How to Print B&W Photographs in a Darkroom

Step 6 Getting Ready

Now that everything is set up, and you know how to use it all, let's get ready to print!

The first step is to clean the negative:

• Put a little rubbing alcohol on a cosmetic pad and wipe down both sides of your negative.
• Wave the negative back and forth until completely dry.
• Last, wipe off any remaining cotton fibers with your clean fingers

Next we're going to load the negative:

• Take out and open your negative carrier
• Slightly bend the negative (hot dog style), and put it under the pegs that will hold it in place.
• You'll need to put the negative in emulsion side down. Your negative should appear backwards, and upside down. (But will look normal when projected)
• Adjust the negative so that you can see the photo you want to print.
• Close the negative carrier and insert it back into the enlarger.