Services
We love film and are passionate about spreading our enthusiasm around! Darkroom hire is a cost-effective and hassle-free way of producing traditional prints. Yateley Darkroom offers tuition in film processing and print-craft. Our tuition is always individual and bespoke. We also provide our services as gifts.
Please be advised that although we have colour film processing facilities, we do not offer colour processing as a service. We can process your black and white films or even show you how it’s done!
Darkroom Hire
Have you ever wanted to print film images using traditional techniques and materials using nothing more than light and chemistry but you don’t want the hassle and cost of setting up a Darkroom of your own?
Hiring our modern, well equipped Darkroom in Yateley, Hampshire is a really cost-effective way of getting access to a private Darkroom. We include fresh black-and-white processing chemicals prepared specially for you before your session begins. You can process a film and make prints up to 16x20 inches from virtually any black and white or colour negative. We also have a computer equipped with Adobe Lightroom and a scanner for your use.
Hire is private so the whole Darkroom facility is for you (and your friend) - no sharing.
We are normally open from 9am until 6pm, 7 days a week. Hire for a half-day (9am-1pm or 2pm-6pm) or a full day (9am-6pm). Evening sessions can be provided by prior arrangement.
On your first session, we will show you where everything is and how to operate the Darkroom to suit your workflow. If you have no previous darkroom experience, we highly recommend that you attend our Print-craft course first.
What is included
Use of our Darkroom’s facilities. We cater for 135, 6x45, 6x6, 6x7 and 4x5 size negatives and print sizes up to 16x20 inches.
1L of freshly made-up printing chemistry: normally Ilford Multigrade Developer (1+9), Ilfostop Stop Bath (1+19) and Ilford Hypam or Rapid Fix fixer (1+4) at about 20 deg. C - good for 80 8x10 RC prints! Colour chemistry is not included; see below.
Print washing up to 16x20 RC or FB, about 3L/minute. We have a 16x20 print washer and drying racks at your disposal.
500ml of chemistry for black and white film processing. Colour processing (E6 or C41) chemistry is not included but we have all the facilities you need to manually process colour films. Please do let us know in advance if you would like us to prepare the film processing chemistry. We do not offer colour processing as a service due to the high cost of chemicals.
Selenium toner
Wash-aid for FB prints if you use this.
Collection by arrangement e.g. if your prints need to dry overnight.
Use of our scanner and laptop computer equipped with Lightroom.
What is not included
Enlarging paper. Resin coated (RC) paper is available at £2.00 per used/spoiled sheet up to and including 11” x 14” size. This includes your work prints. For fibre base or larger RC prints (i.e. 12” x 16” or larger), please contact us first. Alternatively, please feel free to supply your own paper at no additional cost. Have a look at our Resources page.
Colour chemistry for printing and film processing is not included in the advertised price due to the limited shelf-life and high cost of colour chemistry. POA.
Mounting of prints.
Black and White Film Processing Course
Spend a half-day session in our Darkroom learning how to process black and white film. Bring your film to process with tuition and expert guidance on hand. All chemistry, contact sheet and optional scanning is included in the price. This hands-on course will cover:
How film works
How to load a film into a developing tank in complete darkness (you’ll get to practice on a dummy film in the light first though!)
Black and white film processing and the effect of development on contrast
Making a traditional contact sheet.
Take a break at any time - though mid-morning or afternoon seems to be the favourite time.
Unlike printing, film processing can be carried out at home over the kitchen sink using a light-tight so-called changing bag (though it is easier in a Darkroom.) Producing a contact sheet does require a Darkroom but film scanning using a computer and scanner does not. We provide you with an information pack on how film works and how to process a film at home.
Training
Print-craft Course
Spend a half-day session in our Darkroom learning how to print black and white film the traditional way. Enlarging paper and chemistry are included. This hands-on course will cover:
How film and enlarging paper works
Negative inspection
Print density and contrast control
Print Inspection
Darkroom printing work-flow
Split-grade printing.
If you bring a processed black and white film with you, we will print a few images of your choice. Alternatively, choose from our vast collection of negatives for your printing experience. You will go home with beautiful prints that you made on fine-quality RC paper.
Unlike the digital workflow, with Darkroom printing you will begin with a blank sheet of enlarging paper and a negative. How the Silver print will turn out all depends on how you print the negative!
Take a break at any time - though mid-morning or afternoon seems to be the favourite time.
Print making does require a Darkroom. We offer Darkroom Hire at very reasonable rates. We will provide you with a Darkroom printing information pack.
Film Processing and Print-craft in a Day
Our training courses are normally half a day, but we can combine both in a single day - which also costs less than booking two courses individually. If you would like to book a whole day of training with us, we will cover film processing in the morning followed by print-craft in the afternoon. So, you’ll cover everything from getting the film out of your camera to going home with beautiful finished Silver prints in a day! This 1-day course is particularly popular as a gift.
Hand-made Prints
Whether for your wall, a client, photography course or exhibition, let us create beautiful original hand-made black and white Silver prints from your negatives. We will produce prints up to 16 x 20 inches using the finest materials such as Fibre-based enlarging papers, processed to archival standards. Normally prints are supplied to you mounted in preservation-grade mounts but are normally supplied un-framed.
Adrian Nash based at Yateley Darkroom is a dedicated traditional Printer with many years of experience. A hand-made print is a one-off, unique thing so there is no fixed price structure. The price depends upon how large the print should be, the quantity and on your negative. Several work-prints are usually produced before the final print (included in our price). Toning and re-touching of your print may also be required. So, we would like to discuss the process we follow and the price with you first.
Gifts
Make a Darkroom experience your gift! The memory will last a lifetime, and no previous film or Darkroom experience is required. If the recipient has no film negatives of their own, don’t worry. We have thousands of negatives to print and we’ll even shoot a film specially for them to process!
Darkroom session (half-day or full-day)
Film processing (half-day)
Print-craft (half-day)
Film processing and print-craft (full-day)
Just contact us to purchase your gift and we will send you a special voucher. You or your recipient can arrange a convenient date to book your experience with us at any time.
We sell a range of prints, made to order in Yateley Darkroom.