How to Make Photo Manipulations of Animals

Use aplastic animal is to create photographic manipulations and photograms.

Creating photograms gives you the ability to express your animal manipulations creatively. Also referred to as "photo drawings," the photogram challenges the idea of photography by allowing the creator to expose an arrangement of objects to light sensitive paper. The results are abstract physical depictions of the negative shapes left in place of the object. Using this technique, manipulate the photographic image to portray any shape you want, including those emphasizing animal forms.

Things You'll Need

• Photographic enlarger
• Electronic timer
• Photographic paper
• Plastic animal figurines
• D-76
• Stop bath
• Fixer
• Wash
• 3 shallow trays
• Sink
• Darkroom
• Plastic tongs
• Plastic clips
• Thin rope or wire

Instructions

1. Using the photographic enlarger, raise or lower the head to widen the light source shone from the built in lens. Raise the head to a height that produces an area of light slightly wider than the size of your photo paper.

2. Shut the enlarger off. Place your sheet of photographic paper beneath the enlarger inside the area you set up for light to shine upon.

3. Retrieve your animal shapes and arrange them on their sides on top of the paper. Create silhouettes of animals you've traced from books or magazines or use plastic figurines or toys that resemble an animal's likeliness.

4. Turn on the enlarger and let the light project onto your arranged surface of animals for five to 10 seconds. The longer you allow the light to wash over the photographic paper, the darker the paper turns after it is developed. The paper is not exposed to light where your shapes rest.

5. Shut off your enlarger. Remove the shapes and carefully place the piece of exposed paper inside a light-tight bag or box so that it is sealed off and protected from any other natural light sources. Do this only if you plan to take the paper outside the darkroom.

6. Take the exposed sheet of paper and place it first into the Developer (D76) bath for two minutes. Gently agitate the paper beneath the chemicals to ensure an even exposure to the developer.

7. Using the plastic tongs, carefully remove the paper and place it in the stop bath for 30 seconds.

8. Remove the paper from the stop bath and place it in the fixer for five minutes.

9. Remove the paper from the fixer and place it in running water for 10 minutes to wash all remaining chemicals from the exposed paper. This ensures no further development takes place on the surface of the paper and also permanently fixes the image in place. Take special care not to scratch the wet emulsion of your paper.

10. Remove the paper from the wash after 10 minutes has passed and hang it across a thin rope with two plastic clips (one for each corner of the paper). Let it dry for a three hours in an area where dust or dirt will not to stick to the surface of the damp paper.

11. Unclip and carefully remove the paper when it has dried. Observe the image where there are silhouette-shaped objects inside the image. Every part of the paper that was not covered with an shape appears black. The shapes should give a distinct impression of the animal's body.

Tips & Warnings

• Handle your exposed photo paper with care. Do not touch its surface while wet. This helps to prevent fingerprints on the emulsion.

• Use only amber colored light in the darkroom after the paper has been exposed. Exposure to any other natural light ruins the outcome of the print permanently.

References

• Kodak: Basic Darkroom Techniques