STEVEN BERKOWITZ – EDUCATIONAL PAGES

V S 2 :   D A R K R O O M   P H O T O G R A P H Y

VS2: Darkroom Photo Syllabus - Spring 2016

VS2: Class Schedule - Spring 2016

VS2: Darkroom - Equipment List

BASIC SHOOTING

Basic Camera; including Light & Vision, the Camera and the Eye, Film and the Photographic Process,
the Camera, Loading & Rewnding, the Shutter, the Lens, Light Meters, Exposure

Basic Exposure; Reading an Exposure Meter, Exposure Technique, Exposure Aesthetics, Exposure Adjustment,
Movement and Depth of Field - Shooting Assignment, Darks and Lights - Shooting Assignment

Framing & Composition; Closeness/ Proximity, Angle of View/ Attitude, Luminance/ Dramatic Lighting, Corners & Edges of the Frame

Refining Your Shooting; Framing & Composition, Identification, Multiplicity, Content in Context, Cropping/ Lazy Eye,
Contact Sheet Syndrome, Content Bleed, Personal Vision, Photo Clichés, Photo Hunting, Self-Evaluation,
Advanced Technical Points: Depth of Field, Contrast, Shadow Detail

Basic Aesthetics; Image Reversal, Information and Communication, Responsibility, Basic Visual Toolkit, Shooting, Image Evaluation,
The Function of Discipline, Imagemaking - the Four P's, Evaluation, Stages of Development

Basic Assignments; Mystery and Light, Movement and Depth of Field, Darks and Lights

Intuitive vs. Directed Shooting; Intuitive Shooting, Self-Awareness & Organization, Directed Shooting, Content Bleed,
Balanced Shooting, Photo Journ, Motivation, Discipline

Passive vs. Active Shooting

Visual Movement through Multiplicity

BASIC FILM

Basic Film; Film and the Photographic Process, the Evolution of Film, Modern Film, Choosing Film,
Film: Speed Grain & Contrast, Developing Film, Negatives: Exposure & Evaluation

Developmer Mix Chart; for Sprint 'Standard' Film Developer [sign]

Film Development Times; for Sprint 'Standard' Film Developer [sign]

Proper Film Fixing Procedure; saving and replacing Film Fixer

BASIC PRINTING

Basic Printing; Priting Papers: Construction, Grades, Surfaces, Tonalities, Printing Chemicals, Contact Sheets,
Test Strips, Enlargement Printing, Print Finishing, Print Washing, Prints: Exposure & Evaluation,
Fiber Base Paper - Archival Processing, Contrast Filters, Printing Sizes and Alignment

Omega Enlarger Setup; lens selection, condenser position, bellows position, carriage movement, focus adjustment,
contrast filter placement, and Gralab timer operation

Printing Protocol; step by step protocol of printing in the Tyler Darkroom

Print Target; set up easel, make a black target sheet, draw the target, use the target, make more targets, larger print targets

Printing with Filters; theory, process [sign]

Critique Decorum

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Advanced Film; alternative films, edwal developers and normal development, expansion and compression,
alternative exposure and development techniques ('pushing' and 'pulling'),
infra-red film, orthochromatic film, reduction, chemical recipes, intensification

Push/ Pull Film Processing [sign]

Massive Film Developing Chart; more specific info for pushing and pulling film

Available B&W Films

Advanced Printing; Buring & Dodging, Split Filtration, Flashing & Mooning, Push & Pull Printing, Multiple Prints
fiber base printing paper, selected fiber base papers, fiber paper processing times, paper developing,
fixing fiber based paper, fiber base paper - archival processing,

Split Filtration; theory, process [sign]

FOMA Paper Types; chart of paper types, color of base and surface texture

TONING

Advanced Toning; toners, silver conversion toners, sepia toner ,tonality, printing adjustment, bleaching, rinsing, toning, washing, toner capacity, practical bleach use,
alternate bleach use, keeping track, selenium toning, toning variations: full sepia toning, split toning, pre-sulfiding, pre-developing,
reverse sepia toning, triple band toning, gould’s technique, bleaching back, selenium combinations; toning tips, selective toning, bleaching

Sepia Toning; by Tim Rudman

Toner Recipes; vario-sepia, selenium, feri or bromi bleach, sepia bleach, redevelopers, farmer's reducer

Lith Toning; recipe, chemistry, process

Copper/Red Toner; exposure, mixing instructions, basic use, processing notes, redevelopment & retoning,
tone reversal, post-toning baths, multi-toner toning

Blue Toner; overview, printing adjustment, mixing, processing, final washing & drying, post toning clearing baths,
post-toning fixing, intensification, multiple toning, clean-up

Liam Lawlwess' article on Blue Toning; tips & tricks for blue toning, how toning works, toning procedure, staining,
washing, image stability, straight blue tones and iron-sabatier, untoning, luminous tones, brown and red tones,
extended clearing, bill rowlinson's method, split toning with zinc chloride, split toning with sepia,
(b) blue-brown, compression toning, a note from tony mclean

SPECIAL TECHNIQUES

Lith Printing; theory, process, materials

Double Exposure; examples of various techniques for multiple exposure printing

Digital Negatives for Silver Printing; workflow, scan the B&W negative, build a new Photoshop image file,
include a stepwedge, flip the picture, invert the tonality, apply an adjustment curve, print the picture,
printer settings for digital negatives, apply adjustment layers to other photographs

Test Print: step-wedge50.tif

Pinhole Cameras

WEB TECHNIQUE

Scanning (Epson 700/ 750/ 850); Setup, Scanning, Saving, Straighten, Realign, Adjust Density, Correct Printing, Correct Dark Edges, Retouching

Web Picture Preparation for Darkroom Prints; Create a Personal Folder, Scan the Print,
Straighten the Print Crop to Include Borders and White Space, Tone Correct the Print,
Save for Web – Twice, File Naming Conventions, Upload Files to OWLbox

Accessing OWLbox

Scanning Film with DigitaLIZA Scanning Mask; Load the Film into the Scanning Mask, Prepare the Scanner, Start the Software,
Set the Scanning Options for Film Negatives, Make the Scan, Shutting Down

Borrowing Web Pix

FINISHING