34. Traditional B&W Photography: Taking & Developing Photograms.

This short video from Ilford shows the basic steps for making a photogram. It involves using an enlarger, in a darkroom:

The Process

1. In a dark room, turn on your enlarger, and make sure it is in focus.

2. Now, turn off the focus light, and place a piece of Ilford paper under the enlarger.

2. Place various things on top of the paper. Where the paper is blocked, it will remain white. What is exposed will turn black. Think about placement and composition.

3. Turn on the timer light, for a set amount of time - usually 4 seconds, at an aperture of f/8. But, feel free to experiment with different times. You want to create a full range from white to black.

4. Now, remove the objects from your paper and place it in the developer bath for 60-90 seconds.

5. Place it in the stop bath for one minute.

6. Place it in the fixer for 5 minutes.

7. Place it in the water bath for 5 minutes.

8. Run it through the drier. You now have a completed negative.

9. Place the negative face down over another piece of Ilford paper, under the enlarger.

10. Turn on the enlarger again, for about 10 seconds at f/8 (again, feel free to experiment with times).

11. Take the new sheet of paper and place it in the developer bath. Repeat the chemistry steps and run it through the drier. Now you have a positive print of the same photogram.

12. If you want, you can expose the paper in multiple ways before placing the negative into the chemistry baths.

Object Ideas for Photograms:

1. Leaves, especially thin ones:

2. Feathers:

3. Flowers:

4. Light Bulbs:

5. Hands:

6. Pine Needles

7. Snake Skin

8. Potato Chips:

9. in combination with a 35mm negative in the negative tray:

10. clear plastic bags

11. water (with or without soap) in a clear plastic container (use a blow drier for waves)

12. Cut-Out Templates:

13. Pencils, pens, brushes, chopsticks - anything interesting you can hold in your hands.

14. Glass beads are fun to arrange: