Develop Your Pinhole Pictures
For Light Sensitive Paper Negatives.
You will need a darkroom and some photographic developing equipment. I use Kodak products and have been very happy with them, but you can use whatever developer and fixer you wish.
List of things you will need:
- 4 square flat bottomed plastic pans.
- Some tongs.
- Kodak Polymax T developer for paper.
- Kodak Polymax T Fixer for film or paper.
- Water
- A Safe Light.
Please keep in mind that these chemicals are toxic and should be used in a well ventilated room. Please read the instructions on the developer and fixer packages carefully and always follow their directions.
Loading and unloading your pinhole cameras must be done in complete dark unless you have a Safe Light, otherwise light will cause fogging of your images. Have ready in your darkroom, at room temperature:
- Pan #1, with mixed developer.
- Pan #2, water.
- Pan #3, with your mixed fixer.
- Pan #4, water.
Slip your paper negative into the developer and very gently rock the pan for 1 minute. Using the tongs, remove your paper from the developer and slip it into the water. Gently rock the water pan for 10 seconds. Remove your paper negative again and now slip it into the fixer pan, gently rocking for 2 minutes. Once this time is finished it should be safe for you to turn on your regular lights and see what wonderful images you have captured with your pinhole camera. Now put your image into the final water pan. (preferably under running water for a good 10 minutes.) Hang your image to dry..........and you are finished. Congratulations, you have just developed your very first negative!
Yes, that's right, you now have a negative. So you need to make a positive copy from your negative. Simple. In the darkroom again, lay your negative face down on top of another sheet of your sensitive paper, (which is facing up) and lay a sheet of glass over both of them, (so you will have a good contact between them) and flash a light over the top of the negative, for about 3 seconds more or less, depending on your source of light. Then develop your new copy the very same way as you did your negative. Remember this is all done under on a safe light in the darkroom, using your flash of regular light just for those few seconds. An easier way, of course, is to scan your negative copy into your computer and make a positive copy, assuming that you have a program which does this. Finished!