Mastering Black & White: Advanced Darkroom Techniques - Spring 2025

This advanced course is designed to take your black and white photography to the next level by refining both your film processing and darkroom printing techniques. You'll learn to expose and develop film with greater precision, ensuring optimal negatives for printing. Once in the darkroom, you’ll build on your skills using traditional silver-based materials, mastering advanced printing techniques to create images with enhanced tonal depth and luminosity. Key methods include:

• Advanced Film Exposure and use the Zone System
• Expansion and contraction of film exposure
• Advanced burning and dodging
• Flashing and bleaching
• Selenium toning and water bath processes
• Split filtration printing

The course emphasizes refining your ability to interpret light in both negatives and prints, focusing on the subtleties of tonal range, contrast control, and exposure. Students will explore various tonal palettes, developing a deeper understanding of contrast grades, printing filters, and exposure control to achieve dynamic, well-balanced prints.

Through hands-on practice, print evaluations, and critiques, you’ll learn how to fully realize the potential in a negative, translating your creative vision into the final print. You’ll also push beyond the basics of the Zone System, fine-tuning your pre-visualization skills and mastering more complex lighting situations.

By the end of the course, you will have gained the confidence and technical expertise to elevate your work, creating prints with a richness and depth that reflect your unique artistic vision.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR STUDENTS

• The Materials Fee for the course includes materials/equipment used for in-class demonstrations. Students will be required to purchase additional materials, such as film and paper, for completing assignments outside of class.
• Weekly attendance is vital to student success in PCNW courses. We require that students attend the first meeting in order to retain their spot in the class. A waiver may be granted if permission is given by, and subsequent arrangements made with, both the PCNW Registrar and Faculty. Please see our Education Policies for details about attendance policies and academic expectations.
• Intermediate and advanced courses have prerequisites which students must satisfy prior to enrollment. Prerequisites may be waived based on experience or prior courses taken through other institutions. To verify that you meet the prerequisite(s) for a course, contact Jennifer Brendicke, Registrar at jbrendicke@pcnw.org.
• PCNW adheres to a strict payment, cancellation and refund policy. Please review our Payment & Refund Policies prior to registration.
• Additional materials and supplies, not covered by a materials fee for a course, are the responsibility of the student. Detailed information about course expectations, required texts and materials will be provided at the start of the quarter.
• Students should prepare to spend several hours per week completing assignments outside of class, which may require use of the PCNW facilities; view our Rental Rates for details about additional fees. Rental fees for use of PCNW Facilities are a separate cost from tuition.

Image © Eirik Johnson