Photograms – An Avant-garde Tipster

Photograms are produced by laying objects directly onto photographic paper, so there’s no camera involved. This means that they’re one of the easiest ways to get great results in the world of photography! Read on for details of how to make them…

The History

Even though they’ve been around since the dawn of photography, Photograms did not really become famous until the early 20th century when they were produced by the Avant-Garde artists Christian Schad and Man Ray. Both artists used the technique but Schad’s photograms were named ‘Schadographs’ and Man Ray called his ‘Rayographs’!

The How-To

All you need is:

• Some sheets of photographic black and white print paper
• A light source
• A print paper developing set and a plastic dish, large enough to lay the paper in.
• A darkroom

Then just follow these steps…

• Spill the developer in the dish.
• Open the print paper package under red light conditions.
• Put one sheet on the table and close the package properly, otherwise you will ruin the paper in the package.
• Place some objects on the paper and switch on the light for a second.
• Pick up the objects you placed on the paper.
• Develop the paper in the according to the manual which came with it, and you are finished.

Additional Tips

Give the paper enough time to dry, and beware, photographic paper is easily scratched once it is wet.

You can do experiments, too. Try to use some transparent objects like glass marbles, flower petals, feathers and crystals and place them beside solid objects like a pen, a knife, an apple and so on.

Cut letters out of a cardboard and place them on the paper, this is an easy way to make personal greeting cards.

Expand or decrease the exposure time and see the different results, you can also start to move the objects during exposure.

Or put an x-ray film from your last sport mishap or dental x-ray on the paper, the result is really astonishing and it’s the only way to get some fun out of those broken bones and aching teeth!

A useful hint: If you don’t know which side of the paper is the light sensitive side and you are not wearing lipstick, put a corner of the paper between your lips, the sticky side is the sensitive side.

So now you know the how-to, you can go and make some Photograms of your own! Let’s follow the example of our fellow Lomographer maximum_b and keep that Photogram dream alive in the 21st Century!

Want to learn more about why the Avant-Garde is Analogue? Then head to the Microsite, take part in our Shoot Your Prophecy Competition and download the Future is Analogue posters!

geschrieben von tomas_bates am 2011-04-15 in #Ausrüstung #Anleitungen #tipster #photograms #technique #rayographs #schadographs