PHOTOGRAMS/RAYOGRAPHS
noun
a picture produced with photographic materials, such as light-sensitive paper, but
without a camera.
noun
a picture produced with photographic materials, such as light-sensitive paper, but
without a camera.
What is a Photogram?
A photogram is a picture created without camera but using objects on photographic paper which is light sensitive. They are created by placing different materials and object onto the photographic paper then exposing light to it. We create a photogram in the darkroom. The darkroom is a room the is blacked out with about 5 enlargers in it. Then there are three trays laid out on the side. One of them is the developer- we leave the photogram in here for about 2 minutes, this is what starts to make the paper go black and create an image after it reacts with the exposed areas and the areas that have received more light will turn black a lot more. The second one is the stop bath- we leave the photogram in here for about 1 minute, this is an acid solution that stops the developer over developing the paper. The last tray is the fixer - we leave the photogram in this for about 2 minutes again, this dissolves any part of the photogram that was not developed and stops the paper from being light sensitive. These are three trays that are for processing. Photograms were used in the 20th century by a number of photographers, particularly Man Ray, who called them "rayographs''.
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Creating A PhotogramWhen we want to start a photogram we need to:
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My Photograms.
On a Monday we have a double period. Between these 2 hours we go into the dark room. We got told to bring in our own items to make our own photograms. I brought in items like: buttons, leaves, headphones, sticks etc. Firstly we got into to pairs and went into the darkroom. We had to turn the lights of and turn the red lights on because it wouldn't of worked as it would of become exposed. I decided to do a test strip just in case something went wrong. Then on they shiny side of the photogram paper I laid out the items that I brought in and made sure that I had laid the items out the way we wanted to. I carefully switched the enlarger on and exposed the light to it. After I switched the enlarger of, I took all of my objects of and put the paper in the developer. I left it in there for 2 minutes. Next, I put it in the stop bath for 1 minute. And finally I put the paper in the fix for 2 minutes. I then rinsed the paper with water and left it t dry. We got to see the photograms when the light got turned on as some photograms were still processing and if had turned the light on then the paper would of been exposed.
This is the first big photogram i made. For me this is my least favourite one that I have made. I feel like the composition of the objects wasn't great and was quite messy. They seem to be just chucked on and not thought about the way they were laid down. This doesn't make the photogram interesting in anyway. However because I have used opaque objects, they have clearly shown up in my photogram. Also there are different shades of light in this one. I am not to sure what the aperture was for this one but I think I exposed this one for about 3 seconds.
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This is another photogram that I have created. For me, this is the photogram that I prefer out of the five. I exposed this photgram for 2 seconds and at first the aperture was full. However the objects didn't come up to well so I turned down the aperture to the second. I really like the way my objects turned out in this photogram. This is because I think I spent more time on the composition of this one and I seem to like it a bit more. This is also because there are more vibrant colours in this one - for example the key. There are also other types of shading in this image too. For example there is a mixture of shadings on the scissors, there is a grey like colour on the ears. The headphones didn't turn out that well but the rest of the objects did. Next time I would chose a different object then the headphones as they didn't really show up. I really like this photogram as it is composed well and the lighting really makes the objects stand out more then the other photograms. I am pleased with it and the other photograms because they help me to see where I have gone wrong and where I need to improve.
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