Disclaimer

This article is designed for the person who knows enough about photography to take decent pictures without a manual in hand. A basic knowledge of film processing techniques and Photoshop may be helpful.

Definitions

Digital darkroom photography, as defined by dA, is the approximation of film and darkroom techniques in digital photography using filters, textures, actions, and other resources, either user-made or stock. By definition, this category includes images composed of only one photo (with the exception of textures); any image containing elements of two or more photos are photomanipulations.
More practically, digital darkroom, in its strictest sense, is doing to a digital photo what could be done to it in a traditional darkroom.
Remember, if you use any stock resources in your digital darkroom work - be it actions, textures, brushes, anything at all - follow the stock providers' rules, and be sure to credit them in your artist's comments.

The remainder of this article will cover digital darkroom resources available on dA that approximate effects that can be achieved in the traditional darkroom, sorted topically.

Cross-Processing

Cross-processing refers to the developing of film in a system intended for use on a different type of film. Examples are slide film processed as negatives, negative-slide, and colour-B/W.

Slide-To-Negative and Negative-To-Slide

versus

Slide-to-negative cross-processing is a fairly common darkroom technique, which results in modified colours, increased contrast, decreased exposure, and a vintage effect. If you want to try this effect out in the digital darkroom, there are several actions available.

Negative-to-slide cross-processing is a much less common technique, resulting in blue- and purple-skewed colours, highly increased contrast, brightened highlights, and a less vintage but more time-aged effect. There are much fewer Photoshop actions available to replicate this effect, but if you follow a tutorial you can make your own action easily.

S-N Actions:

N-S Actions:

AMAZING tutorial covering both directions, I'd honestly recommend you make an action from this tutorial if you plan on doing a lot of digital darkroom cross-process:


Colour-To-Monochrome Cross-Process
This is a rather rare and under-appreciated cross-process, which results in variable, smoky, low-contrast prints with very little to no colour when executed in the darkroom. While it's nearly impossible to find digital tutorials to approximate this effect online, there is an action set on dA that approximates it perfectly.



Applications of These Techniques

In addition to being used alone, these techniques can be combined in the digital darkroom to create unique effects, especially when mixing the color-monochrome and slide-negative actions. They're also useful in imitating the effects of certain film brands. For example, a slide-to-negative curve layer set to soft light and low fill over an image can create a convincing approximation of Velvia film; Polaroid time-zero film can be approximated with a negative-to-slide curve set over a gradient map; and Ilford's high-contrast black and white can be approximated by adding a gradient map, overlaying another gradient map, then adding a slide-to-negative or negative-to-slide curve set to luminosity, keeping in mind that you'll have to play around with layer transparencies and fill levels to perfect the look.

Textures

Textures have become an integral part of digital darkroom photography, so rather than lecture you on their use, I'll just offer a run-through of the types of textures dA offers.

Flat
Flat textures include paper, wallpaper, grunge textures, paint, canvas, burlap - more or less, anything flat. Typical "flat" textures on dA are something like the following examples:



Metallic
SHINY! More or less, if it glitters or is gold, it's in this category. Some examples include:



Rust
At the other extreme, if it glitters in a way that robs your soul of happiness, and it has more crust on it than French bread, it's in this category. Examples include:



Plain
Defined as "textures that do not stand out when one sees them daily", things like fabric, stucco, brick, soil, and paper yet again, often appear in this category, examples of which include:



Water/Wood
These categories are self-explanatory - anything watery (including ice) or woody goes in its own section. Examples of each include:



Abstract
Textures that "do not conform to traditional methods". To try and explain this category would be impossible, so here are some examples:



And of course, there's a miscellaneous category for the hangers-on that don't want to fit into any of the above.

Remember, dA isn't the only stock resource online - for textures, I personally prefer sxc.hu, if only because of its ability to sort images by size, which is a major factor if you're planning on enabling prints. Just remember once again to follow the providers' rules, and to credit them in your descriptions.

Toning

Whether it be for a black-and-white image or a colour image, toning is a key part of the traditional darkroom. While general toning can be accomplished with photo-filter layers, you might want to check out some of the actions on dA. One in specific that I seem to be drawn to over and over is the following by ~eesh1, which approximates a high-contrast sepia toning for colour images:



Like I said, if you're looking for a specific effect, search dA's resource gallery - the number of PS actions are so voluminous that you will likely find something close to, if not exactly, what you desire.

Conclusion

Digital darkroom is a growing area of dA that gets little exposure and causes a lot of confusion among submitters. Don't be afraid to experiment, and feel free to use pre-made resources to perfect your pieces. If you can think of enough topics to merit a second article like this, I will write one - so if you have ideas or suggestions, let me know.

That's all for now.

-IB out