UK Darkroom printers.

[poppers]

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Hi all,

I shoot black and white film and either pay for it to be developed and scanned at a lab or sometimes develop and scan it at home depending on time etc. 

Developing at home is fun and I quite enjoy the process, especially the reveal when opening the tank after fixing. I was wondering if anyone in the UK has send their negs to a profession darkroom  printer to make enlargements or prints. 

I've seen some interviews on YouTube with some darkroom printers that used to work in the big labs back in the day and now offer a more freelance service,  I wonder how some of these would compare with prints from scans . I always find when i go to an exhibition the hand printed Silver Gelatin prints always stand out.

Anyone had any experience?

Thanks in advance.

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[Anbaric]

54 minutes ago, poppers said:

I've seen some interviews on YouTube with some darkroom printers that used to work in the big labs back in the day and now offer a more freelance service,  I wonder how some of these would compare with prints from scans . I always find when i go to an exhibition the hand printed Silver Gelatin prints always stand out.

How are you getting your prints from scans done? Some labs (e.g. Harman Labs) can make real gelatin silver prints from your edited scan files using a machine like a LightJet that exposes traditional photographic paper with lasers. Getting someone else to make a print directly from the negative means that they will be making most of the decisions about how the print should look, but then of course having the experience of a master printer could be valuable. How much input into the final look do you want? You might also consider using a public darkroom if there's one near you - they usually offer tuition as well as renting the facilities for a printing session.

[poppers]

Thanks for taking your time to reply. I've had a mixture of light jet and Giclee type prints from Harman, AG and others. I think i'd like to see how a master printer would use his experience to determine the final print and make the most of the negative. 

There are community darkrooms near me and I've all the equipment to do it myself and have dabbled now and again, but wondered if anyone has used someone who'd given them great results.