It occurs to me that there are more than a few astrophotographers on this list so I have a question for those folks. I've decided to get my long neglected Schmidt camera out of mothballs which means I'm also going to have to do the same for my darkroom. So, I ask you, should the walls of a darkroom, to be used for B&W photography, be white or black or something in between? Patrick :-)
Patrick- The general concensus is to paint the darkroom walls white or off-white in order to reflect as much Safelight as possible. My darkroom happens to be yellow, because our house dates from the mid 70's, and when we bought it, everything that wasn't yellow paint was yellow shag. I converted a basement bedroom to a darkroom. and since the shade of yellow paint matched the safelight, I didn't repaint. In his book, "The Negative", Ansel Adams says, " A light color will make efficient use of the safelight illumination as well as providing a pleasant environment. I personally favor a rather light neutral color(about 70% reflectance) for walls and ceiling. White ceilings are best for the use of reflecting safelights, such as the highly efficient sodium units. However, walls near the enlarger should be flat black to minimize reflection of enlarger light onto the printing paper." When in doubt, imitate the very best! I gathered other resources when I built my darkroom, such as how to make sinks, drying racks, etc. Let me know if I can help. Bob Grant ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Wiggins" <pwiggins@co.slc.ut.us> To: "utah astronomy listserve" <utah-astronomy@lists.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 2:07 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Darkroom question
It occurs to me that there are more than a few astrophotographers on this list so I have a question for those folks.
I've decided to get my long neglected Schmidt camera out of mothballs which means I'm also going to have to do the same for my darkroom. So, I ask you, should the walls of a darkroom, to be used for B&W photography, be white or black or something in between?
Patrick :-)
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Hi, Thanks for the input. In its previous incarnation the walls and ceiling were (and still are) all white. I don't believe I had a problem with white walls next to the enlarger but I think I will make the walls flat black there in the "new and improved" darkroom. So I tend to agree with you, whatever was good enough for Ansel Adams is better than good enough for me. Cheers! Patrick :-)
Patrick- Another thought just occurred to me. My old Omega DII has some light leakage thru the cooling vents on top of the lamp housing, throwing a faint pattern of light on the ceiling. If yours does the same, you may want to darken the ceiling above your enlarger, too. Bob Grant ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Wiggins" <pwiggins@co.slc.ut.us> To: <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 5:54 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Darkroom question
Hi,
Thanks for the input. In its previous incarnation the walls and ceiling were (and still are) all white.
I don't believe I had a problem with white walls next to the enlarger but I think I will make the walls flat black there in the "new and improved" darkroom.
So I tend to agree with you, whatever was good enough for Ansel Adams is better than good enough for me.
Cheers!
Patrick :-)
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It's the lighting that counts. If you are using a safelight when making prints, probably the color of the walls won't matter. But black seems to be a safer bet in case any stray light is bouncing around. -- Joe
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Joe Bauman -
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Patrick Wiggins