Editing a photo is as easy as clicking a mouse with the modern magic of Photoshop. But another type of magic dominated when the only option was a darkroom and enlarger. Some of us remember these days well, but for the young’uns out there, this Lynda.com demo shows just how photo editing went down in the film days.
No, you won’t find equivalents of Photoshop’s magic wand or clone stamp. Dodging and burning are the most well-known darkroom analogies, but other less obvious Photoshop actions can be performed in a darkroom. Masking, feathering, and gradients are some of the ones covered in the video.
If you’ve never worked in a darkroom before, I highly recommend it for a completely different way of working with photographs that most youngsters have never experienced. It looks laborious, but it’s loads of fun! [ISO 1200]