Topic: How important to you is home processing and/or printing?

[Late Developer]

I was looking at a related thread and thought it might be interesting to know how many of us are into the post photography element of our "art". 

[Francois]

Too bad there isn't a part where it says that "it relaxes me"...
When you process film you just can't have your mind worry about stuff, you must count those seconds to avoid overcooking that film.
It gives me a good 15 minutes of time off.

[Chalky]

yeah or "I do it for the fun and the process, the results are normally worse than a lab would give me, but I enjoy it and it is a little cheaper and makes me shoot more B+W without worrying about the developing costs "

:-)

EDIT - this sounds sarcastic - its not meant to - it is just the way I approach developing my own film, normally not that well! apparently lemon and aloe vera fairy liquid is not quite as good as photoflow ;-)

[thatguychad]

I do it for many of those reasons. Primarily because it makes me feel closer to the thing I've created, I didnt just have a hand in making that image, I *made* that image. I just wish I had a darkroom to make prints so I could do more than show them on the computer or print them with ink, but I'm working on clearing space in the garage. I hope to have a "darkroom" by winter.

It's true that local labs are becoming extinct here in the US. Most don't process enough film to justify running the machines at all and some only develop once a week or on a specific schedule. Luckily, it's easy to do home development, even color now with the 3-bath C-41 kits. You don't need much to get started and it's often cheaper in materials if you shoot enough and have the time to spare, which I understand not everyone has.

[Bryan]

The only home processing that I have done is Black and White stand developing of negatives.  I have no way to make prints so I scan the negatives with a D!@#$%l camera.  Everything else other than instant film I use a mail in lab for processing and scanning.  I have thought about doing E-6 processing at home for slide film and 8mm cine film but have not made the plunge yet.  I have everything I need for New 55 film whenever they start producing it.

[Indofunk]

No multiple answers?

Like Chad & Chalky, I do it as part of the whole process, it's cheap and easy, and I wish I had a darkroom to do prints, but I feel that would be a whole other rabbithole that I don't really have the time or money for right now.

Also, developing is pure, unadulterated MAGIC and every time I open up the tank and pull out IMAGES, I can't help smiling. I created that

[ManuelL]

At the moment I only develop film, but make no prints (no space for a darkroom in our flat). I plan to set-up a darkroom when we move to another place.
Initially I started devleoping again after the lab messed up a couple of my films.

[KevinAllan]

How important ? As important as breathing.

[Urban Hafner]

It is important to me and part of the fun. However, as I don't seem to have ANY time right now it has been put on hold for a while. And if I find the time I'll use it to send of my pile of undeveloped rolls to the lab.

But hopefully some time this year it'll get better and I may even start printing as I'll have a dedicated room in the basement of our new house.

[Terry]

I second Francois' "it's good therapy" response.

[charles binns]

Very important.  Processing that is. 

[mickld]

Printing has helped me 'mature' in my photography. Being a physical and time consuming process, and having infrequent opportunities to print (usually Sunday evenings) and the level of effort required to explore and coax an image to life all require you to really commit to making that print. It helps separate the wheat from chaff when considering which negative to use next.

The knock on effect when taking photos is that there are real decisions to be made because there are consequences to how you aesthetically and technically approach taking a photograph that will help or hinder you later when printing. The consequence free nature of digital photography, or my pre-film photography to more accurate (I do still shoot & print digitally too), just lacked any sense of constraints and I find constraints are necessary for me to find and see what to photograph.

I'm much more likely to give up on a photograph now, because I can tell when I'm not going to get an image I'll want to work with later. More often than not I will spend a couple of minute with a camera to my eye stepping back and forth and recomposing something only to give up and walk away - printing has helped me to recognise when something is more or less likely to work as a final photograph. The flip side of this is that is also helps me to spot what might make an interesting photograph when I'm on walk about.

I suppose it is similar to the notion that committing to a prime lens over a zoom helps you develop an eye for composing for that focal length.

In case I'm making it sound like I'm some sort of expert, I'll qualify the above with the admission that 90% of my photos are still crap! But I've come down from 99%, so that's nice

[Late Developer]

Interesting responses. 

I didn't allow for multiple selections as I wanted us to think about the most important answer. As for myself, I used to enjoy processing B&W film (never got used to colour - it always seemed a bit too fiddly-fussy with temperature control).  I've just bought all the chemicals and kit to do my own B&W again but I struggle to find the time; but I must.

[limr]

I wanted to develop my own for years before I finally got around to it last year. I always felt like I was only doing half the job just taking the picture. I wanted to know that I could finish the process myself. And like Indofunk said, it still feels like magic when I pull the reels out and there are images on the film. It helps me take a little more pride in my images.

It's why I want to start printing my own, too, but that's not as easy to start as developing was. My current circumstances don't really allow for a darkroom at home, though I'm hoping to arrange some darkroom time at the college where I teach.

Having said that, I chose "it saves me money" because it's also a major concern and it's the answer on the list that is closest to the truth. It's just that the 'truth' is complicated It's not really the whole reason I'm a photographer, and I don't think my results are better than the lab results (partly because the lab I use is really good.) I still have so much to learn about it and it's nice to be able to have control over the whole process from soup to nuts (once I learn printing), but when it comes down to it, I also don't mind relinquishing some of that control to let someone else do the processing sometimes. I don't feel the need to always do it myself.

And now, those 5 rolls of TriX are staring at me, wondering why I'm yammering on about processing but not doing any! 

[mcduff]

I should be printing more - as i am blessed with access to a darkroom - but life gets in the way and these days I only process my BW stuff and do not print. Frankly, if I had a 'minion' to process for me I would have them do that and scan for me 

Sometimes the rolls pile up and it pisses me off. It stops me from shooting more film. That is where the minion would come in!

[Indofunk]

Having said that, I chose "it saves me money" because it's also a major concern and it's the answer on the list that is closest to the truth. It's just that the 'truth' is complicated It's not really the whole reason I'm a photographer, and I don't think my results are better than the lab results (partly because the lab I use is really good.) I still have so much to learn about it and it's nice to be able to have control over the whole process from soup to nuts (once I learn printing)

I also feel this way (though the rest of her paragraph, "I don't feel the need to always do it myself" ... definitely does NOT apply to me )

[Ezzie]

I love the smell of fix in the evening.

Seriously. The process is more than half the fun. It's the reason I am more than an accidental snapshooter.

[jojonas~]

I love the smell of fix in the evening.

Seriously. The process is more than half the fun. It's the reason I am more than an accidental snapshooter.

what he said

[Indofunk]

I feel like I need to change my answer from "I like my results better than the lab's" to full-on "it's the reason I'm a photographer". At this very moment, I don't really have a strong desire to snap any shots, but I really really want to soup up a roll. It makes me very sad that I have to go home today and NOT have a roll to develop

[Late Developer]

Nice one.

At this point, about 65% of the respondents do the processing / printing for what I'd regard as "technical" reasons - i.e. it's an integral part of their photography and they prefer their results to commercially produced.

I find this really encouraging and, although it's a small sample size in the big scheme of things, it bodes well for the future of film use, IMO.

[AJShepherd]

I answered 'it saves me money' as that's the real reason I started. When I got back into film photography it was costing an arm and a leg to get black and white developed. In the late seventies/early 80s I'd done black and white developing, and figured out it would be much cheaper in the long run to buy the equipment and start developing the film myself. Then after I'd done some black and white, I tried the Tetenal C41 kits and did well with that too.
So I was saving money, and I'd got better results than I'd had with some of the films I'd had done!

But I also realised I really like the whole process, mixing the chemicals, getting the temperature, timing each step, and I really like that moment when you unroll the film when hanging it to dry and see what's on there for the first time.

I only wish I had room for a darkroom. As it is I scan my negatives.

[irv_b]

Although I ticked the first answer I really do think it is mainly for the fun of it. I still get a thrill when I unfurl it from the reel or seeing it appear in the developer, and the sense of satisfaction of saying I done that from start to finish puts a spring in the step of course it can be ultra frustrating if things don't come as planned but that life!