solarization in darkroom

Photo Engineer said:

Most modern papers contain developing agents in them.

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This is very true, primarily with the variable contrast papers. What you need to do is get some graded chloro-bromide paper such as Bergger CB Art, Ilford Gallerie, or one of the Kentmere graded papers. Then use a non-hydroquinine developer, preferably one that is metol based.

Thanks Ron, for the comment on the photo.

Alex;

I've had a very bad day, and your picture was one of the bright spots in it!

Ron

That is a fantastic picture Alex. Truly inspirational.
I am using multigrade paper so all your comments are making sense.
I'll get some of the paper mentioned to use with the Solarol.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Crispin

Crispin
Once you try the metol only dev you will never go back, keep reading the Jolly manuscript , the two dev technique is what I use.
I really like Ilford warmtone with a grade two filter , it gives me a beautiful split , I am working with sepia for the highlight regions when toning and now using a iron blue for the shadows and mid tones.

Using Alexes beautiful image as a reference .
If you burned in the top section of the print Ie her face and upper torso the density would start going from dark to somewhat normal skin tone, as well in the initial exposure if you dodged the feet slightly the effect of solarization would be more pronounced.

When I am doing solarizations of people for example ,guys with long hair I will do a variation of what I described above.
One of the tricks is to make the viewer think the image is real but then introduce some funky element that confuses the scene.
below is a portrait that was used in a cd cover for some Texas rock band.
As well I have included an image for a show I printed called ACDC . this show is all about cross dressing where the dominant male subjects are in fact women and the female subjects are actually men.
Both these shots are not mine, Brian Helm shot the longhair guy, and Kevin Kelly shot the Cowboy and girlfriend.

The link in this thread referring to William L Jolly's on-line book "Solarization Demystified" produces an error (there is a symbol between "/" and "wljeme" in the address) -- the article can be found here:
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/wljeme/SOUTLINE.html

Thanks to all for sharing this information, I look forward to experimenting with solarizations.

Repeatable Soloarization (sabatier) in the Darkroom

When I was in art school (1990) I was introduced to the Sabatier effect, or solarization (since Man Ray). I was told that the effect was precocious and not repeatable, that is, not to expect the same exact Sabatier edge effects in the same image. While reading some dusty old photography texts in an obscure corner of the school library I came across a description of a process to do what I had been told was not possible, to repeat the exact same Sabatier edge effects in the same image printed over and over. I wrote down the process and as soon as I was out of photography school lost my notes. As digital photography became possible I ventured into that realm and forgot the process. I will comb through my notes and if I find them will present them here. Please note I did not discover the process, I refined it but it remains the work of that unknown author.

I last saw my test prints about a year ago, so I'll look for those as well and present both (if I am able to locate the notes and prints).

crispinuk said:

Hello Rik,
I am going to try this technique myself this weekend. My research so far suggests flashing the print with light "three quarters of the way through the developing", or "as the print starts to appear" so I will use these two as starting points for experimentation.
I've also read that this technique works best with a Metol only developer so I'm not sure whether my standard Ilford Multigrade developer will produce the desired effect.

As with all experimentation record what you do and only change one variable each time.

Hopefully some of the knowledgeable people will tell us all the above is nonesense and/or point us in the right direction

Crispin

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Rik said:

hi,
i want to try some pseudo solarization in my darkroom.
are there any 'rules' for the time to light the print with white light and after how long in the developer?
also, is there a specific type of negative more suited than others (contrast, lots of black, lots of white)?
thanks for your help
Rik
The Netherlands

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Hi Rik, there are no rules for how you do this and experimentation is good. With regards to a specific type of negative, I would suggest sharp contrasty negatives with lots of fine detail work well, things like ships rigging for example. If you are using multigrade paper you may also consider using another enlarger for the fogging exposure with a high magenta filtration value (or the same enlarger you are using to make the print, but with the negative removed). Using an enlarger for this allows you to be more accurate with the time/intensity of the flash/fog exposure, thus keeping some constants as part of your experiments.

Not to dredge up an old argument, but the Sabattier effect and Solarization are two distinct processes that give different results and both can be repeated (with care) in B&W and color. I have posted examples of the Sbattier effect here in my gallery.

Please, in the interests of a dying art, let us keep these effects separate. (and by dying art, I mean losing those who know what these two effects are)

PE

Photo Engineer said:

Not to dredge up an old argument, but the Sabattier effect and Solarization are two distinct processes that give different results and both can be repeated (with care) in B&W and color. I have posted examples of the Sbattier effect here in my gallery.

Please, in the interests of a dying art, let us keep these effects separate. (and by dying art, I mean losing those who know what these two effects are)

PE

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PE, to be fair, Rik did say in his OP pseudo solarization, which is often the term applied to Sabattier.

And my intent is to insure that the reader know which is which. It is often unclear.

PE