Color Film Photography in the Lab

[Kurdt]

I'm currently enrolled in the photography program at the university of Houston, This is my third semester to take a photography class and am now in the advanced class and we are working with color this semester. Getting the film developed at a professional lab and working with large format films. I have never done color before, and the professor is taking her freakin sweet time in showing us how it is done. I am looking for some tips and pointers in the darkroom as to what people have found to work for them. Our enlargers have the cyan, magenta, and yellow dials. So far I start with the basics of doing a test strip to find the correct exposure and then experimenting with the dials. I have heard not to use the cyan dial as it is the most dense and will affect the exposure time. Basically I have taken my own initiative and been working in the lab with the color processing machine a couple times now and having some decent results. I am so use to working in the black and white lab where I can see what I am doing, but the whole working in complete blackness is throwing me off. I haven't even attempted to dodge or burn yet. Any tips suggestions would be apprectiated.

Here is a couple prints that I have come up with thus far. They came out a little dark on the scanner.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v198/kurdticus/toxic.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v198/kurdticus/fire.jpg

[ivy'sgrandkid]

love them!

[pauldharris]

Hi
I have done some color.
My earliest experience with color was slide film Ectachrome by Kodak and I did that at home in my darkroom. It was easy all I had to do was follow the directions and keep everything at 80f. The color print you can do much the same way without the color processor but with a drum which I did but color printing at my home dark room was way too expensive and complicated. It is probably easier now with the machines that are out now that does the processing and printing but back in the day 1970 it was a different story and I had to do it by hand just like b&w. But your work looks good. I to went to art school but I never took the color photo class because it was very expensive and I didn't have the money and besides color printing in a darkroom was all new at that time and very pioneering since almost all color work was done in a pro lab like Kodak and not in a student's darkroom.
But digital is taking over with Photoshop so I guess darkrooms are old hat. But back in the day you could use a very dark green safe light for color work briefly if I remember correctly.

[DIGme]

WOW !
I did color one time, but it was… not good ! ahah !
Your one are very well done, and more : very good composition, orginal subject.
:)