Photograms must be done in a dark room photo lab with only small red or orange safe lights on. If the photographic paper is exposed to any other light it will expose the paper, ruining it.
Requirements -
A 8 x 10 cut piece of photographic paper
A dark room
An enlarger/focused light source you can turn on and off
A few small objects
1- set your enlarger light area slightly larger than the size of your 8 x 10 piece of photo paper. 2- lay out your photo paper under the enlarger where the light will shine down. 3- arrange your objects onto the paper in any fashion. 4- switch on the light for 2-3 seconds. 5- remove the objects to develop the image
The flat objects came out with a neat outline, so they were good for photograms. However, I prefer items with some sort of depth because the transition between the thinner and thicker parts of the object show up nicely. I used a couple of objects with some form of liquid (Perfume, biro, and lighter) to see how they would show up. The objects in the last image are inside a plastic packaging, because I wanted to see if it would show up (you can see a faint outline). On two of my images, i've painted with developer. One of my images, I painted with developer first, then exposed the image and fixed it. On the other, I partially exposed it first then painted with developer and fixed it for a more abstract effect.
Film camera
A film camera uses photographic film and light to create an image. The light sensitive film means the exposure changes how light/dark/defined the image will turn out. The use of film cameras began in the 1800's, but is still occasionally used today.
Film Camera - Contact sheet
Pinhole photography
A pinhole camera is a light-proof box which has no lens - instead - a tiny aperture the size of a pin. Light passes through the hole and creates not just an upside-down, but inverted image on the opposite side of the box (where the light sensitive paper is). This is known as the camera obscura effect.
To reverse the image,
Shutter speed & Aperture
Aperture – a hole within a lens, through which light travels into the camera body. The larger the hole, the more light passes to the camera sensor. Aperture also controls the depth of field, which is the portion of a scene that appears to be sharp. If the aperture is very small, the depth of field is large, while if the aperture is large, the depth of field is small. In photography, aperture is typically expressed in “f” numbers. Examples: f/1.4, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8.0.
- These images differ in aperture
- These have a longer shutter speed
Independent aperture experiments
Experimenting with how light changes an image throughout the day