"Sorry, that's been discontinued." The salesclerk shakes his head. And that, you realize with sinking heart, is that: no more of your favorite film, paper, developer, whatever. These are trying times. What do you do?

First of all, make sure he's telling the truth. Far too often, "That's been discontinued" actually means...

After looking at the prints I had just given her, my neighbor Genevieve said, "I have never seen prints of these photographs before."

It all started when she showed me a box of 6x4.5cm glass plates from 1923-'35. It was a collection of family photos of her father, aunt, and uncle when they were small children. In France glass plates were used for far...

Many people seem to believe that darkroom chemicals have a fixed capacity, beyond which they stop working. This is quite a long way from the truth. The life of most chemical baths used in the darkroom can be divided into four stages. First, there is the fresh bath, with full vigor. Second, there is the partially exhausted bath, which still works but takes longer. Third, there is...

A few months ago I showed you how to create a background for a portrait by using the Adobe Gradient tool. That tool produced a nice, smooth, gradated background as though the photographer had put a small hot spotlight on a smooth background. In this article I will show you how to create a mottled background similar to the painted canvas backgrounds that are so popular among...

One of the secrets to making great ink jet prints is to set the black point correctly in the image file before sending the image to the printer. The black point in an image is the group of pixels that should be printed as solid, D-max, black. If this...

All of us take snapshots. Sometimes those snapshots can be turned into very nice portraits. Take a look at one of my snapshots (#1). Actually, this snapshot was taken of my wife Faye and I, one night when we were out celebrating our son's wedding.

What is the use of having an old-fashioned, "wet" black and white darkroom in the 21st century? Well, it's a bit like religion. If you have to ask the question, you'll never understand the answer. Anyone who loves darkroom knows the...