Processing Black and White Photos

1) A metal or plastic film tank
Three dark plastic containers to hold chemistry 
Graduates (used to measure chemicals)
A darkroom timer
A can opener
A room that is totally light proof (not even the slightest sliver of light should be visible).


2) Developer
Glacial Acetic Acid (optional, for Stop Bath)
Fixer (Kodak Rapid Fixer with Hardener is highly recommended)
Hypo Eliminator

3) In total darkness, remove the film from the cassette. Pull the flat end off the 35mm canister with a can opener. Unwind the film and remove the end of the film from the spool by peeling off the tape that connects it. Load the film onto either a metal or plastic film reel. Place the loaded reel in the film tank ad cover it as directed. The film is now in a light tight container. You can turn on the light.

Most film is processed between 65 and 75 degrees. Higher temperatures could lead to "reticulation", which gives film a coarse, overly-grainy appearance. Pour developer into the open part of the sealed film tank, known as the pour spout, and cover it.Agitate, then tap to avoid messing up the picture.Develop for time said on the package. When done, take the lid off the tank's pour spout and pour it out. Pour running water into the pour spout for one minute to stop development. This is called the stop bath. Use a fixer with hardener, since that will help protect the negative from getting easily scratched. Fixing takes 5-10 minutes, depending on if you used a normal or rapid fixer. Remove the tank cover completely and let the film sit in cold running water for five minutes. Pour in a tankful of Hypo Eliminator (also called Hypo Clearing Agent) and agitate for two minutes. One final wash, for five minutes. Carefully pull the film out of the tank. Don't touch the surface of the negatives! Use washing pins or film clips to hang the film to dry in a dust-free area. In about 1-2 hours, the film will be dry. Use scissors to cut the film into strips six negatives long.Store the negatives in clear glassine envelopes or PVC plastic negative pages.

 

4)  

 

 

Vocabulary 

•  Contact sheet- A contact print, usually of all frames of a developed roll of negative print film, used as a proof print.
• Agitation- The act of moving something vigorously; the shaking or stirring of something.
• Enlarger- An apparatus used for making projection prints, having a head for holding, illuminating, and projecting a film negative and a bed for holding a sheet of sensitized printing paper. 
• Developer- A reducing agent or solution for developing a film or the like.
• Stop Bath- An acid bath or rinse for stopping the action of a developer before fixing a negative or print. 
• Fixer- A chemical substance, as sodium thiosulfate, used to promote fixation. 

 

Statesman

I chose this picture because, to me, it resembles a childhood getting burned and destroyed by some traumatic obstacle. I also like how the color of the broken and charred doll contrasts with the color of the dirt and ashes. It shows a great deal of balance not only between color but with the doll being scattered around the entire picture.

Funny Captions

Your typical 3-armed baby. This was a common side-effect of the Vietnam War.

Killer is your typical chihuahua. He bit off more than he can chew.

Goldie takes this opportunity to showcase his special abilities. His special skills eventually won him gold place for being a professional beggar.

The Malboro Marine

2.
A) Luis Sinco used great timing when he did his presentation. Each slide's time up was in sinc with how powerful the photo was. I also like how the subject was presenting himself in first person through most of the slideshow, but at the end Sinco told the story of him and the subject in third person.
B) The effect of the mutlimedia was that it had the viewer feeling sympathetic towards the subject and Mr. Sinco. the whole time I was watching, I felt a sadness and a sorrow come over me that I felt truly sympathetic for.
3.
A) The most powerful image in the slideshow was the one where Miller was holding his gun and about to shoot a target. All you could see was the gun and Miller pointing it at the target even though he felt horrible about taking another person's life. It's powerful because you can see him about to shoot a person, but in his heart he knows how wrong it is.
B) I feel the most powerful sequence of photos was the sequence where he's smoking a cigarette. I feel like this is the most powerful sequence because it is perfectly timed to make it look like his is actually doing the action sequence of smoking a cigarette. And throughout the entire slideshow, Sinco shows how fond Miller is of cigarettes, and how they seem to calm him or be his addiction.
C) The audio enhances the photos because it's as if Miller is talking about the story that is taking place in each of the photos. I also think  that the bit of audio done by Sinco at the end of the slideshow enhances how the third party views the events that happened in the war.
D) The images work together to get the essence of Miller's experience during and after he had fought in the war. It shows both the good (with his wedding) and the bad (the people he had killed) throughout the presentation and it plays along well with the audio on how Miller had felt about both sides.

show and tell

Second Place
Beginning Landscape



What makes this a powerful picture is the great sense of depth that the photographer created from his lower viewpoint. Also there is a great deal of darkness that takes place mostly in the front of the picture that balances the light in the more back of the photo. This representation of balance also makes the picture look more surreal and deepens the depth even further.

Great Black and White photographers part 3

1) What first caught my eye when looking at this photographer's photos is that he seems to capture an essence of truth and humanity even if the photo is of non-human objects, which made me so drawn into choosing him because I feel that even though the objects are inanimate, I feel like I can relate to them.

2) I see a grasp for steadiness. A desperation to hold onto something that was once there but now is gone.

I smell the strong scent of red wine. I also smell the leather of shoes that have been freshly polished.

I hear the sound of a ballroom being filled with music and voices. As if a grand ball is being thrown and people are communicating in the soul of the music and those who are not are commuting with the ones standing by

I taste French delicacies. The creamy and sweet insides surrounded by a fragile, crisp shell that almost crumbles when you take a bite.

I feel desperation.

2) I see a sadness that has a certain spot of warmth and hope. I see that even though there is a struggle to remain steady, there is also a stability within the sorrow.
I smell the scent of rain in the air. The rain is a representation of the tearless cries that the statues are expressing.

I hear the sound of raindrops slightly against the noise of the ocean waves crashing along the shore.

I taste a dryness that would accumulate in the mouth if a sorrow were to strike.

I feel a depression, yet a sliver of hope. The hope coming from the supporting shoulder that the subject is depending on and has to rely on.

3) I would like to create a slide show that  is collaged with his photos with very brief descriptions that would help the fellow classmates to understand why I felt that this photographer is so great. Or maybe I would like to create a blog that is solely based on the photographer and everything that he has accomplished.

Great Black and White photographers part 2

Clarence John Laughlin (1905 - 2 January 1985)-

 Lake Charles, Louisiana.Though Laughlin dropped out of high school right after freshman year, he is a very literate man. He went on to pursue a career in photography and has even had French books and poems written about him. He is a freelance architectural photographer and has shot for many agencies such as vogue. Many  historians mark him as the first true surrealist photographer in the U.S.

 

Acadmeics preview

"The Story"-  This visually tells a story because it has emotion, action, and captures a perfect moment between the male and the female subjects. It's also a good story picture because it uses the rule of balance between the "big" male and "small" female objects.

"Action/emotion"- I chose this picture for "Action/
Emotion" because with the viewpoint on the ground instead of eye level, it gives off the vibe of effort and joy that the band members are making in order to have a good show.

"Filling the frame"- This picture is interesting because it has a unique sense of balance, with everything being dark around the skeleton it sends a statement that this object plays an important role in the photo. I also think it follows the rule of background because the only things that are in the background are the female and light subjects.