A darkroom is a darkened place for working with light sensitive materials such as development of photographic film and photographs or creating stencils for screenprinting.

In a Photography darkroom chemistry and art intertwine as photographers use developers and enlargers to produce photographic images. A Darkroom is relatively easy to set up, all you need is a room that can be made completely devoid of any natural light and locked from the inside...  then set it up with the following photography equipment.

Darkroom equipment includes;

• Enlarger
  One with at least a 35mm negative carrier and 50mm enlarging lens, lens board and jam nut.
   
• Enlarger Timer
  Use this to correctly control the expose of light to create your image. Timers can either be manual requiring you to turn off the enlarger, or they can connect to the enlarger and automatically shut it off for you, this is the most commonly used.
   
• Bladed Easel
  A device that is used to correctly position unexposed paper under the enlarger, holding it flat during the exposure. A bladed easel allows you to increase or minimize the dimensions of the area being exposed. There are easels in a singe set size like 8x10 or 5x7.
   
• Safelight & Filters
  The most commonly used filters are OC (amber) and Red (A1). You should use the right type of safelight for your particular type of photographic paper. The safelight should be positioned to provide a good illumination of a work bench area, however ensure it is well away from the photographic paper.
   
• Photographic Paper
  Obviously Photographic paper is sensitive to light and should only ever be handled in a darkroom with the correct safelight for the type of paper you have.
   
• Processing Chemicals
  The three basic chemicals are (1) Developer (2) Stop Bath and (3) Fixer. Mix these with the appropriate amount of water and store them in your bottles.
   
• Printing Tongs
  Used for moving the photographic paper through the processing solutions. Buy four, one for each tub; developer, stop bath, fixer, water rinse and label each one to avoid cross-contamination of the chemicals.
   
• Processing Tubs
  These are simply shallow trays that hold the processing chemicals and rinse water; as with the tongs, label the tubs and always use the same tray for each chemical each time. 
   
• Thermometer
  Used to measure the temperature when mixing and using chemicals. 
   
• Glass Graduates
  These are used to mix and measure the processing solutions. It is best to have a variety of sizes with at least one with markings at 1oz. or 10ml intervals. Some people have one graduate for each chemical type.
   
• Brown Bottles
  These allow you to store the mixed processing solutions. Bottles can be glass or plastic and should be opaque brown or black and airtight, again like the tongs label the bottles and always use the same bottle for the same chemical.
   
• Funnel
  Use this to pour the chemicals back into their bottles. 
   
• Print Squeegee
  Handy to remove excess water from your prints after they are washed. Excessive water on a print will mean the print will take longer to dry and can end up with wash marks on the surface too.
   
• Drying Line and Clips
   

All these darkroom photography supplies can be purchased from a Photography Equipment Store.