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Hand colouring The idea of adding colour to a monochrome image by hand dates back to the beginning of photography. At this time it was the only way to get a colour photograph. Although colour photography using the three colour process was put forward just short of thirty years after the first photograph by Nicephore Niepce,  it was, in its early years, expensive and difficult to produce a colour image. Hand colouring became a practical way to give the impression of colour and everything from Daguerroty...

8th April 2014 Further expanding its capabilities and services, California based ILFORD LAB US now offers Silver Gelatin Prints from digital files with a specially commissioned Fuji Frontier digital laser printer optimized for printing black and white images. This ILFORD LAB US printing service draws on 130 years of ILFORD PHOTO expertise, producing the finest quality Silver Gelatin black and white prints; achieved using traditional ILFORD black and white chemistry and genuine ILFORD silver gelatin photog...

Starting Photography What should I choose as my first film? Please see our guide to choosing your first film.  What should I choose as my first Paper? Please read our guide to picking your perfect paper  What chemicals should I use for starting out with film processing? There is a lot of useful information in our learning zone  What advice can you give for setting up a new darkroom? There is a great short animation about this, along with other information in our learning zone   Pinho...

This guide focuses on the photo chemicals you can use for processing film. We also have a guide to processing film as well as some handy tips on loading a developing spiral. Choosing photo chemicals We have a range of photo chemicals designed to give different results with our films and papers. The choice of stop bath and fixer is limited but we have several film developers you can use. Film developers come in either liquid and powder concentrate form and have a range of attributes. Some developers giv...

Processing your own film can speed up your workflow and give you quicker access to your negatives. It is also typically more cost effective and best of all there is nothing like the sense of satisfaction you will gain by taking control over the full end-to-end process of your photography. While trying it for the first time might be a daunting prospect, fear not. Below is our guide on what equipment, chemistry and method would be suitable for anyone new to processing films. For more detail, you can downlo...

The first stage of making a darkroom print is to determine the exposure time. If you have already created a contact sheet of your negatives, and they appear correctly exposed, then you should have a rough idea of the necessary exposure (provided you haven’t moved the enlarger head or aperture setting after exposing the contact sheet). Note: If you change the degree of enlargement you will also need to adjust the exposure. Some enlargers have scales printed on their columns to make this easier. Another...

What are film developers? Film developers are a photographic chemical that turns your exposed film into working negatives as part of a processing workflow. (You will also need a stop bath and fixer - for more information on how to process your film or which chemistry to choose read our guides). We offer a broad range of film developers that are designed to exploit the different characteristics of our films. Developers are available in either powder and liquid concentrate form and have a range of charact...

Although many film cameras have inbuilt light metering systems, a light meter instrument can also be used. Light Meters can measure the amount of light falling on a subject (incident light), or being reflected by a subject (reflective light). By converting these measurements, it defines what would be the most beneficial shutter speed and f/stop to use for that given subject. Light Meters are particularly helpful where subject matter / lighting conditions are difficult. Some light meters are also able to...

Having shot a roll of black and white film it now needs to be processed to create the negatives. At this point your film is still light sensitive so should not be exposed to light. Processing your own film can be highly satisfying and cost effective. It is also easy to learn. The most common method for hand processing film is undertaken by using a Daylight Processing Tank. This piece of kit needs the film to be loaded on to a ‘spiral’ or ‘reel’, in the dark, and then enclosed in a light tight co...

Safety data sheets for ILFORD photochemicals when made up for use These safety data sheets relate to the products after they have been prepared for use in accordance with our recommendations. Because we do not supply these chemical solutions ready for use, we are not obliged to provide these SDSs. However, we do so in order to help users, especially those in schools and colleges, to use the products safely and assess correctly the risks involved. These are European SDSs and are provided in English only.The...