arhphotographic

I posted here and here my first time experiences with using Caffenol developer to develop some Fomapan 400. As you will see, I was extremely pleased with the results. I guess it was kind of inevitable that my attention would turn to the question of how to print using the same developer. After all, wouldn’t it be great to have a continuous workflow using the same chemistry.

Unlike developing film negatives, where I was happy to experiment on my own, I was looking for a more hands experience with printing with Caffenol. So Imagine my joy when I discovered a 4 hour workshop not 15 miles away from where I live, that would demystify the whole process. I snapped up my place at the darkroomlondon.org located in Camden Town North London.

Aside from myself there were Sebastian, Berta and our instructor Catriona. The maximum size for the class was four plus instructor. After the introductions, we got right on with business.

How would the developer be prepared?

Instant Coffee 12 Teaspoons ( other brands are available)

Sodium Carbonate 6 Teaspoons ( soda crystals had been tried but had produced unsatisfactory results)

Vitamin C 3 Teaspoons

Water 900ml at 20º

So above you can see first, the Caffenol developer tray which contained about half of the 900ml mixture. Then the Stop bath made from Ilford Ilfostop followed by the llford Rapid Fix.

Above you can see one half of the film enlargers that were available. Really impressed with the spacious setup.🙂

First we were introduced to the world of Photograms. Take an object place it on some light sensitive paper which is then subject to a burst of light from an enlarger and then develop it and you have a photogram. As with all printing, a test strip was needed to determine how long to expose the paper for. Once this was determined we set about creating our masterpieces.

Once we had exposed the paper, Ilford Mutigrade paper, we put it in the Caffenol developer for 3 minutes. I still regard this moment, when the image starts to take shape on the paper, with child like wonderment. The paper was the placed in the stop bath for 15 seconds followed by 2-5 minutes in the fix bath. Finally it was washed for 5-10 minutes.

Interestingly, to me anyway, the third photogram was developed for a little longer than three minutes as the Caffenol developer was becoming exhausted. This was when the remaining unused developer was poured in to refresh our mixture. This then took us through the next three photograms. Here are mine..

A new batch of Caffenol developer was made up for the next lesson on printing from negatives. Over a cup of tea, you can only have so much coffee, we discussed which negatives we were going to choose to print from.

I decided on one negative that had been developed with Caffenol and another with my current developer FX 39.

The negative that had been developed with Caffenol was thin as it had not been developed long enough. I was interested in how well the print would turn out with such an extremely bad negative. So here is the test strip from which time and filtration were determined.

As before, the print was developed for three minutes, stop for 15 seconds, fix for 5 minutes and then washed. Here is the final print which has been scanned and as a result looks lighter than the actual print

Next test strip for image two.

By the time I came to make the second print even though the Caffenol had been refreshed it needed nearer 4 minutes to develop as I wanted. Then it was stop for 15 seconds, fix for 5 minutes and then washed. Here is the print.

Below is the same image scanned from the negative directly. You’ll notice the sepia/coffee tone of the print above when compared with the straight scan below. Something to consider when printing from Caffenol.

Four hours had flown by, but was it worth it? Oo yes! I want to thank Catriona for the really instructive and enjoyable workshop. Also ‘a nice meeting you’ to Sebastian and Berta, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

I had high expectations from this workshop. Well, I can definitely say it surpassed even those. With my many questions answered I now feel equipped and confident enough to tackle the next episode in my photographic journey.

Watch this space!