hello all, i'm about to attempt for the first time processing my own negatives and prints this weekend and just wanted to ask a few things... don't worry, my girlfriend knows what she's doing but it's been a while... i used some ilford pan f iso 50 film, some for night shots and some for general day stuff. the night shots i know will not be turning out due to the reciprosity laws (i'm afraid i still don't understand that one) but the rest should be ok, well according to the camera's light meter they should be. the paper is ilford Multigrade Fiber base Warmtone. what i'm really after is a gelatin silver print, maybe a bit ambitious for my first attempt but i'd still like to try just the same. what exactly is involved in gelatin silver printing? i've been googleing it for the last week but i've not really found a clear answer. i'm assuming there are special steps involved but i've not a clue. if anyone could shed some light on the subject i'd greatly appreciate it!!! as for the chemicals, i'll probably use the ilford ID11 or the kodak D76 depending on which my partner feels more comfortable useing. is there really a difference? thank you in advance for assistance, tips or just a point in the right direction!!! Eric

Attached Link: A link to read.

Silver gelatine print is simply the gallery term for an ordinary black and white photograph. Whether bromide or chlorobromide, fibre base or resin coated, they all contain a silver image in a gelatine emulsion.

Having special names like this perhaps makes it easier to charge higher prices that you would expect to pay if a lab was printing one of your own pictures. Of course the materials cost is generally not an important part of what a picture is worth.

In 1873, Peter Mawdsley invented the first photographic paper with a gelatin emulsion, and commercially-produced gelatin silver printing papers were available by 1885. Gelatin, an animal protein, is used as an emulsion, to bind light sensitive silver salts (usually silver bromides or silver chlorides) to a paper or other support. Unlike the albumen print, which is a printing-out process, the gelatin print is a developing-out process. After a brief exposure to a negative (under an enlarger), the print is immersed in chemicals to allow the image to develop, or emerge fully. Typically, the photographic materials in a gelatin silver print are extremely sensitive to light. Gelatin silver prints replaced albumen prints as the most popular photographic process by 1895 because they were much more stable, did not have a tendency to yellow, and were far easier to produce.

"sorry i couldn't be more help"?????!!!!! dude, that pretty much summed it all up. so i guess it's really nothing out of the ordniary, from what it sounds like just a b/w image on fiber or rc paper. pretty sneaky way to hike up the prices though...lol!! thanks a ton Doug!!!