FOUNDATION
Project 1- Photograms
Darkroom Experiments
THE DARKROOM:
- A Darkroom is a small room where photographers develop light-sensitive materials like negatives into printed photos, the room is lit by red light to prevent the photos from developing as they are covered in a chemical called silver nitrate witch reacts to bright light turning it black, the red light stops this from happening so the room is very dark. It has three trays filled of different chemicals to help the process of developing the photograms along with enlargers that are used to flash the bright light onto the photographic paper.
- The setup in the darkroom includes a enlarger to flash the light onto the photos to turn it black, when using this to prep the photo you need to put the safe light (filter) over the bulb so that it is not bright enough to react with the chemicals , the enables you to organise the objects without taking the photo. Next you take your print to the chemicals, there are three darkroom trays.
There is a
1) DEVELOPER, leave in for 2-4 mins
2) STOP BATH, 30 seconds
3) FIXER, when you mix these with the appropriate amount of water they help to develop the photo. (test the fix: double the time it takes for unprocessed neg to clear)
4) Once all of these are completed you rinse of the excess chemicals in pure water for around 3-4 mins
How long do you leave the print in each chemical? What about rinsing at the end?
- A Darkroom is a small room where photographers develop light-sensitive materials like negatives into printed photos, the room is lit by red light to prevent the photos from developing as they are covered in a chemical called silver nitrate witch reacts to bright light turning it black, the red light stops this from happening so the room is very dark. It has three trays filled of different chemicals to help the process of developing the photograms along with enlargers that are used to flash the bright light onto the photographic paper.
- The setup in the darkroom includes a enlarger to flash the light onto the photos to turn it black, when using this to prep the photo you need to put the safe light (filter) over the bulb so that it is not bright enough to react with the chemicals , the enables you to organise the objects without taking the photo. Next you take your print to the chemicals, there are three darkroom trays.
There is a
1) DEVELOPER, leave in for 2-4 mins
2) STOP BATH, 30 seconds
3) FIXER, when you mix these with the appropriate amount of water they help to develop the photo. (test the fix: double the time it takes for unprocessed neg to clear)
4) Once all of these are completed you rinse of the excess chemicals in pure water for around 3-4 mins
How long do you leave the print in each chemical? What about rinsing at the end?
PHOTOGRAMS:
Photograms are pictures produced with photographic materials like using light-sensitive paper coated in sliver nitrate that are shot with no camera. The result is a negative shadow that shows variations in tone and textures that depend of the transparency and texture of the objects, also how long you leave the photo under the enlarger. In the 1830's William Fox Talbolt started making photograms with plants witch he refed to as photographic drawings. |
EXPOSURE TEST:
TEST STRIP
To archive the best exposure you will need to do a test strip, this shows different exposures to the light and how they react so you can pick what exposure you like. To do this you:
1) place your paper under the enlarger at a time for half a second after placing all your objects make sure you have a black card ready to use to cover the half of the photo you don't want to react.
2) Next you want to try and create at least 6 different shades, by doing this each time you press the button to flash the light you cover the rest of the photo with a black card to stop it from reacting.
3) As the photo is being taken the exposed parts are likely to change as the more light flashes so you need it on really low to allow that to not happen.
TEST STRIP
To archive the best exposure you will need to do a test strip, this shows different exposures to the light and how they react so you can pick what exposure you like. To do this you:
1) place your paper under the enlarger at a time for half a second after placing all your objects make sure you have a black card ready to use to cover the half of the photo you don't want to react.
2) Next you want to try and create at least 6 different shades, by doing this each time you press the button to flash the light you cover the rest of the photo with a black card to stop it from reacting.
3) As the photo is being taken the exposed parts are likely to change as the more light flashes so you need it on really low to allow that to not happen.
To make a print once you have found the correct exposure using the test strip you want to get your photographic paper and place it under the enlarger with the light filter on to prevent the paper reacting with the white light. next place your chosen objects on the paper, thinking about composition and rule of thirds, remove the filter and se the timer to your selected time. Once this is done bring it over to the chemicals and sit in each fir required amount of time ( as shown above )
PROCESSES:
In order to achieve the correct exposure I needed to do a test strip to find the right exposure for my photos. I used the process above to do this however I didn't manage to get eight lines of contrasting colours. This could be because the exposure of the light was to high and therefor I could only get four dissimilar shades. To make this better you could make the timer that you leave it exposed to the light much less, possibly 1/2 of a second.
Processes- These six different process of developing photos are what we experimented with:
1) Painting on developer;
To achieve this you take the photogram as normal but when it come to putting it in the chemicals, you used a paintbrush to drop some developer to only develop certain parts of the photo, you could paint, drop or splash the developer to get different patterns. This photo was successful as there appear to by many shades of colours meaning the developer was spread unevenly to achieve the wanted look. |
2) Double exposure/ moving an object;
When doing this you arrange the object onto the paper as normal then put the timer onto 3 seconds and push it, then quickly cover half the photo with another slightly see-through object for example a Siv, this creates a images that had two tones to it and adds textures and layers. In this photo you can clearly see the lighter checked object that I placed over, when it has moved the other surround objects it makes layers, you can clearly see this on the edges of the leaf, to improve this I can do a higher exposure to bring it out on the other objects. 3) Solarising;
To do this you need to expose your photogram to the light for the time you chose from the test strip. Then quickly place your print in the developer after the photo is taken and then place in a tray to re-expose to the light of the enlarger for 1 second. Then continue to process it as normal, this creates a luminous glow around the objects. Alouth this is very hard to achieve, you can se the bright glow clearest around the buttons, next time I could think about my choice of more interesting objects and composition. |
4) Sandwich print/ negative to positive;
'sandwich' a complete photogram between an unexposed paper and a sheet of glass. You will need a test strip to test the apertures. To do this place your original image on top of a photographic paper, shiny side up, then place the glass over to hold it in place. I really like how bold and dark the black came out, it makes the image look so shark and gives a stark contrast between the white and black. |
5) Weaving;
This was when you got two photos preferably ones of contrasting colours, and cut one vertical and the other horizontal with the spacing of 1cm, this meant you could weave the two together to create a weaved photo. I found this hard to keep the two strips together and think it would look better with the black lines to have more objects on them hover altogether it looks neat and the odd patters make it interesting to look at. |
You must include one of your own examples for each technique
How to make a positive print using sandwiching:
In order to make a photo go from a negative to a positive you need to place your chosen image under the enlarger along with the photographic paper. They both need to be facing shiny side up, then cover them with glass to make sure they don't move. Due to the light being covers in a different place the what were black spaces are now turned white.
My Final mounted photos
We mounted our final six photos where we experimented in the dark room. To do this measure the smaller sides of the length and width to make all the prints fit into the frame. Next cut out the shapes that you marked and measured. Align the photos to the back of the board and stick them down with tape.
WWW: I composition them so that the blacks and white are not all in one place. This makes the final board look more pleasing to look at. I also think my photos clearly show all the different types of processes that we used.
EBI: It would have been good if my prints were bigger to make it look more full to make the final mount more bold. (what do you mean?)
Thorough and well presented
EBI: It would have been good if my prints were bigger to make it look more full to make the final mount more bold. (what do you mean?)
Thorough and well presented
Project 2- Pin hole camera
Pin Hole Camera
In this task we were required to make a camera using a old drink can. A pinhole is a simple camera based on the camera obscure witch is a large room or container that is hidden from light except from a small hole to allow light to shine through projecting a photo. You then placed a square of photographic paper into the can and exposed it to lighting creating a photo.
Making the pinhole camera:
To make a pinhole camera this is what you will need:
- Empty drinks can - Electrical tape - Scissors - Can opener - Black card
Making the pinhole camera:
To make a pinhole camera this is what you will need:
- Empty drinks can - Electrical tape - Scissors - Can opener - Black card
First you will need an empty drinks can, (make sure this is dry as you will by filling it with paper later) next use a can opener to cut of the top of the can to create a opening, then using a small bit of sandpaper smooth out any sharp or pointy bits of metal as they will be dangerous and prevent the lid from going on. Then you are going to make a lid using black card, cut vertically 1cm apart to form slits to fold over the top of the can. Wrap this around the top of the can and tape it together, then fold in the flaps to cover the hole. Next you want to cut a circle to cover the top of the can and tape it again. Cover this all with black gaffa tape to create a secure lid that can come on and of. Finally to make the camera hold grab a small pin and make a hold about halfway down the can and cover it with a small piece of black electrical tape with a flap until you use.
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Ben Nathen
Ben Nathen works across different medias, from painting, films and photography. He focused his artistic skills on urban life and culture. He wanted to capture the changing of our cities environments and access to public or private life.
I though his work was really inspiring as he included people from local communities to participate witch gave all the photos a original feel to them. The shape of the can has given a fish bowl look and the composition is really interesting. I also think the exposure was really good as it left the photos as clear as they could be with multiple tones and textures.
My Photos
CORNER
Positive
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Negative
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WWW: I think the length of time exposed in the light was 3 seconds in bright light, this worked really well once developed and made the photo clear and good contrast between bright and dark.
EBI: The composition could have been better to have the corner cantered in the middle of the frame along with the models closer to the photo to make it clear what I am photographing. WWW: I think the light was really good as i peeled it of for the correct amount of time and exposed it for two seconds as it was really sunny.
EBI: Due to the can being a curve it got me in the side of the photo, to make this better i could stand behind the can and bring it closer to the models. |
WINDOW
DOUBLE EXPOSURE
Positive
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Negative
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WWW:You can see the arm movement and the double exposure from the photo. I did this by opening the flap on two occasions when she moved her arms.
EBI: To make this movement more clear I would make sure the can in in the correct place to get the model in the frame, and hold it open for longer to get better exposure. |
PORTRAIT
Positive
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Negative
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WWW: The composition is in the centre of the can and this creates a nice look to the photo with the background in the shot. You can see all of the people.
EBI: The exposure is possibly to over exposed as I shot it in direct sunlight so if I do it for two seconds next time to make the images less dark. WWW: I got all the people in the shot and it developed well in the chemicals.
EBI: However the photo turned out slightly grey with very bright spots, to help this I could go in a more shaded area to make the exposure higher. |
You must include all your images, both the negative AND positive.
project 3- My First film
Documenting the SLR camera
Method
- the SLR camera captures a photo by using its internal mirror prism system. This system uses direct light from the lens up the view finder that you look through to get the image. The light passes through the lens witch sharpens the image and controls the light intensity through the ' aperture' this light is allowed to hit the film for a certain period of time, the is controlled by the shutter speed.
- When the shutter release is pressed the mirror shutter opens and light hits the film for a certain amount of time. this means the shutter serves two purposes; mechanism for allowing light to hit the film for a certain time as a viewer.
- When the shutter release is pressed the mirror shutter opens and light hits the film for a certain amount of time. this means the shutter serves two purposes; mechanism for allowing light to hit the film for a certain time as a viewer.
Exposure Triangle:
This is a visual way to understand the three separate concepts influence each other when one is changed. The goal when taking a photo is to get the ISO, aperture and shutter speed all balanced to get a perfect photo.
ISO- Typically used to make the photo more or less grainy. It is typically measured in numbers, a lower number represents a darker image, while brighter images means a brighter image. However when the ISO rises so does the graininess of the image. Examples of ISO include; 100,200, 400, 800, 1600.
Shutter Speed- This is the length of time that a camera shutter is open to light, shutter speeds are also measured in fractions of a second. A slow shutter speed allows more light into the camera and is used for low light and night settings, fast shutter speeds help to freeze motion. Examples include 1/15, 1/30, 1/60 and 1/125.
Aperture- There is a hole in the lens that allows light to travel into the camera body. the larger the hold the more light can travel into the sensor. Aperture also controls the depth of field witch is the bit of the photo that appears sharp. If the aperture is small then the depth of field is large and if the aperture is large then he depth of field will be small. In photography aperture is represented as F also known as the f numbers since this is the ration of diameter from the lens. Example's include; f/ 1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6 and f/8.0.
Shutter Speed- This is the length of time that a camera shutter is open to light, shutter speeds are also measured in fractions of a second. A slow shutter speed allows more light into the camera and is used for low light and night settings, fast shutter speeds help to freeze motion. Examples include 1/15, 1/30, 1/60 and 1/125.
Aperture- There is a hole in the lens that allows light to travel into the camera body. the larger the hold the more light can travel into the sensor. Aperture also controls the depth of field witch is the bit of the photo that appears sharp. If the aperture is small then the depth of field is large and if the aperture is large then he depth of field will be small. In photography aperture is represented as F also known as the f numbers since this is the ration of diameter from the lens. Example's include; f/ 1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6 and f/8.0.
My First Film
For this task I went out during the day to capture photos of movement, portraits and building surrounding the school. Due to the fact the this perticular day was sunny some of my photos have been over exposed and therefor have not developed the best as would like them to.
Developing the film:
In order to develop my roll of film I went into a pitch black room with no lights to prevent the film from being exposed. Because of the lack of light placing the film into the spiral was tricky. Firstly you need to prop open the film canister lid and pull out the film. Then carefully feel for the spiral, this is a round prop, you need to fell for two nubs on either side of the spiral and feed the film through shiny side up. Twist each side of the real to roll the film up into the spiral, once all the film is in the spiral use scissors cut the remaining end of. Once you know this is securely fitted you want to grab the developing tank, this is a black light sealed container that all the chemicals will be poured into. To do this there is a round post sticking up the the middle of the tank, slide the spiral down onto this and seal the lit shut with a click. The next set is mixing this with the developing chemicals, the three that you will be using are developer, fix and stop. Using a measuring vessel dilute all chemicals with water. Once you have poured the developer into the tank tap it onto a flat surface to eliminate any air bubbles.You want to do this every 30 seconds for a total of 7 mins. Pour the developer out of the tank to begin with the stop. Once you have poured the stop to agitate it every 30 seconds for 5 mins. To prevent water spots from forming while they are drying. Finally you need to use the fixer, again you need to agitate this every 30 seconds for a total of 5 mins. once you have poured the chemicals out your film is developed. Lastly to prevent any staining you want to rinse the film under water for 5 mins unravel the film and hang it up to dry in a dust free environment where it can sit to dry off.
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About the camera:
We worked with film camera with 36 exposure roll of film with an ISO of 400, we took a number of close ups, portraits and movement images using different apertures, backgrounds and light. On a sunny day we figured after trial and error that having a plain background where the model is facing away from the immediate light make a better exposed photo. Firstly this imitated the change of the models eyes squinting shut and also makes the photo clearer and less over exposed.
When taking the movement photos you needed a fixed aperture of F8 and speed of 1/500 to 1 sec to achieve a clear image.
When taking the movement photos you needed a fixed aperture of F8 and speed of 1/500 to 1 sec to achieve a clear image.
My test strip
I created a test strip by moving a piece of black card down the photo in intervals of 1 second. This gave me the ability to see what exposures would work best when I comes to developing my individual prints.
Contact sheets:
A contact sheets job is to display all of your film camera images as positives from a roll of film. It is used to quickly scan a series of images to find the one you would like to enlarge. It typically gives a mini preview to the photographer to determine witch photographs are best to print.
Creating a contact sheet:
In order to make a contact sheet you want to collect and place all your cut up strips of film shiney side up onto a big square of photographic paper. To make sure everything is flat and won't mover you can place a piece of glass over the top to hold it all in place. Next you want to expose the paper lie normal to light for about 3-6 seconds depending on the exposure from your test strip. Once this is done you are able to see what photos have good or bad exposure and how to further develop this.
WWW: I developed this for a good amount of time as the colours came out really strong and prevalent. The glass also helped to flatted and hold the film in place.
EBI: You can tell that the top and bottom rows of film have been to over exposed and have come out really bright, this tells me that I need to expose it to more light for a longer period of time to achieve the correct light.
EBI: You can tell that the top and bottom rows of film have been to over exposed and have come out really bright, this tells me that I need to expose it to more light for a longer period of time to achieve the correct light.
Developing my photos:
How to make them:
To create a large photo from a negative you follow these steps. Using the enlarger pull out the slot the is above the enlarger then lift the flap up to insert the chosen image from the roll of film that you want to develop. Once this is all back in the enlarger you can adjust the size and focus of the projection by spinning the two polls on the right side, after finding the correct focus you want to take and develop the photogram as normal. If the photos seam to be under developed or grey rather than black, expose it for a longer time to achieve a more developed look.
To create a large photo from a negative you follow these steps. Using the enlarger pull out the slot the is above the enlarger then lift the flap up to insert the chosen image from the roll of film that you want to develop. Once this is all back in the enlarger you can adjust the size and focus of the projection by spinning the two polls on the right side, after finding the correct focus you want to take and develop the photogram as normal. If the photos seam to be under developed or grey rather than black, expose it for a longer time to achieve a more developed look.
WWW: There is a clear view of both people in these images and the background is not blurred or over exposed making the images all round successful.
EBI: I shot the first image in direct sunlight behind a white background meaning the photo was blurry and not very detailed, I would need to have the hole open for less time to decrease the intensity.
EBI: I shot the first image in direct sunlight behind a white background meaning the photo was blurry and not very detailed, I would need to have the hole open for less time to decrease the intensity.