Basics of Processing and Printing Black and White Photos

In this module, we’ll explore the basics of creating black and white photographs.

Unfortunately, we can’t ship each of you your own personal darkroom – if only!

Instead, we’ll explore what it is to expose and process black and white photographic paper. You’ll create your own pinhole camera, aka a camera obscura, create a contact print, and begin making photographs with meaning! First, let’s explore silver gelatin paper – the basis for black and white photography!

Module Lessons Preview

In this module, we will study the following topics:

Creating a Pinhole Camera

In this lesson, you will create your own camera obscura and record a pinhole image from it.

Create a Contact Print

In this lesson, you will explore the concept of contact printing by creating a digital negative and cyanotype paper.

Creating Meaning in a Photogram

In this lesson, you will create photographs that convey a deeper meaning.

Key Terms

Photogram – A picture produced with photographic materials but without a camera
Darkroom – A room without normal light, used for developing photographs
Pinhole Camera - A simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side.
Developer - a chemical agent used for treating photographic material to make an image visible
Stop Bath - a bath for stopping the action of a preceding bath by neutralizing any of its chemicals still present
Fixer - used for making a photographic image permanent
Silver Gelatin – A photographic process used with currently available black-and-white films and printing papers. A suspension of silver salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, paper. These light-sensitive materials are stable under normal keeping conditions and are able to be exposed and processed even many years after their manufacture.
Contact Print - a photographic print made by placing a negative directly on sensitized paper, glass, or film and illuminating it.
Camera Obscura - the natural optical phenomenon that occurs when an image of a scene opposite a screen (or wall) is projected through a small hole in that screen as a reversed and inverted image (left to right and upside down) on a surface opposite to the opening.

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPENSOURCE