Darkroom Tip: Test Your Safelight with a Coin

Place a fresh sheet of photo paper emulsion-up under your safelight, put a coin on it, and leave it out for as long as a generous printing session — 4 to 8 minutes. Develop it normally. If you can see a circle where the coin was, your safelight is fogging every print you make, quietly eating your paper-white highlights.

Common culprits: bulbs too bright, safelight too close to the enlarger easel, filters faded with age, or light leaking around the filter housing. Fix and retest.

And remember: safelights are for paper only — panchromatic film wants absolute darkness, which is exactly what Analogly's red Darkroom Mode is for when you need your phone mid-session.