The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

Placement of Equipment and Workfl ow
Planning a Darkroom 7
In planning a darkroom, the main objective is to arrange the equipment and materials for
effi ciency and convenience. The dry side and the wet side should be arranged to facilitate the
fl ow of work, from enlarging to developing and back again, with a minimum of steps.
Study the work pattern in the darkrooms in Figures 1-2 and 1-3. You can see the reasons
for the recommended arrangement of the benches and equipment. To make prints, for
example, you would place the paper in a dark drawer (Figure 1-4) or in a paper safe next to
the enlarger. After placing the negative in the enlarger and composing the image, you would
place a sheet of printing paper in the easel and expose. After the paper is exposed, you either
turn around or pass it on to the developer and the rest of the processing solutions. Then you
turn on the light, inspect the print, and move it to the washer. Finally, you turn around or take
the few steps back to the enlarger. Everything is accomplished with a minimum amount of
time spent moving from one place to another.
Walls and Floor
Trimmer
Paper
Safe
Air Flow
Air Inlet
Splash Wall
Enlarger
Air Flow
Fan
Filter
Faucet
Filter
Dev. Stop Fix
Figure 1-3 A possible darkroom confi guration. The enlarger may be placed in the middle or at either end and the trays arranged accordingly. An active slot hood
would be well placed above the tray, in which case fresh air should come in from the wall opposite or the door. (Thanks to Brian MacNeil of Canada.)
There has never been a time when a darkroom needed to be painted black. This is an idea
held over from the—dare I say it?—Dark Ages.
Walls can only refl ect the light that falls on them; if that light is safe for photographic
materials, the light they refl ect is also safe. Darkrooms should have light-colored walls.
Archival
Washer