Darkroom | Photograms

Photograms

Today we went into the darkroom to create some photograms using objects that we brought from home.

Materials

Photographic paper
An enlarger
Developer chemical
Stop chemical
Fix chemical
Objects/Materials

Processes

To create the photogram we needed some photographic paper. Photographic paper is different to regular paper because it is light sensitive. We then placed our photographic paper under the enlarger
(which is a huge light that exposes certain parts of the paper for a short amount of time)
After that we placed our objects onto the paper and used the enlarger for 6 seconds. The object I used was my earphones.

After the 6 seconds, we started to make the image appear using different chemicals, the paper was placed in 3 different trays.

The first chemical that the paper goes into is called the developer. The developer makes the image visible and should be used for 2 minutes.

The second chemical is called the stopper chemical which prevents the image from developing further and also means that when you take the photogram outside it doesn't get affected by the light. This chemical should be used for 10 seconds.

The last chemical is called the fixer which does a similar job to the stopper as it prevents any further development. This should be used for 1 minute

To finish off we place the photogram in water to rinse off any chemicals for 5 minutes and then run it through a dryer so that it isn't wet.

Technical skills

The technical skills you have to know is that it is very important to keep the paper in the chemicals for the right amount of time,the whole process is very time specific.
If you take the photogram out of the developer to quickly it can come out grey or yellow,instead of white. Another skill is to know how long you should expose the paper for using the enlarger.

Here are some photos i have created in the darkroom using different techniques.

this was the first photogram I done. To create this photo I used my earphones. I exposed the paper for 6 seconds and this was the result. there is a smudge which i think came from the tongs.

With this photogram I used a brush to cover the page in developer. This gives a cool effect to the photogram.

this is a double exposure of my hand and also some feathers. You create this image by doing a 3 second exposure of one object. Followed by another 3 second exposure.

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