Photograms

Photograms

Photography History

William Henry Fox Talbot was photogram artist. He would experiment different ways to create instant images that where permanent; he would create images but always discovered that after a while his images would begin to fade. Louis Daguerre created ‘Daguerreotypes’ these consisted of images that where created on a silver plate. When Fox Talbot discovered what Daguerre was up to ,Fox Talbot then decided to experiment by using light sensitive paper rather than using silver plate, this is when he discovered calotypes photograms, this began the process of developing negatives using chemicals. Photograms Photograms are made by placing objects onto a light sensitive material then exposing it to light for certain about of time. We then use chemical to develop these images which will appears black and white object on your paper these are known as negative shadows. As we produce these images without a camera, this is famously known to be referred to as ‘camera-less images ‘They are produced in the dark room, as these conditions best suit less light requirements. In dark rooms there are safe light which are red, this is suitable as the light sensitive paper is only sensitive to white light. We then use enlargers to produce our photograms. When producing my own photograms I collected different objects, I used fabric, flowers, twigs. It is very important not to expose the paper to light before using it as it destroys the paper .I exposed my images for 10 seconds and adjusted the light intensity  as this can affect the exposure .If the light intensity is to high this affect the images as it may come out over exposed. This is why it is important to do test strip, a test strip helps us consider the timing we have to expose it for and also the light intensity.

Ethan Jantzer

Ethan Jantzer is a modern photographer creating photograms which are in colour.he tends to create his photograms by using raw film and light.He then uses a liquid substance called Windex and Gatorade this is how he achive colour in his photograms.Hoever the method that he uses to create them is fairly different, he uses a method called the sun burn method, this is literally in the name he sun burns the object onto the film that he is using, he then shines light through the coloure liquid which enables the photograms to be produced in colour.

In the image the use of colour in a photograms captured my eye when producing photograms they generally come out as being in black and white or shadows are caught.They appear fairly bloom hoever these photograms are fairly bright

Photograms : Experimenting

I experiment with producing my own photograms using various objects with interesting shapes. When producing my photograms I used plants and pieces of fabric, the material on the left are strands of fabric which appear to look like plants, I discovered that this was interesting in the sense that when you produce photograms depending on the shape or form of your object you could create interesting shapes and figures by changing their positioning i.e. using patterned fabric with various wholes and transparent areas produced photograms which looked like aspects of a plant. I exposed my paper on the enlarger for 8 seconds after testing out different exposures on a test strip.

After experimenting and producing my own photograms I discovered that different object produced more interesting photograms. For example if you use an object which is not transparent and has a thick density this creates blocks shapes and so your photogram will appear as a solid shape with no shading. However if you use material like lace for example this material will create interesting photograms because the material consist of different patterns and areas which may be transparent and so that creates amazing shades. As for the exposure time this is a trial and error process, to find the best exposure it would help to produce a test strip before producing your own photograms. By doing this it reduces the chance of producing photograms which are over exposed or under exposed

Enlarger

We use the enlarger in order to produce photograms. We do this in the dark room and use the red light, white light, timer and the light sensitive paper. We then arrange our objects in the dark or by using the red light in the dark room, onto the light sensitive paper because the light sensitive paper can only be exposed to red light before the final exposure to white; we then expose our layout to the white light for a few seconds in order to produce our photograms. In order to complete the process we then develop our images using chemicals. This machine does not only produce photograms but also can also enlarge films and produce larger images from a film shoot.