ART221 Darkroom Photography Vocab.txt

Pictures of light

The amount of light hitting the film or paper

Film speed

18% Reflectance

The exposure recommended by your light meter

The image has too much light.

The image has too much light.

The image has too much light.

The image has too little light.

The image has too little light.

The image has too little light.

A condenser enlarger uses one or more lenses to collect light and concentrate it directly on the negative-- the light hitting the negative is focused. Exposures are shorter and black-and-white prints have higher contrast than with a diffusion enlarger. It can be used for color printing if color filters are used.

A diffusion enlarger scatters unfocused light over the negative. Black and white image contrast is lower. The effect of dust on the film is minimized.

In a certain simple diffusion system, light from an incandescent bulb passes through a sheet of cloudy glass onto the negative.

In a cold- light system (black and white only) the light source is a grid of neon tubes.

Developer enhances the latent image by converting silver halide crystals that have been exposed to light into elemental silver through a reducing agent.

The stop bath halts the developer's action by changing the pH. It also preserves the fixer somewhat, through the same pH change-- fixer lasts longer when the alkaline developer is already neutralized.

Fixer makes the exposed and developed image permanent by dissolving any unexposed silver halide crystals out of the emulsion. The active ingredient is sodium hyposulfate.

It interacts with the remaining fixer (aka hypo) to neutralize it and make it easier to wash off. It both speeds the washing process and makes the finished film more durable.

It allows processed film to dry quickly without spotting or other watermarks.

Developer converts crystals in the paper's emulsion into metallic silver.