Darkroom Faults

Processing faults

  1. No image formed: If the film is clear, even the frame numbers missing, The fixer was put in the tank first, instead of the developer.
  2. Film is totally black: Film fogged to light either in the camera or during processing.
  3. Film clear but frame numbers are present: You processed an unexposed film.
  4. Overlapping double images: You have exposed the same roll of film twice.
  5. Clear patches on film: The emulsion surface of the film came into contact with another surface during processing, usually another roll of film.
  6. Heavy, dense negatives: Excessive bleach.
  7. Excessive contrast: Not enough bleach. Re-bleach, fix and wash film.
  8. Spots on film (orange mask on color negatives): Air bubbles during developments. Follow recommended agitation.
  9. Overexposure/Underexposure: Wrong exposure in camera. Wrong temperature and/or time in processing. Too little first or exhausted first developer.
  10. Fogged negatives and incorrect colors: Developer contaminated with bleach/fix.
  11. Magenta cast on slides: Fixer contaminated with color developer.

Printing faults

  1. Too light: Reduce exposure (slides). Increase exposure (negatives).
  2. Too dark: Increase exposure (slides). Reduce exposure (negatives).
  3. Small area dark: Burn in (slides). Shade (negatives).
  4. Small area light: Shade (slides). Burn in (negatives).
  5. Too yellow: Reduce yellow filters (slides). Add yellow filters (negatives).
  6. Too magenta: Reduce magenta filter (slides). Add magenta filter (negatives).
  7. Too cyan: Reduce cyan filter (slides). Add cyan filter (negatives).
  8. Too blue: Reduce magenta and cyan filters (slides). Reduce yellow filter (negatives).
  9. Too green: Reduce yellow and cyan filters (slides). Reduce magenta filter (negatives).
  10. Too red: Reduce yellow and magenta filters (slides), Reduce cyan filter (negatives).
  11. Print has bleached and purple appearance: Light entered the drum or paper package.
  12. Spots on print: Air bubbles on print surface. Increase agitation.
  13. Uneven processing: Not enough solution.
  14. Large white areas: Paper improperly loaded into drum.

The Film Developing Cookbook (Darkroom Cookbook)



The Film Developing Cookbook is an up-to-date manual for modern film development techniques. While the original Darkroom Cookbook focused entirely on photographic chemicals and formulae, this book concentrates on films, their characteristics, and the developers each requires for maximum control of the resulting image.

The Film Developing Cookbook specifically addresses the difficult subject of T-grain film development. It includes rarely found information on film development and the nature of film developers. The authors take bold and controversial stances on many widely accepted film developing dogmas. They tackle many of the widely accepted "myths" of film development. They reject the trend toward `scientific evaluation' of films and developers in favor of the photographer developing a personal aesthetic without relying exclusively on densitometry or H&D curves.

Steve Anchell is a contributing editor to Outdoor Photographer and PhotoWork magazines. He has written columns, feature articles, and interviews for Camera & Darkroom, View Camera, PIC, Shutterbug, Photo Shopper, and PhotoPro magazines. His previous two books with Focal Press, The Darkroom Cookbook and The Variable Contrast Printing Manual are photography best-sellers.

Steve's photographs have been exhibited in galleries and are shown in private collections. He photographs and prints both color and black-and-white with 35mm, 2¼ and large-format cameras. He has conducted over 80 photographic and darkroom workshops since 1979. Steve is currently the program director for the Photographer's Formulary Workshops in Condon, Montana. In early 1998, the first collection of his personal work, entitled The Nude at Big Sur, will be published by Whitefish Editions.