure to verify for your paper and developer combination.

Start your timer and agitate the prints continually by flipping one sheet of paper at a time end over end and slightly tilting the tray up and down continually moving the developer over the print.  The last 10 seconds lift up the print and let the developer run off the print back into the tray.

7.) Place print in Stop Bath for 30 seconds.  Agitate for 20 seconds and pick it up and let it drip for the last 10 seconds.

8.) For base exposure tests and test prints you don’t need to “fix” for the full time as you should for fine prints.  Your goal at this stage is to make your print light safe and keep working so you can get the base exposure identified.  Place your print in Fixer for 1 minute and agitate continually.  After 1 minute you can turn on your viewing light and look at your print to evaluate.  I use a piece of Plexiglas that I got from Home Depot to place my prints on so that I make sure to view all prints with the same light and angle ensuring consistency.

Note: for actual prints you will need to follow the full development process to include proper fixing and washing times.

Determine Proper Exposure:
You should review your print under your viewing light and select a development time based on the highlights.  You can easily burn in your shadows.  You want an exposure time in the 10 to 20 second range so that you can dodge and burn if necessary.

Record the proper exposure time for each specific paper, film and chemical combination for reuse next time. Note the height of the enlarger head, lens and aperture on enlarger, and any filter choices if you are using variable contrast paper.

9.) After finding your base exposure make a “Test Print”.  For example let’s say your best guess is 12 seconds.  I will typically make prints at 11, 12 and 13 seconds and then pick the best exposure based on the highlights.  Simply repeat this step until you make a print that you are happy with.  This is where you may want to add more light or subtract (dodge and burn) to alter the exposure to different areas of your print.

10.) Properly wash the print and dry.  For RC papers they wash in just minutes but fiber archival prints take an hour or more and that assumes you are using a proper print washer.  For fiber prints I recommend a Patterson PTP231 for prints up to 10 x 12.  If you are making larger prints then you will need a bigger print washer.  This specific model is economically priced at about $149.

After your prints are dry you may need to flatten them if they are fiber paper.  RC paper is almost always flat and you never have to worry about curled prints and they dry super fast.  Fiber paper curls up and requires a fair amount of time and extra steps to flatten the print.
Make sure you recorded all the printing information and put this in a standard storage place so you can make a duplicate print in the future if needed.  I highly recommend using a standard form to record your information.  The Ansel Adam 1, 2, 3 books have good examples.  If you refer to book 3 “The Print” there are samples you can use to make your own.

Resources

You may want to get the class set of books known as Books 1, 2, 3 (The Camera, The Film, The Print) by master photographer Ansel Adams.  These books are classic and timeless.  I refer to them all the time when I need to brush up on something and plan to keep them on my desk for a lifetime.

Final Summary

Whether you are an aspiring professional or photography is your hobby my recommendation is to have fun with it and don’t be afraid to try new things.  Experience in your own darkroom is what makes you the best printer you can be.  In the beginning you need help getting started and the Ansel Adams books that I mentioned above have everything you need to know from selecting the camera to mounting a fine art masterpiece.

Be sure to leave your comments or suggestions at the bottom of this article. If you like my articles be sure to use the “Like” or “Share” buttons located at the bottom of each article so we can get more feedback from other photographers.

You can view more of my large and medium format images on my Flickr stream.

You can read more articles on large format photography by clicking here or on medium format here.

Tim Layton

© Tim Layton – All Rights Reserved – 2011. You may not republish or use any information or media of any format, in part or in whole, without my written permission. For permission and more information you can contact Tim Layton on the web at blog.timlaytonphotography.com or via email at tim@timlaytonphotography.com or via the telephone at 314.972.4900. Visit Tim’s latest photos online at Flickr.