A darkroom is a special room used for developing photographs from film, kept completely dark except for dim red or amber lights that won't ruin the film. Before digital cameras, photographers would take pictures on film, then bring that film into a darkroom to chemically process it and create actual photographs.

Inside a darkroom, photographers work with shallow trays of special chemicals that transform the film into negatives, then use those negatives to print photos on light-sensitive paper. The process feels almost magical: you dip a blank sheet of paper into a tray of liquid, and slowly an image appears, growing darker and more detailed until you can see the photograph clearly.

The red lighting makes everything look mysterious and otherworldly, but it's necessary because regular white light would expose the film and paper, ruining them before the photographer finished working. Photographers have to learn to work mostly by feel and memory in this dim light.

Though most photography today is digital, some photographers still use darkrooms because they love the hands-on craft of developing film. Museums, art schools, and serious photography hobbyists often maintain darkrooms. The word can also describe any room kept dark for other purposes, like a room where scientists work with light-sensitive experiments.