The majority of photographs are taken on digital cameras these days, but there are still lots of photographers who love nothing more than processing film photos the authentic way. They may even want to build their own darkroom at home so they can pursue their hobby at their leisure. 

So, where do you start transforming part of your house into a darkroom?

• Light-proof the room

In order not to spoil the photos, it is important to choose a room that has the least amount of light exposure as possible. It needs to be pitch black, which means you might want to paint the walls and stick poster boards on top of windows to ensure no light seeps through. 

• Choose the right lights

Only the right lights can be used in a dark room, as others will spoil photographic paper and ruin your photos. Darkroom lights can be created by getting covers that have a red casing to go over LED tubes. 

The red diffuses the brightness and enables the process to go ahead. 

• Developing trays

When it comes to the equipment you’ll need for your darkroom, some of the most important items are developing trays. These contain chemicals that will help bring the photo out of the paper. 

It is a good idea to have one for your developer, one for the fixer, one for the stop bath, and one for washing off the chemicals at the end. 

• Developing tank

Don’t forget to get a developing tank, which is where you’ll keep the roll of film for developing, while the developing chemicals are obviously required to allow the image to be visible.