Darkroom Printing a Model Test Shoot

I made some lovely photos with my friend Jono the other day, I was of plan to film the shoot itself but the guy who was going to film had a scratchy throat the night before so we called that off!
I hope you enjoy a look at some of my printing process though, my enlarger setup is an Ilford Multigrade 500H and accessories mounted on an LPL enlarger base, with Nikon lenses.
I've actually just sourced a second Multigrade 500 setup, so I'll do a full darkroom setup video once I've got all that sorted out.
For more of my work;
Insta; / willysheepskin
Website; www.willysheep...
Jono's insta; / jonoforlee
Intro song is by DEEJAYRUST
Outro song is by Lim0.

[@jasonzy425]

Photography aside, your accent and rhythm of speech are absolutely amazing.

[@willysheepskin]

Ahh I’m super glad you think so! Always worried about that haha

[@saltylemonss7865]

@@willysheepskin ive just watched every single one of your videos because of this (and your photography ofc lol)

[@willysheepskin]

@@saltylemonss7865 I am honored to hear that haha!

[@IainHC1]

@@willysheepskin I could actually hear you saying that as I read it :-D

[@ribsy]

ahhh the darkroom! 😊

[@willysheepskin]

It's the place to be this February! Very fashionable!

[@TheGameCalledReality]

love that you're adding darkoom videos to your fantastic collection of videos, keep it up my man!

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers Jay! More to come for sure!

[@IainHC1]

Me too :-)

[@glennhunt4945]

Using a stop bath will save you money by increasing the longevity of your hypo/fixer and save you time it needs to be washed before fixing. Love the enlarger set-up. Reminds me of my days in the darkroom creating images. You need to make some burning-in tools out of cardboard and coat hangers or start using your hands in creative ways to dodge and burn. How do you dry your prints? Using hangers to air dry or tin plate (for glossy prints)?

[@ajlanm]

I during the later part of my career as a photographer I had that exact same Ilford enlarger. Seeing it brought back a lot of memories. Thanks.

[@willysheepskin]

That's awesome! It's far and above my favorite black and white enlarger, I'm glad I could bring back the memories!

[@justinconnaher8868]

That water faucet at the end 😆. Seriously, enjoyed this. I haven’t been in the darkroom in at least 20 years. This reminds me of what I miss and don’t miss.

[@willysheepskin]

Honored that you watched through to that bit haha! That faucet has done that a couple of times and it’s quite scary cause I feel like it puts excess pressure on my sketchy plumbing job but oh well! There’s a lot to miss and not miss for sure, I personally just enjoy having it as a meditative space of sorts and getting physics photos going!

[@justinconnaher8868]

@@willysheepskin Agreed. I enjoyed it-Thanks for sharing.

[@simonerouart9383]

Great video, I'm starting dark room printing, alone and with no other teacher than what I found on KZbin... and this video learned me some stuff I can not wait to try. Thank you fore that. I just discovered your channel and it is exactly what I am looking for as an amateur analog photographer Can't wait to see more, and discover South Africa that way

[@willysheepskin]

I’m glad you found it helpful Simon! Honored to hear that my channel appeals to your tastes haha! Excited to show you more!

[@olgamarsay8483]

Nice work. Interesting and enlightening!

[@willysheepskin]

I'm glad you think so!

[@jonathanforlee1961]

It meee!! Dope video my brother ;)

[@willysheepskin]

Thank u for lending me your lovely face and carrying me in warzone ahah

[@sharpkidzeducation]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@willysheepskin]

:) :) :) :) :)

[@evanspaulding672]

Idk if you just didn't feature it in your video, but is there a reason you didn't use the maximum black method when making your contact print? I feel like it would have saved you a lot of test strips if you started there instead of slowly increasing the exposure. But that would only really work if you knew what you wanted already to see if you liked how it is or if you wanted to dodge and burn areas.

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks for the tip Evan! I've kind of gotten into the habit of doing it this way, I will on occasion if I'm in a rush make a maximum black maneuver, but quite often my exposures vary on the roll because I overexpose quite often with HP5 at the moment as I'm playing around with black and white looks, and wanted to see how things would look at varying contact exposures, as well as end up with some decent results haha! In future I'll definitely try to save some time and test strips when I reckon I can safely do so consistency wise!

[@boeju1]

Was looking at getting a darkroom setup myself, now i need one for sure!

[@willysheepskin]

Absolutely! The trickiest part of this was just making sure the room was dark, keep an eye on your local second hand listings and I'm sure something cool will pop up! I got my entire setup for the $106, should've mentioned that it wasn't just the enlarger haha!

[@boeju1]

@@willysheepskin well I'm on a roll, I've actually already got my eye on an entire color printing (also black and white compatible) setup even with stuff to develop my own negs!

[@willysheepskin]

@@boeju1 that sounds raaaad! There’s no way to do color here currently cus the chemicals and paper aren’t readily available, but scheming on a way to get that sorted at some point haha! I fully back you picking up the setup and getting a workflow sorted!

[@TheSpringsteppa]

Dude you have me frothing now!

[@willysheepskin]

Haha I back all enlarger investments!

[@mayasarembock8739]

So lovely learning about darkroom prints, really excited to watch more of these!

[@willysheepskin]

I'm glad you enjoyed! More to come, likely somewhat shorter in length if I can manage it!

[@biancablair6133]

YAY! Nice work :)

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you!! :)

[@GabrielBok]

Love it! Subscribed!

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you kindly!

[@mathieurabary]

Really dope video man! I've tried darkroom printing for the first time about 3-4 months ago but was too busy with the preparation of my zine and exhibition. I'm gonna start doing a bunch of darkroom prints in the next few months and I can't wait! Loved watching your process, I've learnt a bunch 😁

[@willysheepskin]

Was sick to see your event do so well man! I look forward to seeing what you get up to in the darkroom!

[@andreialopes386]

This made me miss the darkroom so much, I hope I come back to it one day 🤞🏼 Once again, great content!

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks so much once more Andreia! I hope you get to head back to the darkroom someday soon as well!

[@jonmikolrosario]

this was quite entertaining!

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers!

[@carlseibert9015]

Feeling nostalgia here.... If I may, I think your overthinking the contact thing. Standardize exposure. Bang. Tells you where to start on the print and leaves you time to get to it. Get a focus scope. Same thing... Life is too short. What a wonderful enlarger!

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks for the advice Carl! I reckon you’re right too, by the time I was done with those contacts I was already somewhat bored of the back and forth. I think in future I’ll definitely try to standardize! The enlarger is indeed wonderful, so wonderful that I picked up a second one shortly after filming this haha!

[@carlseibert9015]

@@willysheepskin Two of them! Damn. Jealousy rises..... Yup, a contact sheet exposure based on what makes the edge of the film look decent will tell you a ton about the print to come. By in large, if your contact is on the same size paper as your print, it won't even be far away from the actual exposure. Of course, you do have that luxurious exposure probe. If it turns out to be good, that bad boy could seriously save you some paper. Which nowadays costs even more than it did back in the day - and that was already plenty.

[@willysheepskin]

@@carlseibert9015 Alright I’m sold, gonna get the exposure probe up and running and save time and money haha! Thanks so much for the advice again!

[@SalmoneTattico]

nice vid!

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you!

[@IainHC1]

Light leaks are real man!! Embrace the imperfections :-)

[@willysheepskin]

Hey I'm all about em if they look like that one did haha!

[@petrileroux9670]

I like the way you work in the darkroom, even though you say you are not a stickler for the rules I feel like you do enough technical tests. We need to get you more sub and a wider lens.

[@willysheepskin]

Thanks Petri! Mainly with regards to timing chemical baths I’m a bit lax haha, wider lens and subs shall come in their own time I reckon, just having fun for now still!

[@akaYu07]

Just a quick note on contact printing: take a note of the enlarger height, f-stop, time and contrast setting on the paper box and you won't have to do a test strip anymore.

[@willysheepskin]

Ah thanks for the tip Tian! Will have to try that out, sounds like it would definitely improve my workflow haha!

[@willf.5403]

Love the portraits! I’m looking for a enlarger to buy as well. Btw what rb lens did you use ?

[@willysheepskin]

Thank you! You should definitely pick one up! I used the 90mm and 250mm for these photos

[@renguney]

Hey Will

[@willysheepskin]

Ahoy!

[@szabodaniel9447]

When printing on FB paper you need to factor on the dry down effect, it can be dramatic.

[@willysheepskin]

Cheers for the tip Szabo! This was RC paper cus' I don't have a good enough rinse setup, but will keep that in mind when I get to print with fibre again for sure!

[@szabodaniel9447]

@@willysheepskin You don’t need to rinse FB beyond a quick first wash down. Soak them for 2 hours (1:30 face down, 30 up) in a tray and change the water 3 times (you don’t need too much of it). Check out Lina Bessonova’s vid, she checked ammonium thiosulfate residue after 90 mins without changing the water and it was fine. Dry your prints by taping then with water soluble adhesive tape onto a wooden board or glass. The surface will have beautiful texture and the print will be flat. Use a wet sponge to apply the tape very carefully.

[@IainHC1]

Have you ever tried split grade printing?

[@willysheepskin]

I think I did some briefly in university, but have never actually implemented it in my own practice! Shall have to do some refresher experiments at some point and see if I can share the results! These multigrade enlargers are actually meant to be really good for split grade stuff I think because you can switch up the grades without changing exposure times on them - or so I have heard haha