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During experimenting in the darkroom, I got to learn and go through the processes which lead to a final print photograph.

I firstly experimented by creating photograms using an enlarger, which was one of the first ways in which photography evolved. A photogram is essentially an image which is created without a camera. It uses photographic materials such as light-sensitive paper to create the photographs, so it is important to create the images in a dark room with only red lighting as the paper will not be sensitive to this type of light.

For the process of creating photograms, you place photographic light-sensitive paper onto the enlarger, underneath it's main body. You then place the items you want to capture on top of the paper. Once all of this is in place, you set the timer to the amount of seconds you want the light exposure to last on the paper and items. For my photograms (as shown in pictures) I exposed the light for 6 seconds. You can see that sometimes they do not come out as in focus as a normal picture would, depending on the objects that you choose to capture within your photogram. For example, in photogram 1, it's difficult to see the necklace. After exposing the light to the paper, it is then placed in the developer tray, then the stop bath, then the fixer and finally the wash. After this, the picture is dried in the dryer and photogram 1 and 2 are the results.

The way in which you create a print of an image you have taken is a similar process, however is still slightly different. Firstly a camera is involved, so you would take the picture you want, and take the film out of the camera in which stored your pictures. You then feed the film through the enlarger's projector and focus your image which is being reflected below, by twisting the lens. Whilst you are looking at this, you are using red light so that your photographic paper that the picture is being projected onto, is not affected. Once the photograph is in focus you then time the light exposure you want. In photo print 1 I exposed the light for 6 seconds and realised it wasn't quite enough once I saw the result so for photo print 2, I exposed the light for an additional 4 seconds to make a total of 10 seconds of light exposure. After this, the picture went through the same process as the photogram - being placed in the trays, then in the dryer.

I wanted to create a large image but wasn't sure how many seconds of light exposure I should use and I didn't want to use endless sheets of photographic paper to find out, so I created a test strip. This allowed me to expose light for different amounts of time so that I could judge how long I would expose light in my actual image. The test strip (as shown in image) shows 4 seconds up to 24 seconds of light exposure. However, I wrongly noted the test strip's 24 second exposure as 20 second exposure, meaning that for my final image (photo print 3) I based the light exposure time on a wrongly recorded test strip. Although photo print 3 is fairly good, I exposed the light for 24 seconds on the basis that I initially though that the test strip was showing a 20 second light exposure at the darkest end. Because this was wrong, the test strip darker end and photo print 3 actually were exposed for the same amount of time. If I had got the test strip exposure correct, I would have therefore left the photo print 3's light expose 4 - 8 seconds longer than I did.

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I came across a few problems during my darkroom photography experiment.

Firstly, when placing the light-sensitive photographic paper onto the enlarger one attempt to expose light to create a picture didn't work. when the paper was put into the developer tray, nothing happened. This was because the photographic paper was placed down the wrong way - the shiny side was not the side that was being exposed. Therefore, each time after this, the paper was double checked that it was the correct side up.

Another problem was the light exposure time on the test strip was not calculated properly. So I based my next print (photo print 3) on an essentially false test strip (further explained during the process paragraph).

Furthermore, because of the extensive use of the dryer, normally it would dry a picture after it has transferred through once, however it did not. Consequently, I had to insert the pictures through numerous times before they were completely dry which slowed the final process slightly, but didn't affect the quality of the pictures.

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I used this to record the amount of time in which the light from the enlarger was exposing light to the photographic paper.

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Each tray is used for a different process during the stages of creating a final print. The chemicals within some of the trays have to be tested with a thermometer to ensure that they are the correct temperature for the pictures to be able to develop. Firstly the photographic paper is put into the first tray - the developer. After around a minute or two, the picture will then be placed into the next tray using tongs- the stop bath, for around a minute - this prevents any further development of the picture to occur. The next tray that the picture is placed into is called the fixer - the chemicals in this tray basically help to protect the picture from scratches etc and to help prevent any browning. After this, the picture is places into the last tray which is full purely of water. This washes away any chemicals that still remain on the picture.

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This is the final process that the printed photograph has to go through. After being through the processes of the chemical trays, to the final washing, you are left with a wet photograph. To resolve this, you place the photograph through the dryer which literally dries the picture.

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This is an enlarger and is used to create photograms and pictures through light exposure to photographic paper. You can create photographs large or small and can place negatives in the projector part.

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When pictures are taken and stored on film, they are negative images, so the colours are inverted. The images only become positive once they go through the printing process.

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24 seconds of light exposure.

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I created a test strip by exposing light for different times to enable me to judge which light exposure time will work best for a final print. This is an effective way of testing and ensures I am not wasting photographic paper. The lightest part of the test strip was 4 seconds, which increased each time by 4 until I reached 24.

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Photogram of shapes, cellotape and a negative film. With the negative film at the bottom of this photogram, i was essentially testing out the idea of a contact sheet. A contact sheet is fundamentally rows of negative films which allows the photographer to pick out the images they want to print properly - so they can see the positive pictures and save photographic paper by not printing an image they may not want/need.

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Photogram of a necklace, spoon, shell and pound coin.

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6 seconds of light exposure.

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10 seconds of light exposure.