Damaged Negatives

Mars

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Has anyone heard of making damaged negatives (intentional), to make a different look when making prints?
 

Sirius Glass

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That is something I have always avoided.
 

Patrick Robert James

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Sure, lots of people have done it. People have taken a flame to color negs/chromes.You can scratch black and white negs. A long time ago I used to scrunch up prints and throw them on the floor.

I think Emil Schmidt who posts here has done quite a bit of this.
 

btaylor

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Emil's work is stunningly good. You can check out his work and methods on the large format photography forum as well.
 

mpirie

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Oh, my Lord......i have spent my entire photographic career in trying to avoid damage of any kind to my negatives.

I need to sit down at the prospect of people intentionally damaging negs !
 

Robert Ley

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I had a Prof in college who would soak his 120 negs in calcium carbonate solution which would reticulate the negative and he would then use a razor blade to flip the emulsion over on itself. The images were stunning and several are in the collection of the George Eastman House. There is an article in a book from 1979 called "Darkroom Dynamics" by Jim Stone.
 
OP
OP

Mars

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I will have to check out Emil Schmidt. Scratch negatives with like a thumb tack? The bottom or the top?
 

Valerie

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I actually have an assignment called "Destroy your Babies" in which my students somehow damage their negatives and print from it.
 

pdeeh

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I've razored out whole sections of LF negatives ...
 

jim10219

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I second the recommendation for "Darkroom Dynamics" by Jim Stone! It's one of the more informative and useful photography books I've come across.
 

removed account4

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i have never seen or read that book but it sounds fantastic !
photography is probably the most creative medium there is
there are lots of roads to travel with a camera or photo paper..
 

Kino

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I have done it with motion picture film; roll it out, stomp it, wind it up through a dirty cloth and then ultrasonically clean it and chop sections out for jump cuts.

Pretty much the path most classic motion picture negatives go through in their cumulative life!
 

tezzasmall

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Sounds like an interesting book and I have been lucky to find one really cheaply on ebay.co.uk, where there are a few available, as well on Amazon.co.uk at the moment.

What made me buy it the most was a review of it, saying that people into liquid emulsion should get it - and as I am, I did!

Terry S
 
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