The Hoboken Cafe 

Hellloooo. I am an amateur photographer-I am obsessed with taking pictures of everything. I would like to have some formal training, especially in the darkroom, but do not have scads of cash to drop on a class that I will be graded on or soemthing. Does anyone know of a place that does workshop type photgraphy classes? I just want to learn the basics.

I know there is a sort of communal darkroom on Manhattan with very reasonable rates.

If you do black and white photography, going into the darkroom can be fun and give great results. If you are doing color photography, I would recommend finding a good processing/printing shop like Spectra on Varick street and concentrating on your shooting skills. Color printing is much more involved and costly than black and white printing.

I assume you know the basics of photography like apature control, shutter speed, depth of field, etc? If not, this is the most important, more important than darkroom work.

Have fun!

I'm going to jump in here and say that I love photograpy as well and in High School did my own black and white developing. Since then I gave up the hobby and want to get back to it. Where would I start to learn the basics about "apature control, shutter, speed" etc...is there a book, it it better to take a class and what is a good camera to get?
Any and all opinions welcome! Thanks.

I'm right there with you. When I said basics, I meant, I know what a camera is, how to load film, (35mm) and take a picture and drop it off at the 1 hr photo (which, btw, does anyone think it's strange that the CVS on 1st and Washington claims to be one hr, with a sign and everything, but it takes at least 2 days to get it developed, even at 1hr rates???).
I love photography, have scores of books on famous photos, and absolutely love Ansel Adams B&W photos. Also the surreal art of Scott Mutter...fantastic.
So if anyone has any more tips-schools, etc...post away! Thanks!!

I learned what I know about photography by taking a class at the city college back in California. I'd bet that BMCC or New School have good night classes that you can get to by PATH or ferry. The one I went to included field trips, darkroom work, etc. It was great.

To control your photographs you need to control light. There are 3 ways you can control light:
1. film speed (e.g. ASA 100, ASA 200, ASA 400)
2. Shutter speed (in fractions of a second, 125 is 1/125th of a second)
3. Apature size (the size of the hole which lets light into the camera, usually referenced as f2.5, f4, f5.6, etc.)

Film speed refers to how sensitive the film is to light. Film that is more sensitive to light is usually more grainy. ASA 100 isn't very sensitive, and should only be used for daylight shots. ASA 800 is very sensitive but is much more grainy. It won't look as good, and will look worse if you get enlargements made.

Shutter speed controls how long the camera lets light come into it. A short shutter speed like 1/500 of a second won't let much light in, but will freeze motion very well, such as people running or your camera shaking because you are moving. Slow shutter speed like 1/30th lets in lots of light but anything moving will be blurry, especially if you are holding the camera because you can't hold it still enough. This is where tripods and timers are handy.

Apature size controls the size of the hole which light comes through. A small apature like f16 won't let in much light but the light that comes in is very focused (like a pinhole camera). This gives great depth-of-field. A large apature size like f2.5 lets in more light, but that light is less focused giving a small depth-of-field. Depth-of-field describes the range in your picture which is in focus. For example, consider a picture of your friend in front of some trees and mountains. A large depth of field will have all these items in focus. A small depth of field will have your friend in focus, but the trees, mountains, etc are blurry. This is controlled by your apature size.

You use a light meter to make sure that your chosen settings are letting in enough light, but not too much. The light meter is usually built into the camera and can be seen through the viewfinder.

Those are the basics. The "gotcha" is that many cameras don't let you control any of this. These are the "point and shoot" types. Some let you override some of the camera's choices, and some cameras are totally manual and you have to control everything on every picture.

Point and shoot cameras are great because they are usually cheap and small and usually take good pictures. They will have problems when your idea of what is important is different from the cameras. For example, if your friend is standing against a snowy field, or indoors next to a big window, the camera will see all of that bright light and speed up the shutter/close the apature to cut down on the light which comes it. Your picture will have a beautiful sky, but your friend will be very dark and shadowed (underexposed).

I hope this was helpful, have fun!

Check the YMCA on 13th and Washington: I believe they have a very reasonably-priced class. I'm sure local colleges will be helpful as well.
As for me, I am a digital camera freak. Look at the picture right away, correct it, etc. Of course, there's no thrill of "hey, look at this film i just found amidst my mess, it must be a couple years old, i wonder what's on it..." Anyway, good luck :).

Hi, I am also a budding photographer. I am taking a course from the New York Institute of Photography at the moment. It was about $800 and you get videos, tapes, books, tests, assignments and a personal instructor guy who you can call or email anytime. You send in your assignments to him and he records his advice etc on a tape and sends it all back. It's good for me because I don't like to have a fixed schedule, so I can do it in my own time. Plus, I think that the price is very reasonable for what you get.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth :)

Alex.

I'm just like hobokengirl who mentioned having done a lot of B&W photography in high school and then sort of losing touch with it.

I stopped doing it because my college didn't have a public darkroom (believe it or not).

Mustafa, you mentioned a "cheap communal darkroom" in manhattan. Could you tell me where that is? Availability of this kind of thing is just what I need to get back into the hobby.

If we find a darkroom, I'd be happy to teach anyone how to use it. Its been a while so it would be the blind leading the blind initially, but I'm sure everything will come back to me eventually.

I admit the one thing I never really mastered was how to roll film into those little metal spools used to develop it. Its such a pain. So someone else will have to teach that class. But once the film is developed, I know everything about how to use enlargers and how to make prints, which is really the fun part.

Once you've learned aperture/shutter speed/etc enough to have decent negatives, darkroom work is really fun. Reading all of your messages about photography makes me realize how much I miss it.

-Jaro

Re: the communal darkroom in Manhattan

I haven't been there myself, my brother has. Unfortunately, he didn't remember exactly where it was but described it as being on W.27th just west of Broadway. Its called something like "My Own Darkroom", and costs $10 an hour plus supplies. He said they only have color printing.

If you learn more about this place, please post the details.

i am a 2nd year photo major at the school of visual arts. you can take some classes there but they might be a bit expensive. but there are tons of darkrooms in nyc. i wish u all good luck

If you're talking about the things that spiral-up the roll so that fluids can circulate over the entire length of film whilst still being in a compact cylindrical tank?
Then actually that's easier than you might think.
For most of these, metl or plastic spirals, they have a simple one-way lockig device. It's just a small ball-bearing that grips the film one way and lets it slip the other. The idea is that you feed in a few inches of film, then, grasping both ends of the "bobbin" shaped spool, twist each end of the spool in opposite directions (about 20 degrees) alternately. The ball-bearing system will grip and feed/ grip and feed the whole roll onto itself. COme the moment to remove the roll from the tank. the two ends of the spool can be detatched from the centre.
I hope this is what you meant.
regards,
Jonathan.
jaro said on 10/10/2001 10:52 PM

>I admit the one thing I never really mastered was how to roll film into those little metal spools used to develop it. Its such a pain. So someone else will have to teach that class. >-Jaro

Hi, I was a semi-pro photographer for some years, with my own studio and gear etc.
Personally i think that, for all the "fun" of the darkroom, you will get much more enjoyment from photography by taking great images in the first place. And try not to get too bound up with technical concerns. My favourite camera has been a little "Point'n'shoot" for some years. If you have to create the "wow" in the darkroom or computer, ie. via "post-production" then maybe you might like to work on your "eye".

If anyone is interested I'd be glad to host an informal session or two on composition, form/function, posing, lighting or using available light, commercial aspets etc.

Maybe we could create before & after work.

Jonathan