Invert B&W Image in Darkroom

If I wanted to invert the B&W values of a negative in the darkroom (make blacks white and

whites black), how do you go about doing this?

 

Cheers,

 

Andrew

Use photographic paper? Or am I missing something?

If you mean make a black & white slide from a black & white 35mm negative, there are kits for doing it. I think there is one for Tmax negatives and Agfa Scala (spelling?) used to be made just for that purpose.

 

Alternatively you could put the negative in a slide duplicator and try shooting another copy. The resultant second negative will be the positive but you will probably still have the color cast of the anti-halitation layer or base material left to deal with. A chemical bleaching kit probably works better.

 

If you mean "How do I make a positive print from a negative" then you need to search around with Google or go to your public library and read up on basic darkroom technique.

It is possible to develope almost all B&W negative film as a reversal film using special chemicals and processing. Though it can be very difficult. See photo.net forums.

Each step in the negative/positive process produces the inverse of the step before it. When you start with a negative, you print the positive. If you then print the positive, you will end up with a negative--or the inverse of the step before.

 

The easiest way to do this in a dark room is to make a positive of the image on film. Buy some litho or orto film and "copy" the negative to the film. The orth and lith films can be used under red safe light, just like paper. Dektol or Ilford print developer works fine to develop the film. You will then have a film positive that you can use to print a negative on photo paper.

 

This is basically what one does to create enlarged negatives--one makes an "inter-positive" before making the enlarged negative. You will be skipping the last step and make a print directly from the inter-positive.

Easiest way would be to make a conventional print, then contact-print it onto another paper. Of course, that would reverse it is as well. You'd need paper without logos on back, I assume.

 

You could use a macro lens or slide duplicator to photograph the negative, then work off the second negative.

I'd second Stephen's suggestion to contact print, sheet-to-sheet. Very simple and direct. Haven't done this in decades, though. Good for reversing solarization experiments as well.