Film-developing can seem like a tedious process, but doing it well is important to the quality of your photographs. If a print is done badly, you always can reprint the negative, but if a negative is ruined through careless film processing, the only recourse is to reshoot. Try to give some attention to these potential problem areas:

Standardize your procedure: The basic variables involved in film-development are: time, temperature, dilution of the developer with water, and agitation. Each of these can affect the degree of development of your film, and therefore the contrast of your negatives. Once you become familiar with the procedure, try to standardize as much as possible, altering only one variable as a means of contrast control, while holding the others constant. It is suggested that you develop at the same temperature each time, find a method of agitation that works for you and stick with it, and vary development either by altering development time or dilution.

Temperature - keep it under control!: All of the solutions used to process your film, from the film developer to the final wash, should be within 2 or 3 degrees of each other. Variations in temperature greater than this can cause the film to swell and shrink, and will contribute to the appearance of graininess in the image. An easy way to do keep the temperature even throughout the process is to keep all of the beakers holding your chemicals in a water bath tray that you’ve adjusted to the film-developing temperature. Keep your tank in the water bath except during agitation. Don’t hold the tank in the palm of your hand - you are 98 degrees and this will raise the developer temperature during processing. In the summer months when the cold water comes out of the faucet at 75 degrees or higher, you may want to switch to a 75-degree developing temperature (see film-development data chart on p.00) in order to avoid having to waste time cooling your solutions with chilled water or ice cubes.

Treat your wet film carefully when hanging it up: The emulsion of the film is still very delicate until it is dried. Handle it as little as possible. Always Photo-Flo your film before hanging it to dry. Photo-Flo is a wetting agent that softens the water and allows the water to slide off the film without leaving spots. However, if you use too much Photo-Flo concentrate to make your Photo-Flo bath, it will leaves suds on the film which can be as bad as water spots. Use the Photo-Flo concentrate sparingly, about ½ capful per 16 oz. water is sufficient. A properly Photo-Floed film should show no water spots, no suds, and should require no squeegeeing or touching of the film when it is hung up to dry. If you are hanging your film in the group film-drying cabinet, cut it down and sleeve it as soon as possible after it is dry in order to avoid the possibility of other students coming in contact with it.