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Negative Development DocsShoot film. Develop it yourself. Print it by hand.
Step-by-step guides to analogue photography, film developing and darkroom printing. Free. Forever.
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The guides
The three sections follow the path a photograph takes: expose the film, develop the negative, then print it. Each one stands on its own, so start wherever you are.Where to start
Step 1
How film records a picture, and how to work a camera with no screen on the back. Covers film formats, camera types, exposure, focus and shooting a first roll.Start here Analogue photography
Step 2
Turn an exposed roll into negatives you can scan or print. Covers the equipment, loading a tank in the dark, and both the black & white and C-41 processes.Start here Film developing
Step 3
Make a print by hand under an enlarger. Covers test strips, exposure and contrast, in black & white and in RA-4 colour.Start here Darkroom printing
Calculator
Developing times, worked out for you
Choose a film stock, its ISO, a developer and a dilution, then set the developer temperature. The calculator returns a starting time, adjusts it for a rotary processor, and can push the settings towards finer or coarser grain.Open the calculatorTools and references
Calculators, definitions and reference material, kept apart from the guides so they are quick to reach mid-process.The pages you come back to
Developing time calculatorA starting development time for a film, developer, dilution and temperature.Depth of field calculatorHow much of a scene will be sharp at a given aperture, focal length and focus distance.GlossaryEvery term used across these guides, explained in plain language.List of illustrationsEvery diagram and animation on the site in one place, each one described in full.Darkroom documentsThe process sheets we use in our own darkroom, written to be printed and pinned up.AppendixSafety guidance, manual tests and the reference pages the guides link out to.
Looking for one thing in particular? Press / to search every page.Illustrations
Some of them move. This one is the iris inside a lens, opening from a small aperture to a wide one and back. Every diagram is written out in words as well, so nothing here depends on being able to see it.See every illustration Diagrams for the parts that are hard to picture
Written in a working darkroom
These pages come out of our community darkroom in Manchester, where they are used at the bench. You do not need a darkroom of your own to follow them. Film can be developed on a kitchen table, and any lab will process a roll for you while you learn.