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Printing Tech for Photographers
Basic techniques to make your photos physical.
In today’s world, where screens of all kinds dominate our view, it’s easy to forget that just two or three decades ago, the only realistic way to see a photograph was to print it in a darkroom or project it onto a canvas from a slide film. But printing isn’t dead — in fact, thanks to digital technology, it’s bigger than ever. Holding a photograph in your hands or admiring it on a wall remains an irreplaceable experience.
Here are the main ways to print photos in the third decade of the new millennium, along with a few of my personal and professional experiences with them.
Silver Halide Printing (Traditional Darkroom Printing)
For many of us, this is how it all started. We shot a roll of black-and-white film, developed it in complete darkness, and then took it to the red-lit darkroom to make prints. Some, more ambitious, even ventured into color printing. The smell of the fixer bath is something you never forget, but neither are the stunning gray tones that come out of this process.
The resolution is effectively infinite, limited only by the tiny grains of the film. If you ever find yourself enlarging an 8x10 print, you’ll never run out of detail.
