Photograms

A Photogram is a print made when 2D or 3D objects are layered on top of photographic paper, emulsion side up. All the filters are set to 0, the apertures set to f/8 and the height of the enlarger adjusted to make sure the area of light will cover the print. The paper is then exposed for a minimum of 3 second intervals while covering with card. Once it's exposed you have to process the print in chemical baths. The first chemical bath you use is the developer your print goes in the developer (chemical mix: 1:4) emulsion side up for 2 minutes with gentle agitation to make sure the whole print is covered. The print then goes emulsion down into a stop bath (chemical mix: 1:39) for 30 seconds , this stops the developing process. The next chemical process is the fixative (chemical mix: 1:9 or 1:4) and the print goes emulsion down for 5 minutes the fixative makes the print permanent on the paper. The last process is the wash which is just a water bath that the print goes in for 10 minutes to make sure all the chemicals are washed off, it is then dried in the dryer for 30 seconds. Once the print is dry it is not advised to get it wet again.

Health and Safety precautions:

Do not place your hands in the chemical trays (there are gloves and tongs available if needed).

Don't put any wet trays or tong in enlarger bays.

Always use a tray when carrying your prints.

Clean up any spillages.

Dry hands before going back on the enlargers.

Report any faults to the technicians.

When I made my Photogram I had to be aware of the objects I was using and how they would print onto the page and wether they would be light or dark when exposed. In the end I used a 2 metal circles one small and one large, a film strip and a piece of string. Here is my first layout...

Once I printed my photogram I found that most objects on my paper ended up coming out very white as nothing was very transparent apart from the bubble wrap which gave my image slight grey tones, also my film strip when exposed for a longer time began to show the images in the strip but to achieve this without over exposing everything else I had to use a technique called burning in or "dodging" this involved exposing the image three times on an 8 second exposure, while its being exposed you hold your hands and constantly move them over the area you don't want to expose, I did this covering everything but the film strip. The technique worked and I managed to get the film strip to the exposure I wanted while still not over exposing the rest of the image.