arts206 basic photography (part 2) by Matthew Swarts

arts206

basic photography ramapo college fall 2008 4.00 credit hours section 01 w 3-6pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: bc147 office hours: t 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883

“No ideas but in things”—William Carlos Williams For Wednesday, October 22 Read: “Abelardo Morell’s Poetry of Appearances,” by Charles Simic, “Toy stories: David Levinthal and the uncertainty principle,” by Richard B. Woodward, and “Of mere being,” by Wallace Stevens Photograph things. Discover ways of looking at an object where shape and metaphor begin to merge. In other words, photograph things in such a way that they carry your ideas. Bring contact sheets and at least 6 final prints to class. Questions to consider while making your work: 1. Think about the range of approaches to this problem taken by the artists discussed in class. Robert Frank found most of his things in the street. Other artists like Frederick Sommer and Edward Weston collected and arranged objects (albeit very different kinds) before photographing them. Laurent Millet constructed new objects with materials and shapes that convey very specific feelings. Which method feels best to you? Can you come up with a new approach if these models are uninspiring? 2. Ralph Eugene Meatyard made photographs either deliberately out of focus (“no-focus” series).or with a zone of focus so small and deliberate that it articulated edges with a very interesting precision (‘zen twigs”). Meatyard used these technical “tricks” to make photographs that approached states of mind. How might you employ these or other tools (both in the camera and in the darkroom) to transmit similar sensations or ideas to your viewer? 3. It’s up to you to make your spaces, as Abe Morell says of his own images, “containers of drama.” When dealing with fixed and often unmovable objects, how can you get pieces of

your pictures to â&#x20AC;&#x153;have conversationsâ&#x20AC;? with each other, implying relationships that may or may not exist in real space? 4. How is light driving your pictures? Especially with inanimate objects, it becomes even more important to be sensitive to how the light in your image may affect how we perceive it. If, like Diane Arbus, you choose not to arrange your subjects, then arrange yourself in space. Study the light. See things with different illuminations, from different angles and distances. If your objects are small, by all means, move them! Bring them to a window. Light them with house lamps. You should always be wrestling to discover new ways to use light itself as subject matter. 5. When you are printing, try several different densities and contrast options for at least one image. It can be powerfully shocking to discover the valence of feeling and meaning associated with the same image when it is printed in different ways.

arts206 no ideas but in things

Frederick Sommer

James Casebere

Thomas Demand

William Eggleston

Walker Evans

Emmet Gowin

Josef Sudek

Lee Friedlander

Laurent Millet

arts206

basic photography ramapo college fall 2008 4.00 credit hours section 01 w 3-6pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: BC147 office hours: t 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883

No Friends, All Strangers For Wednesday, October 29 Photograph strangers (i.e. people you have never met before), exposing a minimum of one roll of film, and then make four to six final prints. Use your camera to take you toward unfamiliar experiences. (You must leave the campus perimeter!) Consider some of the work we saw in class as examples and think about how

different working methods will effect how your photographs resonate. Pick one that you feel comfortable with, or try several. August Sander, for example, used a camera on a tripod with a cable release and carefully posed his subjects; Helen Levitt roamed through the streets of New York, athletically poised to respond instantly as children at play arranged themselves in surprising ways. One photographer made work that seems to be about a certain quality of stillness, while the other managed to locate a gentle surrealism inside the flux of everyday life. One probably had to negotiate pictures verbally and formally, while the other acted silently and somewhat like a visually brilliant spy. Can you be like Helen Levitt? Or are you more like August Sander? (Try both!) Can you find a way to merge some of the advantages of the two ways of working? Bring your contact sheet(s) showing each photograph you made to class on Wednesday. Things to consider while making your negatives: 1. Use film wisely. Each photograph you make should be meaningfully different from the others. Use each frame to investigate the space and the light around your subject in a new way. Move your body or the camera as often as possible. 2. Use what you already know about aperture and time. Think about how someone’s face might look when photographed “wide open” (e.g. f2.0) vs. stopped down. Consider how you might use a slow or fast shutter speed to more effectively describe motion or gesture? Try as many different methods of description as possible. 3. Remember that you are using black and white materials, and that light is perhaps your most important material. In the end, it is probably light that will most effectively drive your images. Arrange your subject or arrange yourself in ways that explore how light delineates surfaces in ways that might alter the meaning or feeling of your images. Make an effort to continually exercise yourself toward understanding several different lighting situations. 4. How does the space around the people in your pictures contribute to their meaning? Recall how the objects that surrounded the figures in Sander’s work often created narratives about the individuals he depicted. Think about how Levitt was able to take advantage of linkages between objects, spaces, and gestures. Certainly Agee’s essay suggests that seeing this way is not “thinking” in the usual sense. A certain cessation of narrative has to happen. Can you “just look” at the world to find your subject? Try seeing such things as they unfold in your viewfinder, then pounce. 5. How does it feel to photograph other people like this? Are you comfortable, excited, or uneasy about your interactions or lack of them? If you have some moral residue about what you are photographing, or how you are making pictures, perhaps you should be doing something else. Staying within the framework of the assignment, can you think about how to make things better for yourself?

The thing is to stalk your calling in a certain skilled and supple way, to locate the most tender and live spot and plug into that pulse. This is yielding, not fighting.—Annie Dillard, “Living Like Weasels”

Read: http://gregwasserstrom.com/misc/Way_of_Seeing_Levitt_Agee.pdf Write: In an email to me (mswarts@ramapo.edu), please respond to the following quotation in the essay by James Agee: “It is doubtful whether most people realize how extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is.” 1) What is Agee trying to separate in this essay? 2) What do you think of his very interesting statement concerning a camera’s ability to lie? 3) Can you think of an instance in your own experience where the camera has lied? Please elaborate.

arts206 no friends, all strangers

August Sander

Helen Levitt

arts206

basic photography ramapo college fall2008 4.00 credit hours section 01 w 3-6pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: bc147 office hours: m 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883

Francesca Woodman

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The secret of photography is that the camera takes on the character and the personality of the handler. The mind works on the machine.â&#x20AC;? --Walker Evans

Self-Portrait

For Wednesday, November 5 Make at least six images with yourself as subject. When making your exposures, use either the self-timer on your camera, your own extended hands and/or feet, or a cable release. Do not, in other words, have someone else photograph you. Please bring prints and all contact sheets to class.

Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick

John Coplans

Cindy Sherman

Things to consider while making your work: 1.

We see and converse with ourselves every day as reflections, but how is the camera distinct from a mirror? How does it see space differently and how can you coax it into seeing your own image in ways that are interesting, useful, and otherwise impossible?

Photographic self-portraits often require a certain surrendering of control that can be analogous to working with the pinhole and other crude cameras. What’s it like to give up looking in the camera again? How can you use this “limitation” most advantageously?

Somewhat conversely: although you usually can’t see yourself at the moment of exposure, making a self-portrait can also be a very precise and extremely controlled event. Think of the concern for the sense of space and detail that the work of John Coplans and Cindy Sherman demonstrates. Both artists use elaborate studio set-ups to create a space in which to move, gesture, and even perform for the camera. Look around as you photograph: how can you use the space that surrounds you and the objects in that space to extend the visual and narrative elements of your images?

Diane Arbus said that when she was photographing she wanted to find ways to get inside “the gap between pose and repose.” She wanted to slip herself, in other words, underneath and inside the public masks of her subjects. Arbus is often heralded as being an extraordinarily brave and cunning photographer, one who went to great lengths and often dangerous places to bring back her images. One could argue, however, that perhaps the bravest and most challenging thing she could have done would have been to photograph herself. (Some have said this might have saved her life.) Can you think of ways to be brave and cunning enough to unmask yourself? Ways that might look deeply enough into the reality of your image to the point that your pictures could become, as Arbus was always seeking, “things perfectly real and yet utterly fantastic.”

Sometimes fiction is the higher truth. Think of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick and the personas they inhabit to make work that is essentially playful and deeply imaginative self-portraiture. Have you thought about how you might similarly explore such fictive realities as instructive, even therapeutic metaphors about your own imaginative life?

Artists discussed in class Lee Friedlander John Coplans Melanie Marchot Hannah Wilke

Francesca Woodman Cindy Sherman Nan Goldin

Lee Freidlander

Kahn and Selesnick Lucas Samaras Yasumatsa Morimura

Lucas Samaras

Written Assignment: Choose one artist from the list of artists discussed in class and email me (mswarts@ramapo.edu) at least one paragraph describing their work. How is the work made? What are the technical considerations that go into the production of the images? What are the materials and the size(s) of the finished work. How does your particular artist use the idea of self in their imagery? What are the questions (moral, psychological, visual, etc) raised by their work?

arts206 self portrait

Kahn and Selesnick

John Coplans

Hannah Wilke

Lee Friedlander

Yasumasa Morimura

Nan Goldin

Lucas Samaras

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman (Actual Person)

Francesca Woodman

arts206

basic photography ramapo college fall 2008 4.00 credit hours section 01 w 3-6pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: BC147 office hours: m 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883

the constructed image For Wednesday, November 19 Make 6-8 images or objects that challenge photography’s (historical, conceptual, and/or technical) assumptions. Whatever you make, lay out as your underlying project an ernest investigation of the “real.” Take responsibility (shoulder freedom) for creating your own universe of sorts, with its own sets of rules and

forms and physics. The most important element of this assignment is that your work and the process of working should challenge both you and the viewer to rethink ideas commonly connected to photography. Below is a short list of presumptive and traditional notions usually associated with photographic images.

Make work that explores and exposes these (or other) statements’ truths or fallacies.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

The camera makes an image of something that exists in the world. Photographers are not painters or sculptors, they do not arrange the world. There are correct ways to expose and process film, and proper techniques for making prints. Sharper, clearer prints are better, more beautiful prints. Still photography is a one-image game. Photographs are two-dimensional representations of the world. Photographs are meant to be displayed in a certain way (e.g. flatly on walls, in a frame, in your wallet, etc.) Photographs should not give evidence of the hand of the maker (i.e. no drawing, no painting, no bending, no folding, no crushing, no scratching, spitting, setting on fire, etc. etc.) Photographs are permanent; the image in a photograph is not changing or changeable. Photography is serious, photography is about truth, and photographs never lie.

Questions to consider when making your work: •

How does the image or object you have constructed investigate and question (traditional) space?

•

If you decide to make sculptural or three-dimensional work, does the form you have chosen merge with your idea in such a way that it actually carries it? (That is to say: the form should never be arbitrary, meaning AND shape as non-dual.)

•

This assignment is about pushing photography’s transformative power to its outer limits, then beyond. Think about the way you have been making your photographs up until now: are you breaking your own rules?

•

Most importantly, are you engaged or excited by what you are making? Does doing this assignment mesh, in the terms of Kahil Gibran’s (work is love made visible), with your own need to make something—or are you just jumping through a hoop?

•

If you’re not satisfied, perhaps you should be doing something else. How will you get there from here?

Artists to Investigate:

Hannah Hoch (photocollage) John O’Reilly (polaroid collages) Frederick Sommer (cut craft paper, paint on glass as a negative, melted objects, chicken parts, amputated foot, folded Durer prints, etc.) Zeke Berman (frozen clothes, etc)

Abe Morell (everyday objects, books and prints) Michiko Kon (dresses from pea pods, bras from mackeral skin, toothbrush with salmon roe, etc.) Laurent Millet (ethereal paper and stick sculpture constructions) James Casebere (miniature foam core constructions of prisons and other spaces)

David Levinthal (out of focus color work with toy army men ‘Mein Kampf’) Sigmar Polke (printmaker/painter who explored technical photographic accidents as gestures, pigment on emulsion, etc.) Mike and Doug Starn (appropriating historical iconography, sculptural deconstructions of the picture plane, huge shifts in scale,

printing on acetate, composite compositions) Barbara Krueger (resubverting the language, images, and form of advertising and pop culture) Sandy Skogland (constructing colorful fictional spaces and forms with eerily playful narratives) Cindy Sherman (self as object, the mutability of persona and mask, using slide projections to extend space, sensitivity to the visceral reactions we have to plastic, garish color, dolls, sex toys, etc.) Joel-Peter Witkin (exploring the ‘morally unacceptable’ (?) as subject matter, technically sophisticated mark making on negatives, masking of the camera, toning, etc.) Joan Fontcuberta (challenging truth with photofictions: lost Soviet space mission, “Flora and Fauna” (new plants and animals from recombining taxidermy models, etc.) Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick (fake “histories”, panoramic photographs from expeditions that never took place.

Writing Assignment:

(For Monday, November 10) Choose two photographers from the list (above) and locate at least two images of their work. In a one page email to me (mswarts@ramapo.edu) include your images and please articulate how your two artists challenge traditions and accepted practices in photography. Compare and contrast one image from each photographer.

arts206 the constructed image

Hannah Hoch

Vic Muniz

Zeke Berman

Adam Fuss

Lori Nix

Barbara Kruger

Doug and Mike Starn

Michiko Kon

Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick

Sigmar Polke

Laurie Simmons

Charlie White

arts312 intermediate photography ramapo college spring 2008 4.00 credit hours wed 11:30-2:45pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: BC147 office hours: t 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883 Notes on Processing Fiber-Based Black and White Papers Real paper is simply more beautiful than plastic paper. Not surprisingly, fiber-based enlarging papers offer photographers superior surface qualities, tonality, exposure latitude, and archival characteristics over resin coated papers. As a trade-off, however, fiber-based papers require slightly different handling during processing. As the name implies, the base of the paper is porous and absorbent (not plastic). Fiber-based materials thus generally take longer to process. Fiber papers are also more fragile than resin coated papers. The emulsion of the paper is likely to crack or tear if not handled carefully. Unless you want scratches, cracks, rips, and stains treat fiber-based papers tenderly. Here are a few things to keep in mind while processing: Development On average, a print exposed on fiber-based paper will need a longer minimum development time than a print made on resin-coated paper of comparable speed. When using the same developer, times that produce prints of a normal density will also vary between different brands of paper (similarly exposed). Most will fall between 1.5 and 3 minutes at 68" F. Check the technical sheet that accompanies your paper for the time recommended by the manufacturer and then experiment with development times longer and shorter to determine the time that works best for you. Also check to see if your paper is considered cool or warm toned. So called warm-toned or 'chlorobromide' papers like Agfa Multicontrast Classic, Agfa Insignia, Agfa Portriga, Kodak Ektalure, Ilford Multigrade Warmtone, and Forte Polywarmtone, produce slightly brown, red, or greenish tones in most developers and have a significantly high concentration of chloride in their emulsions. While it is true that the type of developer used largely determines image tone, papers with chloride in their emulsion often respond dramatically to changes in development time. With chlorobromide papers, shorter development times in general produce warmer, contrastier images, while longer times often result in images with both a cooler overall tone and lower overall contrast. Colder-tone papers like Ilford Multigrade, Agfa Brovira, and Kodak Polyfiber lack the 'magic' ingredient of chloride in their emulsions, and so do not change tone or contrast so dramatically (even in different developers and toners!). One type of paper is not betterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;you simply have to try several to determine which you prefer for your work. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good idea to run a test whenever you encounter a new paper. Develop good prints of the same image over several different times to see how the paper responds, then compare to similar tests on different papers. A few hours spent making such tests and you will easily be able to pick

a time that corresponds to the image tone and contrast you prefer. When developing a fiber-based print in trays, make sure to slide the paper into the solution smoothly to eliminate air bubbles. This is important! The entire surface of the paper on both sides needs to be saturated, and the solution inside the tray needs to be circulating constantly. Gently rock the edge of the tray (not the print) every few seconds, and turn the print over after fifteen seconds if you've initially placed it emulsion-side down. Developer exhausts itself over time. Rocking the tray like this ensures that fresh solution is always hitting the surface of the emulsion. Continue to rock the tray over the duration of the development time and watch the clock carefully! With ten seconds left on your development time, you should carefully pick up the print by one comer, lift it completely out of the solution, and begin to let it drip off into the developer dray. This way when your time is up, you are ready to switch trays with minimal delay and solution waste. Stop Bath Fiber-Based Papers require at least 30 seconds in the stop bath. (RC papers generally take 5-10 seconds). Be sure to agitate gently for the entire time and remember not to contaminate the stop with tongs or other such utensils (including your gloved hands) from the developer tray. Drain as described above before transferring to the fix. Fixer Most fiber-based papers require a minimum of 3 minutes in the fixer, with some manufacturers recommending times between 5 and 10 minutes. Check with the technical information that accompanies both paper and fixer to determine the proper time, but three minutes is a good minimum. Agitate the tray every thirty seconds or so while the print is submerged. After half of the fixing time has passed, it is safe to rinse off your print and examine it under normal light. Be sure to fix prints for the full time, however. If several prints are in the fixer at once, be sure to circulate them from bottom to top to ensure that each print receives fresh solution. Properly fixing your print is crucial to image permanence! Most of the stains you see on older photographs are the result of either insufficient fixing or failure to remove fixer remnants in the wash. Watch your time carefully! Prints left too long in the fixer deteriorate rapidly and become very difficult to wash. Water Bath If you plan on making several prints before washing, place prints that have been properly fixed in a holding tray of water. If possible, run water through the tray constantly, as this will speed the chemical elimination of the fixer from the paper. Otherwise, change the water in the tray frequently, and keep in mind that prints kept in water over extended periods of time begin to fade and lose sharpness. Fixer-Remover or Washing Aid Once prints are fixed, excess salts from the fixing solution need to be completely washed free from the paper. This can be accomplished by either an extensive wash period, or by a wash used in combination with any of several products (Sprint Fixer Remover, Perma-Wash, or any other so called ‘fixer removers’ or ‘hypo-clearing agents’) designed to speed this process. Prints treated with these kinds of washing aids will be washed cleaner of residual chemicals than untreated prints and in much less time. Most washing aids are solutions high in sodium sulfite and require you to submerse and agitate the print for 1 to 3 minutes. Again, check with the manufacturers of both paper and fixer remover to determine the right time. Watch the clock carefully! As in fixing, there is a danger of oversaturating prints in fixer-remover solutions. Prints left too long will often be bleached significantly and require longer washing periods.

Washing Prints Prints that are properly washed could last forever; prints poorly washed begin to deteriorate immediately. Fiber based-papers require a minimum of 1 hour of washing in constantly circulating water at 68°F. Using a washing aid or fixer-remover cuts this time to thirty minutes. When washing prints, make sure that they are placed in either a commercially made print washer, or a siphon-fed tray where individual prints can be separated and circulated constantly. When placing prints in the washer, be certain not to put your prints in a system of water that is already being circulated with someone else's work—you’ll contaminate the existing wash and that person will have dirty prints and a few words for you. (Print-washing etiquette causes many disputes in the darkroom, so be forewarned!) Make sure that prints don't overlap or touch one another, for they will contaminate on contact. It’s okay to wash with someone else, provided you begin washing at the same time. Overloading print washers accomplishes nothing. Remember: each piece of paper needs to be free to circulate in the water or washing is completely ineffective. It's okay to over-wash—within reason—but prints left too long in any system of water begin to fade and lose sharpness until, after extreme saturation times, the emulsion (and image) slides right off the paper. Drying After the wash time is up, carefully lift each print from the washer and--very carefully so as to avoid dings, cracks, rips, and tears--squeegee or sponge both sides of each print. Place papers emulsion side down on screened racks. Most fiber-based papers will dry within 4 hours, depending on heat and humidity. It is very important not to touch prints until drying is complete. At certain stages of drying, the emulsion is extremely soft and fragile. You could easily destroy your work (or someone else's) by handling prints improperly. Always be considerate and err on the side of caution. Flattening Most fiber-based papers will curl uncontrollably while drying. Prints can be flattened by carefully placing them between archival mat-board materials in a moderately heated (175°-250°F) dry mount press for about 1 minute. Sometimes it helps to very lightly dampen the backs of your prints with a sponge before placing them into the press. Be careful around the dry-mount press! Thermostats often break and presses may overheat, burning both fingers and prints unselectively. Once a print has been pressed, place it under weighted plate glass or a specially designed flattening weight so it cools to a perfect flatness. Fiber-based prints respond to changes in humidity, and prints often need re-flattening over time.

Flashing Flashing is a way to reduce print contrast by deliberately fogging the printing paper. When you flash a print, you are essentially laying down a base layer of grayness upon which all subsequent values from your negative can be built upon. Subjects that have very little or extremely delicate substance in the highest (or whitest) print values—such as clouds, white water, objects in extremely bright light, or white-painted objects—are usually vastly improved when the paper is “flashed” or pre-exposed to a baseline level of light. When executed correctly, the flashing exposure affects primarily the print highlights, barely altering the shadows. The overall print contrast is reduced, but in a subtle and very useful way. There are two ways to flash a print: In the first method, the negative must be removed from the enlarger, or two enlargers and two easels must be used: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

Set up the negative, align easel, determine print size to expose normally Remove the negative from the enlarger, but replace empty carrier Stop down the lens all the way (f16 or f22 in most cases) Put 1 second on the timer Make a test strip with at least 12 seconds on it Develop the test strip Evaluate under white light, locating band that has the first visible gray tone To minimize the effect flashing will have on overall print contrast, chose an exposure that is 1 second below the first visible gray exposure. This is the flashing exposure for that particular enlarger height, print size, and lens illumination. It will be the same for different negatives printed the same size, so you can simply remember it (or write it down) and return for later applications. Replace negative. Re-open aperture. Refocus if necessary. Expose whole sheet of paper normally. Remove negative as before, stop lens to previous aperture. Make flash exposure. Process and evaluate. If you are still not satisfied with highlight details, add increments of time to the flashing exposure until detail begins to “fall in” across the highlights.

In the second method, the negative remains in the enlarger, and a diffusing material (such as a plain white coffee filter or a piece of white plastic) is placed below the enlarging lens to break up the image cast by the negative. 1. Set up the negative, align easel, determine print size, and time to expose normally 2. Place coffee filter or diffusing material under lens. This will cause a haze of light to be projected, not the image. 3. Without stopping down the lens or removing the negative, make a test strip as described above. 4. Determine flash exposure as described above. Unfortunately, with this method, the flash exposure will vary considerably from negative to negative and print to print. You must therefore re-test for different images. 5. Expose whole sheet of paper normally for correct print density. 6. Replace diffusing material below lens. Make flash exposure. 7. Process and evaluate. If you are still not satisfied with highlight details, add increments of time to the flashing exposure until detail begins to â&#x20AC;&#x153;fall inâ&#x20AC;? across the highlights.

Split Printing Split Printing is a very versatile way to gain more precise control over the contrast possibilities offered by variable contrast enlarging papers. Essentially, split printing divides concern for the shadows and highlights into two separate exposures, each of which can be altered independently of the other. Usually only two filters are used: the maximum density high contrast (usually magenta or #5) filter, and the maximum density low-contrast (usually yellow or #00) filter. Instead of changing filters, print contrast is adjusted by varying the time that paper is exposed to light of each color. By using this method, contrast in the highlights and the density of the blacks can be controlled with much greater precision on a sliding, rather than stepped, scale. It also allows for burning and dodging to be accomplished with either, or both, filters. The main disadvantage of split printing is that two test prints must be made for each negative: one for the highlights (under the yellow or #00 filter) and one for the shadows (under the magenta or #5) filter. It is thus a time and paper intensive procedure, but one that may offer you more flexibility and control than single graded filters allow. The procedure for split printing is as follows: (Note: here the shadow areas are printed first, then the highlights. You may chose to reverse this order by preference.) 1. With the high contrast or shadow filter (magenta or #5) in place, make a standard test strip for your negative. 2. Process and examine under white light. Choose the minimum exposure in which the deep shadow areas print as black, and note the time. You can either use that exposure or, as in flashing, reduce it slightly (since the highlight exposure will add light to the paper). Experience will help you determine how much to reduce when necessary. 3. Make another print with the shadow exposure you just determined, but leave the paper in the easel. 4. Replace the high contrast or shadow filter with the low contrast or highlight filter (yellow or #00). Make a second test strip for the highlights on top of the shadow exposure. 5. Process and examine under white light, select the best overall strip that combines both the shadow detail and the highlight density you prefer. Note that time.

6. Make the final print by exposing the highlights first for the time you just determined in the previous test strip. Then remove the highlight filter, replace it with the shadow filter, and make the second exposure the time chosen for the test strip. 7. Process and evaluate. Adjust highlight or shadow exposure accordingly by varying the appropriate exposure under the corresponding filter.

More on Paper Developers Paper chemistry may exert a strong effect on how your prints look and feel. Differences in paper developers effect both print color and print contrast.

Contrast When negatives fail to make a satisfactory print at extremely high or extremely low filtration, it is usually possible to further effect printing contrast with any developer by changing the dilution of the developer (e.g. for higher contrast, mixing Sprint Paper Developer 1:4 instead of 1:9; for lower contrast mixing Sprint 1:12 instead of 1:9). In addition, it is sometimes possible to further effect contrast by changing the print development time (e.g. shorter times usually produce higher contrast prints [and warmer tones] and longer times [while producing colder print tones] often reduce contrast.) The use of a water-bath during paper development is also a very effective method of reducing print contrast with some developers. In this case, the water acts as a restrainer of sorts, slowing the black areas of the print while allowing the whites to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;catch upâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Color While the inherent characteristics of your paper will always dominate print appearance, choices in the type of developer may effect the final print color in subtle and sometimes very beautiful ways. Warm tone developers, for example, will produce warmer tones on warm tone papers than will cold or neutral tone developers. The same developer may effect little difference on a cold tone paper. Choices in developer chemistry also effect how an image may look when toned or bleached. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to experiment with several different developers to really understand how distinctly chemistry plays a role in the presentation of your image. Sprint Paper Developer is generally considered a neutral toned developer. Changing the dilution, however, may cause it to act differently with some papers. In general, a stronger dilution will accentuate the warmer tones of chlorobromide papers. Experiment with different dilutions to find workable contrast ranges or your negatives.

Edwal Platinum II is a warm tone developer that is especially formulated to control tonality by changing the dilution ratio. Normal dilution is 1:9 for development times between 1.5 and 3 minutes, but experiment with stronger concentrations to see how your paper responds to Platinumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often very beautiful brown and green print tones. Kodak Selectol Soft is a lower contrast, warm toned developer. It is usually diluted 1:1, but can be used straight. Selectol Soft is a very mildly acting developer, and requires correspondingly longer development times often between 3 and 5 minutes. Kodak Dektol, like Sprintâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paper developer, is a universal paper developer. It is slightly cool in tone and responds well to changes in dilution. Normal dilution is 1:3, but it is possible to both use the concentrate straight and dilute as much as 1:9. Some photographers chose to use two different developers (e.g. selectol soft and dektol) for the same print, combining effects of both in ways that are unattainable in a single bath. If you are interested in experimenting with this way of working, start with two baths and make tests to determine times in each developer separately, then combine the test strips and move from one developer to the next until your print has the desired density and color. Be warned, however, that some paper chemistry will quickly exhaust or contaminate other chemistry on contact.

Pushing Film In certain low-light situations, some photographers choose to deliberately underexpose and then overdevelop their film in order to use faster shutter speeds and/or smaller apertures. Pushing film like this can be very effective, as long as the increase in film speed is accompanied by an increase in film development. (For example: it is possible to rate Tri-X not at an ASA of 400, but at an ASA of 1600, provided that the development time is increased from 8.5 to 17 minutes.) Even very fast films can become more effective when they are pushed one or two stops. Since push processing is essentially underexposure followed by overdevelopment (without a real increase in film speed) there are certain trade-offs. Film that has been push processed shows a noticeable increase in contrast and grain, and a corresponding loss of detail, especially in the shadow areas. The more you push your film, the more these effects become prominent in your images, so deciding on how much to push your emulsion becomes a game of trade-offs between sharpness, contrast, and image detail. While push processing is certainly not the way to guarantee the crispest and most accurate rendering of the world, prints made from pushed film can still be extremely beautiful for altogether different reasons.

There are limits to the amount that film can be pushed. Pushing one or two stops is fairly practical and the image degradation is not overwhelmingly significant. At three stops things get interesting, and film pushed beyond this point begins to fail in more unpredictable ways. Make a test to see if you find the results useful or interesting. See London and Upton, (pp. 124-125), and consult the tip sheets that accompany your film and developer choices for more information on push processing. In general: a push of one stop requires an increase of the nornal development time by 25-50 percent. A two stop push requires at least double the development time. Times for pushes of three stops or more will require some experimentation.

arts206 basic photography ramapo college fall2008 4.00 credit hours section 01 w 3-6pm matthew swarts mswarts@ramapo.edu office: bc147 office hours: m 2-5pm office phone: 201.684.6284 cell phone: 617.571.2883

Independent Work and Final Review For the remainder of the semester, you are free to work on a project of your choice. There are no guidelines or rules. The only restriction is that your images must be related in some important way, either by content or form. The pictures, in other words, must form a cohesive group. If you need help making decisions, I am always available to help you ask important questions, but this time in the semester is about each of you having the chance to explore and get excited by what you care about most. There will be group critiques and regularly scheduled individual critiques with me, during which your progress will be evaluated. At the Final Review, which is Wednesday, December 10, you are each expected to show at least 12 final prints. Keep in mind that the final review contributes 40% to your final grade in the class.

photograph of an electromagnetic shower taken in the Fermilab 15-foot Bubble Chamber in 1978.

By Monday December 1st: 1 page (several paragraphs) email to me: mswarts@ramapo.edu describing your project idea(s) in detail. What do you hope to accomplish with this work? Is there a working title? What are the ideas and/or feelings your work will examine? How, most importantly, will you use photography to convey your ideas? How will the images be related to one another? For Wednesday December 3: at least 4 rolls of film on your subject, developed, and contact proofed.