artifact blog 1 :)

We began the new unit with being asked to take some pictures. Mr Hind showed us how to work the cameras, which i found quite difficult as we had to put our fingers lightly on this tiny silver screw-like button until the green light pops up to be able to take our pictures, and it was hard to remember to wind back the tape after taking each picture. We tried to take a few proffesional pictures aswell as fun ones, so i took a few pictures of tree's etc, and some of us having a laugh. We were told it wasnt important what the pictures were of because the aim of today was to practise working the camera's, making the film, and printing the pictures out onto photographic paper in the dark room.

Once we got back into class, we were showed how to make the film, which was probably the most difficult part of the day, especially as we had to make sure no light hit the tape otherwise it would be ruined. We had to get this light proof bag and inside put the tape onto this reel then put it into this pot. I then took the pot out and had to put 270ml of water into the pot and this powder, although the water had to be roughly 20 degrees so it took a little while to get it to the right temperature. I then had to leave it for 7 minutes, and each minute tapping the pot on the table to refresh the mixture (we were told not to shake it as it sometimes leaves bubbles on the film!). After 7 minutes we poored the mixture out, and had to put the fix in, which we had to leave in the pot for 5 minutes, and tapping it on the table each minute. We then had to poor the fix back into the bottle and then leave the pot under the tap for roughly 10 mins. I then took the film out and carefully unravelled it off the reel. I had to be careful doing this to make sure the film didnt took any surfaces or my clothes as it would get dust on it.

After the film had dried we were shown how to print the pictures we took in the dark room. We had to shine a light of the projected films onto photographic paper for between 2-5 seconds, the longer the lights shined on it the darker the picture will turn out. We then had to put the paper into the developer for one minute, which you can see the picture beginning to develop, you then put the paper into water for 30 seconds, and then into the fix for four minutes. When i looked at my first picture i thought it looked quite dark, then we learned that the longer we let the photographic paper hit the light the darker it will get. This meant i got to experiment with the timings each time i made a photo, so for the second time i left it under the light for a second or two less, and it came out perfect.

I am quite pleased with what i acheived today, as i learned how to use the film camera's, how to develop the film, and the pictures. Im pleased i managed to create an almost perfect picture!

Im looking forward to next week as we are going to find out the breif, and hopefulyl get started on this unit!