This lab manual is an essential part of photographic education in the USF art department. If you are a beginning student and have never worked in a darkroom, you will find this booklet full of basic information that will familiarize you with darkroom procedures, especially as they are carried out in our photo lab. If you are a more advanced student, you will find this manual to be a valuable reference with respect to more advanced processes and techniques.

It is suggested that you keep this manual with you when you come to class, since your instructor may refer to it during lectures or demonstrations. We also recommend that after your instructor demonstrates a specific technique or process, you review the pertinent material in this manual before attempted to do the process on your own.

The USF art department photography lab serves approximately 100 students each semester. It is important to note that students in different classes with different instructors may learn to perform photographic processes in slightly different ways. Photographic techniques tends to be idiosyncratic and as you become more experienced as a photographer, you will develop particular ways of doing things that work best for you. We suggest that you follow your own instructor's advice and use him/her as your primary resource for information on photo techniques. As for this manual, it is not intended to be a complete course in darkroom methods (you have an instructor and a textbook for that) but rather as a guide to procedures as they are carried out specifically in this lab, and as a source of quick reference material that you might otherwise find only in a variety of texts and data sheets.

Lockers:
Please take a locker in the hallway entrance to Room 287-292 as early in the semester as possible and identify it by placing a piece of tape on the locker with your name, photo instructor and the semester. You will be acquiring a number of small equipment items, as well as photo paper and other supplies and if you do not have a locker you will find yourself carrying this equipment to and from school each time you want to work in the lab. We also suggest that the small items that you will need for film developing and for printing (i.e., tanks, reels, thermometer, printing tools) be stored in a small shoebox or similar container so that you can carry these easily from the locker to the darkroom. Do not store valuable equipment items such as cameras and meters in the lockers.

Lab hours:
The lab is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. All printing must end one hour prior to closing to allow time for washing and getting prints onto the drying racks.

You should familiarize yourself with the schedule of other photography classes that may be using the lab. The students in any particular photo class have priority for use of the lab during their schedule class time. If you would like to work in the lab when another class is having a lab session, ask the instructor if there is an enlarger available and if whether it is okay for you to work while the class is in there. Photo I students use the group darkroom only and will use the private labs only with the special permission of their instructor.

The lab is closed on Sundays and school holidays.

Lab monitors:
The lab is monitored by an intermediate or advanced photography student from 3:00 p.m. to closing during the week and all day Saturday. Lab monitors are selected by the instructors and the cage coordinator and assume responsibility for monitoring and maintaining the lab for 3-3 ½ hrs. per week in return for the privilege of having a key to the main door. In addition to certain assigned duties that the monitors have during their monitor slot, they are there to help answer your questions concerning photographic procedures. They are also there to make sure that all students using the lab comply with basic darkroom etiquette. They are not maids and are not expected to clean up after students. Please comply with their requests regarding darkroom etiquette and procedures, and especially with respect to getting the lab closed on time.  See the Lab Monitor Duties link for detailed information on this.

The Equipment Cage:
The equipment cage is located in Rm. 289. Generally, it is open 6 hours a day, Monday through Thursday and is staffed by the cage coordinator and cage assistants. Cage hours will be posted on the door at the beginning of each semester. The cage checks out a variety of equipment to students who are enrolled in photo classes, including keys to the private labs and the Colenta color processor, maintains and supervises the lab monitor schedule and oversees maintenance of lab equipment and chemistry.  See the Media Cage Policies and Procedures link for further information.

Most of the cage equipment is available only to students in classes beyond Photo I. A few items are available to Photo I students and your instructor will inform you about them. You should never check out a piece of equipment unless you have received instruction in class on its proper use.

At the beginning of the semester, your instructor will hand out cage checkout procedures and will ask you to sign a form which indicates your understanding of these procedures. Failure to get equipment back on time can result in revocation of your checkout privileges. Also, when you sign out a piece of equipment, you are agreeing to accept responsibility for damage to or theft of that equipment while in you possession. If equipment is not returned or is damaged while checked out to you, you will be billed for its replacement or repair and your grades will be withheld until such payment is made, so please treat checkout equipment as if it were your own. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the replacement costs of the various items that you will be checking out so that you understand your liability in the event of loss, theft or damage. or theft.

Checkout of keys to the private labs:
Keys to the private labs and the Colenta room are checked out by the equipment cage. A schedule for the use of each lab is posted on the door to the lab at the beginning of each month, so you can plan ahead and reserve a private lab for use, though lab sessions are limited to 4 hrs. Sign-up is a on first-come, first-served basis, so try to get to the sheet as soon as possible after it is posted.

Remember that if you plan to use a private lab, you must check out the key to the lab from the cage during cage hours. (Lab monitors do not have keys to the private labs.) Loss of a key will result in a $50.00 charge. After using a private lab, you are responsible for returning the lab to the condition in which you found it. That means, all chemistry either dumped (if exhausted) or added to the trays in the group lab (if still usable), trays rinsed, sinks and counters sponged, lights, enlarger and faucets off, and the door locked behind you. Students using the private labs will be held accountable for damage or theft of equipment in the labs while the keys are checked out to them.

If you are printing color, remember that you will need to check out a key to the private lab with a colorhead and a key to the Colenta room.

PLEASE READ THE SECTION THAT FOLLOWS ON 'DARKROOM ETIQUETTE' AND PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE RULES PERTAINING TO THE PRIVATE LABS.

Equipment:
Your instructor will provide you with a detailed list of equipment and supplies that you will need. Her is a list of what you will probably need to purchase during the course of the semester for a Photo I class, in addition to a basic 35mm camera and light-meter:

Film-Developing supplies: Film developing tank and reels thermometer plastic negative sleeves scissors and can opener

Printing supplies: photo paper film cleaner hand towel*, Dust-off or negative brush, grain focuser (optional but helpful), magnifying lupe (optional but helpful), lens tissue or photo-wipes

Print finishing and mounting supplies: mount board & mounting tissue, small exacto knife and straight edge, Spotone spotting colors and spotting brush

*A hand towel is mandatory. You must have one with you whenever you work in the lab.

After a few sessions in the darkroom, you will become familiar with exactly what you will need or in order to complete a particular process. Please don't leave your equipment around the lab; chances are it will "disappear" in short order.

You may find yourself "banned" from the group darkroom during a scheduled class if the instructor for that class needs to use the lab for a demonstration or class lab session. You should plan to get your work done for classes well in advance of the class. You will soon discover that photography is not an "automatic" or effortless art and that good results take time and work. Frantic printing sessions the night (or hours) before a critique rarely produce satisfactory results.