darkroom

American  

[dahrk-room, -room] / ˈdɑrkˌrum, -ˌrʊm /

noun

Photography.

1. a room in which film or the like is made, handled, or developed and from which the actinic rays of light are excluded.

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darkroom British  

/ ˈdɑːkˌruːm, -ˌrʊm /

noun

1. a room in which photographs are processed in darkness or safe light

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Etymology

Origin of darkroom

First recorded in 1835–45; dark + room

Explanation

A darkroom is the room a film photographer uses to develop photographs. A typical darkroom is equipped with developing chemicals, an enlarger, and a red-tinted safelight that doesn't expose black-and-white film. There are so many options for photography these days that using a darkroom is less and less common — digital and Polaroid-style, instant photos don't require developing. Most darkrooms are kept by photographers who work with black-and-white film. In the darkroom, the enlarger projects an image from a negative onto photographic paper, which is then immersed in a developer chemical wash and a fixer wash, and hung to dry. This results in a finished product, a photograph.

Example Sentences

His Regen show, through March 1, also features short video works and the abstractions of camera-less images he considers “pure photography,” created in the darkroom by shining light directly onto photosensitive paper.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

"There was a darkroom in the vicarage and I saw one of the older boys printing a photograph and I just knew that was going to be my life, really," he explains.

From BBC • Sep. 7, 2025

He particularly appreciated his crewmate McDiarmid, who liked to play her saxophone in the ship’s theater, right next to his darkroom.

From Slate • Jul. 22, 2025

That impulse translated into nights developing stock in a makeshift darkroom Lanthimos rigged in his Budapest apartment’s bathroom.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2025

I also stayed after school to develop my photographs in the darkroom, and that had a hidden benefit.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls