Black and White Photography, A Return to the "Dark" Ages

I've been waiting all week to use that pun (okay, not really). As you might have gathered, this week I've done a lot with a photography in the form of a spectrograph. An instrument which takes light from a source and disperses it across a photo-reactive film.

Instead of the standard diffraction grating where light passes through the grating and is seperated into its constituent colors, the spectrograph uses a reflective grating. The difference is great, but the function is basically the same. Instead of allowing light to pass through, the reflective grating "reflects" the light while simultaneously dispersing it. The dispersed light will then shine on a photographic film (black-and-white, in this case) and produce a spectrum. Of course, the film needs to be developed, which is a large part of what I've been doing. The film must be first shielded from light, and then transported to the dark room. Once inside, all the lights have to be turned off, since any stray light will ruin your film. You must then remove the film from the holder - in the dark - roll it onto the holder, and place it in a light-tight container for developing. This process is no mean feat. If you drop your film, or any of the other several components in this delicate dance, you'll never be able to find it in the dark. Once the film is safely in the container, you can turn the lights on, and start developing. First, you must pour developer into the container, and let that sit for around eight to ten minutes. Once this is done, the container is filled with water and rinsed twice to remove any leftover developer. After the rinses are complete, fixer is poured into the container, and let sit for about twenty minutes. Finally, the fixer is flushed by a water rinse for another twenty minutes. At the end, you have a fully developed black and white film.

What do each of these steps accomplish, and why are they necessary?

The most important part, I guess, is why the film must be kept in the dark. The film itself is comprised of two sides, a side layered with a concoction of photo-reactive chemicals called the Immulsion, and a plastic side called-- the plastic side? Whenever a photon hits the immulsion something happens inside, and is released by the developer. Wherever a there's been light is darkened, so if you expose your film to light, all you end up with is a black film. Once the developer has soaked into the immulsion - this takes about eight to ten minutes, and can vary more or less based on the type of film you use - the areas which have 'seen' light, while darken, and you'll get your film. However, the fixer is necessary to neutralize the developer, so you can actually take your film out of the container and not ruin your image. Again, the water rinses are just to flush the chemicals off your film. Once this is done, you have a film which can be safely exposed to light.

I've also been taking color digital images.