“I don’t know how it is done, but I like” it is a standard reaction of a budding photographer when he observes a solarized picture in an exhibition for the first time. Solarization is a darkroom technique with
the help of which any ordinary photograph can be made to look graphic & surrealistic. Now you can also make solarised prints following the technique described below.True Solarization is the complete or partial reversal of an image by extreme overexposure-about 1,000 times the amount required to give a normal negative image on development in the camera. True solarization often occurs when a very intense light source-e.g. An electric ark –appears in the picture and is grossly overexposed. Because of solarization, the source reproduces as a black patch on the print instead of clear white.
Nowadays the term solarization is often used, however to refer to the Sabattier Effect or Pseudo-Solarization, which produces results similar in appearance. For producing sabattier effect the print or negative is re exposed halfway during development. The already developed image acts as a negative through which the rest of the silver bromide is exposed. Some reversal of the image occurs and the result is part negative and part positive. A further distinction is that the Sabattier effect produces a fine line of low density between the fogged and already developed area of the image, this line is called Makie Line. This happens partly because there is always an increased concentration of bromide ions in the emulsion at the boundary separating a completely developed area from the one that is just developing. Sabattier effect was supposedly discovered by accident in 1862 by a
French scientist named Armand Sabattier so the technique is most correctly referred as Sabattier effect In 1930 Man Ray used it for the first time for producing artistic images.Subjects:
You can solarize almost anything but negative with large areas of dark tone and simple outlines often yield most satisfying results. Select a subject matter where there is a great wealth of detail that you want to emphasize. The original negative must be contrasty for better result. Nudes, Architecture, etc often produce eye-catching result.
Technique:
Both Prints and the Negatives can be solarised. Generally people solari
ze Black & White materials but solarising colour negative or transparencies produce some of the most beautiful and eye catching results. I shall try to explain the methods used for solarizing different type of materials. Don’t be afraid, if you have done basic Black & White darkroom processes such as Developing and printing you can do solarization too. For getting consistent solarized result you must standardize your process so that you can get desired result every time.Print Solarization:
Print solarization can be defined as a complete or partial reversal of tones in an exposed and partially developed paper emulsion when given a uniform second exposure and developed to completion. Through the manipulation and control of multiple variables a variety of effects can be produced, from mere traces of tone in print highlights to posterization-like reversals .For best result take a hard grade paper instead a normal grade pap
er. Make a test print to determine the proper exposure time. Place your negative in the enlarger carrier and expose the printing paper up to the time indicated by your test print.
Place the exposed paper inside developer. After developing for two thirds of the regular time pull the print out, place it flat on the table facing up and switch on the darkroom overhead light only for a second. After this re exposure, the paper is then returned again inside the developer to complete it’s development .For example if you are giving 150 seconds developing time, give re-exposure after 100 seconds and then develop again for another 50 seconds.
For re exposure I use a 40-watt milky bulb hanging at a 4 feet distance from the table. I use a bed –switch to turn it off and on. By changing the time of first development and amount of re-exposure you can control your amount of solarizartion. Always use a fresh developer for good result. The exact amount of re-exposure is very important because if you give too much re-exposure you will get a black print instead of a solarized print.
Effect of exposure on Solarization: -
Whether one solarizes paper or film, the initial exposure is very important, as it determines the overall natu
re of the final image. If the initial exposure is fairly heavy, the final image will be like the image obtained by normal development, no matter how heavy is the second exposure. If the initial exposure is light, the final image will show reversal - that is, tonal values paralleling those of the initial exposure. An intermediate initial exposure can yield a final image containing both negative and positive regions, and it is this type of image that has fascinated the artistic practitioners of solarization.
Effect of the Film or Paper:
The technical quality of a solarized image is dependent on the photographic material (film or paper) used and, especially in the solarization of paper and on the composition of the developer. If either of these factors is not optimal, the solarized image can be "muddy," with gray highlights. The contrast enhancement can also be obtained by using films or papers of medium or low contrast and by using low- contrast developers. During solarization of photographic papers, the choice of pap
er is very important. Many enlarging papers give rather poor results no matter what kind of developer is used. However, if a suitable developer is used, good results are obtained with Agfa Brovira paper this paper is first choice of solarizers.
Print solarization can be defined as a complete or partial reversal of tones in an exposed and partially developed paper emulsion when given a uniform second exposure and developed to completion. Through the manipulation and control of multiple variables a variety of effects can be produced, from mere traces of tone in print highlights to posterization-like reversals .For best result take a hard grade paper instead a normal grade pap
er. Make a test print to determine the proper exposure time. Place your negative in the enlarger carrier and expose the printing paper up to the time indicated by your test print.Place the exposed paper inside developer. After developing for two thirds of the regular time pull the print out, place it flat on the table facing up and switch on the darkroom overhead light only for a second. After this re exposure, the paper is then returned again inside the developer to complete it’s development .For example if you are giving 150 seconds developing time, give re-exposure after 100 seconds and then develop again for another 50 seconds.
For re exposure I use a 40-watt milky bulb hanging at a 4 feet distance from the table. I use a bed –switch to turn it off and on. By changing the time of first development and amount of re-exposure you can control your amount of solarizartion. Always use a fresh developer for good result. The exact amount of re-exposure is very important because if you give too much re-exposure you will get a black print instead of a solarized print.
Effect of exposure on Solarization: -
Whether one solarizes paper or film, the initial exposure is very important, as it determines the overall natu
re of the final image. If the initial exposure is fairly heavy, the final image will be like the image obtained by normal development, no matter how heavy is the second exposure. If the initial exposure is light, the final image will show reversal - that is, tonal values paralleling those of the initial exposure. An intermediate initial exposure can yield a final image containing both negative and positive regions, and it is this type of image that has fascinated the artistic practitioners of solarization.Effect of the Film or Paper:
The technical quality of a solarized image is dependent on the photographic material (film or paper) used and, especially in the solarization of paper and on the composition of the developer. If either of these factors is not optimal, the solarized image can be "muddy," with gray highlights. The contrast enhancement can also be obtained by using films or papers of medium or low contrast and by using low- contrast developers. During solarization of photographic papers, the choice of pap
er is very important. Many enlarging papers give rather poor results no matter what kind of developer is used. However, if a suitable developer is used, good results are obtained with Agfa Brovira paper this paper is first choice of solarizers.Effect of the Developer:
Most general- purpose developers contain both metol and hydroquinone as the active developing agents. These developers serve fairly well in the solarization of film, but give muddy results in print solarization. The fact that a heavily used metol- hydroquinone developer gives better print solarization than the fresh developer has probably been in the lore of solarization for many years. A fresh solution of developer, containing only metol as the developing agent, functions as a good solarizing developer. The inclusion of both hydroquinone and metol in a developer makes it unsatisfactory for solarization of paper. Heavily used developer solutions give good print solarizations merely because the hydroquinone has been consumed, and the sole active developing agent is the remaining metol. A print or film immersed in a clear developer containing only metol as a developer can be uniformly exposed to light in the second exposure and can be clearly observed during the subsequent development.
Following formula for a stock solution of "solarizing developer" having the desirable characteristics outlined above.
solarizing developer
Metol -12.0 gSodium sulfite, anhydrous -37.6 gSodium carbonate monohydrate- 41.0 gSodium bromide -4.8 g
Dissolve chemicals, in the order given, in about 850 ml of water at room temperature, and then dilute to 1 liter. For solarization of enlarging papers, dilute with an equal volume of water and use at 16- 18oC.
Kodak Selectol- Soft is a hydroquinone- free developer is a good alternative that can be used for print solarizations; the stock solution has about the right concentration for use as a working solution in solarization
How to Boost a muddy print?
The highlights of solarized prints (i.e., those areas that reverse when solarized) are usually somewhat degraded during the reversal process .The traditional remedy for muddy solarization has been to use photographic materials of extremely high contrast and to increase the contrast still further by successive copying of the solarized image. For example, a commonly used procedure is to make a positive copy of a solarized negative on a sheet of lithographic film, use that positive to make a negative copy on a second sheet of lithographic film, and then to make a final print using that negative. Each copying step causes such a large increase in contrast that the final print usually lack
s all tones between white and black.
You can also use overall or selective reduction in Farmers Reducer to increase the contrast of the print and give it some punch. The formula of Farmers reducer is given below: -
Solution A
Potassium Ferricyanide----50 g
Water-------500 cc
Solution B
Hypo------200 g
Water--- 1000 cc
For this purpose take a big try or developing dish .Take one part of solution A and 5 parts of solution B and mix them in 30 parts of water in a dish of suitable size. Wet the negative or print thoroughly, and then place it in the reducer and start agitating the dish till the image is reduced to desired density. Again wash the print thoroughly in running water to eliminate all traces of reducing chemicals. Solution A and B should only be mixed just prior to use, as the mixed solution deteriorates very rapidly.
For local reduction of small dark areas and highlights, the iodine iodide reducer is best. The formula of iodine iodide reducer is given below: --
Potassum iodide---12 g
Iodine Crystals----10 g
Water----200 cc
The print on which this reducer is being used must be free from hypo so wash the print thoroughly before using this solution. With the help of a fine brush apply the above solution on the highlight carefully. As soon as you apply the reducer that part of the print on which the reducer is applied will become either or purple. Then immerse the print in a plain hypo solution for one or two minutes, this will clear up all the iodine iodide from the surface of the print and you will get a pure sparkling highlight. After this wash the print in water to remove the traces of the chemicals
Solarizing negative:
Photographers prefer to solarize negative because once the solarised negative is ready they can make any number of print whereas in case of print solarization you have to solarize each time. For soalrisation Lith film is used instead of normal negative film. Lith film is a high contrast film so it gives better solarized result, it is an Ortochromatic film so you can use is in Red safelight in darkroom and use it just like bromide paper. Lith films are normally developed in special high contrast developer but you can use usual D-163 or D-19 paper developer. I have got good result with these developers. Step-by-Step solarization procedure is given below.
Take out one of your Black& White negative, which is contrasty and has a good shadow detail. If your starting point is a transparency, make a good negative from it by printing it onto a lith film and use this negative in the next steps given below.
Place your normal /lith negative in enlarger carrier and place a lith film in the easel. Expose some test strips to determine the correct exposure time. Now take a fresh lith film expose and develop the film as usual in D-163 developer for 2 minutes with continuous agitation.
After drying the film contact print it on another lith film.
Now start developing film in the same developer (with emulsion side facing up) with continuous agitation for 30 seconds then settle the film down in the developer for a few seconds without agitation.
Re-expose the film to white light while it is still in developer. Do not agitate the film and let it stay in developer for 90 seconds.
After this, rinse the film in stop bath, then fix, wash and dry the film as usual. You can also use a hair dryer to dry a lith film.
Now make a print of the required size on a hard grade bromide paper.
The secret of obtaining good result is to use a fresh developer each time. Agitate the film continuously before the second exposure, but agitation should be stopped after the second exposure.
Due to contrasty nature of lith film and mackie lines the negative solarization often looks like a pen –and ink drawing.
Colour Solarization: -
You can produce a solarised print form a colour negative. To produce a solarised image of a colour negative first make a colour print from it. Place the negative in the enlarger negative carrier, focus the image, and make a test strip to determine exposure and filtration value . For solarizing this exposed print re expose the colour print with a colour light halfway through the development. For re exposing I use a table lamp fitted with 40-watt milky bulb. This lamp is directed towards the white ceiling so that only weak bounced light falls on the paper. To colour this light I use commonly available cellophane paper over the table lamps reflector. The low wattage of the bulb and bouncing the light makes it weak and permits long fogging exposure and thus considerable control on the final image .By juggling the image and fogging exposure times and colour filtration, you can control the end result.
Colour print soalrization is similar to Black and White print solarization the only difference is that you use colour chemicals, colour paper and colour light .So all the method dealt above in Black & White Solarization are applicable here and need not to be repeated. The one major difference is that you cannot use any safelight during colour print processing you will have to work in total darkness.
Duotone Effects:-
One of the most interesting and little-explored possibilities in print solarization is that of duotone effects. To achieve a duotone effect you should utilize two developers, one for use prior to the solarization exposure, and one for use during and afterward. The first developer should have a very low bromide content--only one or two grams per liter--while the second developer should have a very high bromide content in the vicinity of 30 to 70 grams per liter of working solution, depending upon the p
aper. The print is exposed and developed for 30 to 60 seconds in the first developer, then is transferred to the second developer where it is solarized and developed to completion. The "fog" that is deposited into what would have been the high values of the normal print will be of a distinctly warmer tone than the darker values developed out in the first development prior to solarization.
When utilizing a high bromide developer it is necessary to use a much brighter light source for the solarization exposure, since bromide tends to reduce emulsion speed. This is where high-wattage bulbs are necessary.
Most general- purpose developers contain both metol and hydroquinone as the active developing agents. These developers serve fairly well in the solarization of film, but give muddy results in print solarization. The fact that a heavily used metol- hydroquinone developer gives better print solarization than the fresh developer has probably been in the lore of solarization for many years. A fresh solution of developer, containing only metol as the developing agent, functions as a good solarizing developer. The inclusion of both hydroquinone and metol in a developer makes it unsatisfactory for solarization of paper. Heavily used developer solutions give good print solarizations merely because the hydroquinone has been consumed, and the sole active developing agent is the remaining metol. A print or film immersed in a clear developer containing only metol as a developer can be uniformly exposed to light in the second exposure and can be clearly observed during the subsequent development.
Following formula for a stock solution of "solarizing developer" having the desirable characteristics outlined above.
solarizing developer
Metol -12.0 gSodium sulfite, anhydrous -37.6 gSodium carbonate monohydrate- 41.0 gSodium bromide -4.8 g
Dissolve chemicals, in the order given, in about 850 ml of water at room temperature, and then dilute to 1 liter. For solarization of enlarging papers, dilute with an equal volume of water and use at 16- 18oC.
Kodak Selectol- Soft is a hydroquinone- free developer is a good alternative that can be used for print solarizations; the stock solution has about the right concentration for use as a working solution in solarization
How to Boost a muddy print?
The highlights of solarized prints (i.e., those areas that reverse when solarized) are usually somewhat degraded during the reversal process .The traditional remedy for muddy solarization has been to use photographic materials of extremely high contrast and to increase the contrast still further by successive copying of the solarized image. For example, a commonly used procedure is to make a positive copy of a solarized negative on a sheet of lithographic film, use that positive to make a negative copy on a second sheet of lithographic film, and then to make a final print using that negative. Each copying step causes such a large increase in contrast that the final print usually lack
s all tones between white and black.You can also use overall or selective reduction in Farmers Reducer to increase the contrast of the print and give it some punch. The formula of Farmers reducer is given below: -
Solution A
Potassium Ferricyanide----50 g
Water-------500 cc
Solution B
Hypo------200 g
Water--- 1000 cc
For this purpose take a big try or developing dish .Take one part of solution A and 5 parts of solution B and mix them in 30 parts of water in a dish of suitable size. Wet the negative or print thoroughly, and then place it in the reducer and start agitating the dish till the image is reduced to desired density. Again wash the print thoroughly in running water to eliminate all traces of reducing chemicals. Solution A and B should only be mixed just prior to use, as the mixed solution deteriorates very rapidly.
For local reduction of small dark areas and highlights, the iodine iodide reducer is best. The formula of iodine iodide reducer is given below: --
Potassum iodide---12 g
Iodine Crystals----10 g
Water----200 cc
The print on which this reducer is being used must be free from hypo so wash the print thoroughly before using this solution. With the help of a fine brush apply the above solution on the highlight carefully. As soon as you apply the reducer that part of the print on which the reducer is applied will become either or purple. Then immerse the print in a plain hypo solution for one or two minutes, this will clear up all the iodine iodide from the surface of the print and you will get a pure sparkling highlight. After this wash the print in water to remove the traces of the chemicals
Solarizing negative:
Photographers prefer to solarize negative because once the solarised negative is ready they can make any number of print whereas in case of print solarization you have to solarize each time. For soalrisation Lith film is used instead of normal negative film. Lith film is a high contrast film so it gives better solarized result, it is an Ortochromatic film so you can use is in Red safelight in darkroom and use it just like bromide paper. Lith films are normally developed in special high contrast developer but you can use usual D-163 or D-19 paper developer. I have got good result with these developers. Step-by-Step solarization procedure is given below.
Take out one of your Black& White negative, which is contrasty and has a good shadow detail. If your starting point is a transparency, make a good negative from it by printing it onto a lith film and use this negative in the next steps given below.
Place your normal /lith negative in enlarger carrier and place a lith film in the easel. Expose some test strips to determine the correct exposure time. Now take a fresh lith film expose and develop the film as usual in D-163 developer for 2 minutes with continuous agitation.
After drying the film contact print it on another lith film.
Now start developing film in the same developer (with emulsion side facing up) with continuous agitation for 30 seconds then settle the film down in the developer for a few seconds without agitation.
Re-expose the film to white light while it is still in developer. Do not agitate the film and let it stay in developer for 90 seconds.
After this, rinse the film in stop bath, then fix, wash and dry the film as usual. You can also use a hair dryer to dry a lith film.
Now make a print of the required size on a hard grade bromide paper.
The secret of obtaining good result is to use a fresh developer each time. Agitate the film continuously before the second exposure, but agitation should be stopped after the second exposure.
Due to contrasty nature of lith film and mackie lines the negative solarization often looks like a pen –and ink drawing.
Colour Solarization: -
You can produce a solarised print form a colour negative. To produce a solarised image of a colour negative first make a colour print from it. Place the negative in the enlarger negative carrier, focus the image, and make a test strip to determine exposure and filtration value . For solarizing this exposed print re expose the colour print with a colour light halfway through the development. For re exposing I use a table lamp fitted with 40-watt milky bulb. This lamp is directed towards the white ceiling so that only weak bounced light falls on the paper. To colour this light I use commonly available cellophane paper over the table lamps reflector. The low wattage of the bulb and bouncing the light makes it weak and permits long fogging exposure and thus considerable control on the final image .By juggling the image and fogging exposure times and colour filtration, you can control the end result.
Colour print soalrization is similar to Black and White print solarization the only difference is that you use colour chemicals, colour paper and colour light .So all the method dealt above in Black & White Solarization are applicable here and need not to be repeated. The one major difference is that you cannot use any safelight during colour print processing you will have to work in total darkness.
Duotone Effects:-
One of the most interesting and little-explored possibilities in print solarization is that of duotone effects. To achieve a duotone effect you should utilize two developers, one for use prior to the solarization exposure, and one for use during and afterward. The first developer should have a very low bromide content--only one or two grams per liter--while the second developer should have a very high bromide content in the vicinity of 30 to 70 grams per liter of working solution, depending upon the p
aper. The print is exposed and developed for 30 to 60 seconds in the first developer, then is transferred to the second developer where it is solarized and developed to completion. The "fog" that is deposited into what would have been the high values of the normal print will be of a distinctly warmer tone than the darker values developed out in the first development prior to solarization.When utilizing a high bromide developer it is necessary to use a much brighter light source for the solarization exposure, since bromide tends to reduce emulsion speed. This is where high-wattage bulbs are necessary.
Multiple Solarization: -
Sabattier effect produces a fine line of low density between the fogged and already developed area of the image, this line is called Makie line. One thing you may try is to make double or triple lines. Multiple solarization works best with lith films. Take the first sabattier image and contact print that to a new sheet of lith film. N
ow solarize this film once again .You will get two instead of one clear line. The effect can be carried out further till you are satisfied. The multiple solarised print has only lines, which gives it an extraordinary look.
Sabattier effect produces a fine line of low density between the fogged and already developed area of the image, this line is called Makie line. One thing you may try is to make double or triple lines. Multiple solarization works best with lith films. Take the first sabattier image and contact print that to a new sheet of lith film. N
ow solarize this film once again .You will get two instead of one clear line. The effect can be carried out further till you are satisfied. The multiple solarised print has only lines, which gives it an extraordinary look.Chromoskedasic solarization: -
Chromoskedasic solarization means a coloured solarization made by scattering of light. This is a Black and White print solarization process which gives results similar to colour solarization .In this type of solarization all paper and chemicals used in Black and White solarization are used but it uses thiocyanate as the silver halide solvent in the second developer; producing a whole range of colours in the previously white areas of the print - 'grayish brown, reddish brown, brownish red, orange, yellow, greenish brown, brownish green, purplish brown, brownish purple, blue, or subtle combinations of these' - largely dependent on the pH. The colours are due to the different particle size of the silver produced. A suitable thiocyanate solution to add to print developers is Kodak Ektamatic S30 Stabilizer (an acetate - buffered thiocyanate solution). Developer pH can be increased by using Kodak S2 Activator (a dilute potassium hydroxide solution) or soda and decreased by adding acetic acid or borax.
Partial print Solarization:
Due to second exposure and development you get a solarised print. This second exposure reduces the contrast of the print that is why some photographers use partial print solarization to emphasize their main subject. In partial print solarization the main subject of the print is left intact only the surroundings are solarised so the attention of the viewer is easily directed towards the main subject. Let us take a look how it is done.
This technique can be used either with Black and white or with colour print solarization. Take a plain white paper equal to the size of your printing paper. Enlarge and focus your negative on this piece of white paper. Now take a pencil and draw the outline of that portion of the picture, which you want to keep intact during solarization. Now switch on the white light of the darkroom and fill the outline with black marker pen. Now our mask is ready. A print is made on a sheet of paper and once image begins to appear, remove the paper from the developer and place it on a flat table. This partially developed print is covered with the mask in as complete register as possible. The re- exposure to white light is given in this condition. To keep the paper and mask in flat and in register you can place a
glass sheet over them. This re-exposure to white light partially reverses all but that area under the “mask” and once development is completed you get a print in which the normally printed main subject is surrounded by a partially reversed one, providing surrealistic effect. The photographic paper is covered by a sheet of white paper so the second solarization exposure will be more than usual, so before giving the final exposure make a test solarized print to determine the solarizing exposure.
Chromoskedasic solarization means a coloured solarization made by scattering of light. This is a Black and White print solarization process which gives results similar to colour solarization .In this type of solarization all paper and chemicals used in Black and White solarization are used but it uses thiocyanate as the silver halide solvent in the second developer; producing a whole range of colours in the previously white areas of the print - 'grayish brown, reddish brown, brownish red, orange, yellow, greenish brown, brownish green, purplish brown, brownish purple, blue, or subtle combinations of these' - largely dependent on the pH. The colours are due to the different particle size of the silver produced. A suitable thiocyanate solution to add to print developers is Kodak Ektamatic S30 Stabilizer (an acetate - buffered thiocyanate solution). Developer pH can be increased by using Kodak S2 Activator (a dilute potassium hydroxide solution) or soda and decreased by adding acetic acid or borax.
Partial print Solarization:
Due to second exposure and development you get a solarised print. This second exposure reduces the contrast of the print that is why some photographers use partial print solarization to emphasize their main subject. In partial print solarization the main subject of the print is left intact only the surroundings are solarised so the attention of the viewer is easily directed towards the main subject. Let us take a look how it is done.
This technique can be used either with Black and white or with colour print solarization. Take a plain white paper equal to the size of your printing paper. Enlarge and focus your negative on this piece of white paper. Now take a pencil and draw the outline of that portion of the picture, which you want to keep intact during solarization. Now switch on the white light of the darkroom and fill the outline with black marker pen. Now our mask is ready. A print is made on a sheet of paper and once image begins to appear, remove the paper from the developer and place it on a flat table. This partially developed print is covered with the mask in as complete register as possible. The re- exposure to white light is given in this condition. To keep the paper and mask in flat and in register you can place a
glass sheet over them. This re-exposure to white light partially reverses all but that area under the “mask” and once development is completed you get a print in which the normally printed main subject is surrounded by a partially reversed one, providing surrealistic effect. The photographic paper is covered by a sheet of white paper so the second solarization exposure will be more than usual, so before giving the final exposure make a test solarized print to determine the solarizing exposure. 
No comments:
Post a Comment