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Special effects experiments inside the black room

We previously talked about: many methods with which special effects can be obtained during photographic processes, and today we learn about other methods, but this time from inside the black room and away from the complexities and troubles.

Photographers are constantly searching for new ways to create impact in their images. There are strange filters and surprisingly wide angles that distort the most ordinary scenes and turn them into unfamiliar ones and often very flashy images. However, there are many simple methods to be adopted in the room, and if done properly, you can work to achieve very innovative creative results.

The prints are bleached, etched, fragmented, and reassembled, to obtain “special effects.” But the end result of all these manipulations will often be less than special, if not disgusting, by its viewers.
Part of the reason many so-called "special effects" fail is due to lack of planning. In principle, nothing wrong with solarization, lithographs, color manipulation (*), and the like, but until they work properly. . All of these methods should be used on the appropriate image. It is not enough to try to resort to solarization, for example, to transform an originally failed image into something fun and interesting.
However, there are a number of techniques that can be relied upon to increase the ability to control the final image, and they also produce a pleasing effect if used wisely.
We point out here that the distinctive visual qualities of the effect
- Sabbatir - or insolation, as it is sometimes known, refers to a chemical reaction that takes place during acidification. It is possible to process negatives or prints to create an effect, Sabatier. . But in general, the prints here can be controlled more easily.

Solarization:
The basic method is based on partially endorsing the print in the normal way, then re-exposing it to light over a very short period before continuing with the endorsement.
During the first part of the endorsement, the print containing a quantity of silver halide remains unexposed. And the second exposure - the first being under the magnifying glass - turns these remaining halides into metallic silver, learning what it used to be like brights.
The result is a mixture of negative and positive effects that have a very dreamlike quality and are suitable for enhancing an image with a surreal or fantastical subject.

We have to work on preparing the following trays with normal working force, water bath and half working force appearance. and installed.
We secure a light source that can be turned on and off, and its timing. The magnifier is a good source here. If we take the negative out of the holder, so that the light falls on the base plate directly, the normal method must be adopted for making test clips from the selected negative. When evaluating these clips, we choose the time that will give a result that is slightly lighter than the normal result. , while aiming for good blacks, and higher-than-normal contrast paper will improve the effect on
sometimes .

We make five more test clips based on the chosen time and put a mark on the back of each one to identify them later. Then you put these in the appearance of normal force one after the other: so we leave a period of one minute to pass on the first position, to return to the other position between the one and the next thirty seconds. Then we take out all the scissors after thirty seconds have passed since the last one was put, so we can put them all back in this water bath, provided that we keep a record of the time that each piece got.

We leave the water to run off these test clips and press them on a smooth surface, such as glass, to remove any remaining surface spots, then place them under the light source. Now, we repeat exposing these clips in another test clip sequence and repeat endorsing them in the weakest solution for a minute and a half, then we rinse and fix the clips and check them in search of the best combination to repeat the exposure and repeat endorsement, and finally we make the final print according to our own choice.

Shades of gray:
Ordinary photographic prints in the printing trade are known as continuous tones and to produce a continuous gradient image we have to convert it to a gradient halftone (*) and we don't make a midtone image from those subtle variations of gray that characterize a good photograph, but rather from a series of solid black dots With varying density on the page, this is made by photographing the image of the continuous color gradient on a large light contrast film through a special screen made of fine mesh. This film is known by the word “Line” and it can be used to make pure black and white images, with a bit of realism in a mixed photograph. With the flexibility of an engraving print, lithographic.

Or a version of a cliché, or something like that.
Litho film is very similar to calligraphy film, except that it carries some quality of color gradation if it is exposed to light and preserved in the appropriate appropriate manner. The light sensitivity of litho film allows it to be used under a red safety light, almost as is the case with photographic paper. The large photonic contrast is available in 35 mm slices, and it appears in a solution of two parts (A and B), mixed immediately before use.

We point out here that the images suitable for converting them into a large light contrast need to be very simple shapes, because the details will turn into smudges, and therefore the originals crowded with details will end up looking like chaos and turmoil. Unwanted small detail areas can be easily removed on the line film negative
Using dark paint with a soft brush, it's a method known as smudge removal (*).

The basic approach to making a line print with a large light contrast depends on choosing an appropriate continuous color gradient negative that is based on a few simple shapes to give its effect and not on any small details or color gradations.

These are placed on the base plate of the enlarger, in contact with the sensitive layer line film slide on the sensitive layer, with a continuous gradient original on top, and to save wastage, two or three originals touch on one film slide.

- A test clip is made, where the time is chosen and the final exposure is made, and the result will be a positive line with the same scale as the original, and this can be touched again on another line film slide in the same way, to produce a line negative that can be used in the magnifier as a regular continuous color gradient negative.
If we want to work on the negative, i.e. narrowing or removing details, it is better to work on a film with a larger structure, instead of touching the original. A strip of 8 x 10 line film is used and these are made from the base plate, where the negative is displayed on it as if it were a paper, followed by re-contacting to produce a negative. It is sufficient Contact for one second on the paper for the final image.
There are many interesting engraving effects that can be made with calligraphy film, in color as well as black and white, such as engraving! Low relief (*) and making engraved posters (*).

- illusions:
One of the things that photography can do well is to create illusions about reality, because the eye believes the photograph even if the various elements in it are of a type that can never be believed.
It is a feature that can be exploited by multiple imprinting of two or more negatives on a single sheet of paper to create a surreal situation.
Effects can also be achieved by cutting out several different locations from photographs, and then pasting them together. The final result here is no less fun and exciting, but the possibility of its believability is less. It is a method known as montage, and its purpose is often political. With some accuracy and care, the poster can be reproduced on a film and then printed to give a kind of similar surface instead of the disparity in levels resulting from the fall of the limbs. leaflets on each other.

The blending effect is not difficult if we plan it properly. The simplest example of this is the technique that was common among the old pictures of landscapes that were made at a time when glass plates were not very sensitive to blue, and thus led to results with weak skies. Photographers of the time would make two negatives, one that would expose foreground details, and one that would be exposed for a much longer time, recording the sky and clouds. Then they would print the two together on a single sheet of paper to give a more accurate record of what they saw.
These days, photographers would try to print something totally out of the ordinary, rather than just a cloud or two into the sky, but the principle is the same.
Two negatives suitable for merging are chosen, and test slides are made to evaluate the correct exposure period for each of them. Then a drawing paper slide is placed on the base plate of the magnifier and a foreground image is displayed on it, then an approximate line is drawn for the horizon, to make a black cartoon mask.
Now, the first negative removed from the enlarger is then printed leaving the paper in the carrier. The red filter is placed under the lens to insert the second negative after that and sign it properly to match the first image.

Red filter:
The magnifier is left on while the red filter is in place, and the black cardboard mask is fixed on the previously exposed area.
This is the simplest method of blending. It is possible to use multiple negatives with complex masks placed on slides of glass above the base plate which are used to project certain shapes.

Of course, there are many other methods for adjusting the regular photograph inside and outside the dark room, some of which can be mixed together to achieve greater control and control even over the final image. However, the three basic patterns that we have come to explain are just experiments that a beginner may want to go through.