I’ve been doing a lot of alternative photography lately. Since I started a black & white photo class I’ve been experimenting more with developing film and using medium format cameras.
One of the coolest developing processes I’ve come across is developing film with coffee. At first I thought, “Yeah, whatever.” But since I’ve done it, and actually got some results, I’m more than convinced.
So here’s how I do it:
The first thing you’re going to need are some materials. Here’s what I’ve used:
- Exposed film (if you didn’t know already!)
- 12 tsp Instant Coffee (NOT decaf)
- 6 tsp Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer laundry soap work good…powder kind)
- 1/2 tsp Vitamin C (not necessary)
- Water at 68 degrees F
- Fixer (the only darkroom chemical you’ll need)
- Processing Tank
- Film Spool
- 3 Glasses
- Spoon
- Measuring Spoons
- Funnel
- Thermometer
- Stop Watch
- Bottle Opener (for 35mm film)
- Scissors (to cut lead and spool off 35mm film)
** The amounts above are for developing 120 film. If you’re developing 35mm film, just cut the amounts in half.
Step 1: Prepare Developer
For 120 film you’ll need to add the coffee and washing soda to 250ml of water each, and the vitamin c to 200ml of water. If you’re developing 35mm film you’ll add the coffee and washing soda to 125ml of water each, and the vitamin c to 100ml of water.
Mix each ingredient separately in 3 glasses to ensure they dissolve completely. Then pour the 3 mixtures into one larger container, like a 2 liter soda bottle. Let this mixture sit for 5-10 minutes to get rid of all the bubbles. Now’s a good time to prepare your film.
Step 2: Load Film
While your developer is settling you can prepare your film. In a dark room, remove film from canister and load onto the film spool. It must be completely dark or you’ll expose the film. I use a closet – and my wife then tells me not to come out! Haha, she’s funny! Once the film is on the spool, put it into the processing tank. It’s now safe to come out of the closet!
Step 3: Develop
Pour the developer into the processing tank and start the stop watch. Agitate the film continually, by inverting the tank upside down and back upright, for the first minute. Then agitate 3-5 times every 3 minutes after that. I developed my film for 25 minutes using the above recipe, and the film turned out great.
Step 4: Rinse
Pour the developer down the drain. (It’s non-toxic!) Fill the tank with water (68 degrees F) and pour it out. Repeat this process 5 times.
Step 5: Fix
Add the fixer to the tank. Agitate again for the first minute. Then, every 25 seconds, agitate 3-5 times. Repeat this process for 3-5 minutes. When finished, pour the fixer back into the fixer bottle, because you can reuse it.
Step 6: Wash
Rinse the film for 5-10 minutes. You can also fill the tank and dump it out about 10 times.
Optional:
As a final rinse add 2 drops of liquid soap to about 16oz of water and agitate 5-6 times. This will help reduce the amount of water drops on the film.
That’s it! Once you’re done, you can pull out the film and see the results. Let the negatives dry, preferably overnight, before scanning or handling them too much.
The results are quite amazing! I scanned the negatives, cropped them, and got rid of some of the scratches. But that’s all the post-processing I did on these images. The brown tint they have is from the coffee.
Just like any alternative process, don’t be afraid to fail and have fun experimenting!