Darkroom
Photo Manipulation:
Darkroom:
Before going into the darkroom, I needed to invert on Photoshop and change the colour setting to black and white, after this, if the colours were grey then I had to changed the curves of the colours so that they had more of a contrast of black and white. Once I had done this, I then printed the up to date image on acetate paper which is see through (shown above). After this, I went into the darkroom and got some photographic paper which had not been exposed to light and placed it under the light with the acetate paper on top. Then I experimented with the timings of the light to see which one was best, and if the image was grey, I would add magenta to contrast the colours a bit more, I then got some more photograph paper and placed it under the acetate for the set amount of time in which I thought that the image needed. Once I had done this, I would then put the photograph paper in the developer solution tray for two minutes to develop the prints with deep blacks, I then put the paper into the stop bath for 30 seconds, and this would develop the blues within the image, after this was the fixer for 3 minutes, which was used for the purple tints in each image. Finally it would go into the print wash to squeegee prints before transferring them to the drying rack. However, when experimenting further with the darkroom, instead of putting the image into the developer tray, I tried exposing the image to the developer via paint brush or through a spray – to get the different effects.
Test Strips:
Test strips were used before doing the process on A4 paper. I used the test strips to determine how long the image needed to be under the light for. As seen, I tested 3 different times on the test strips, 3 seconds, 6 seconds and 9 seconds so that I could see which amount of time looked best on the paper, once I had done, I used the correct timing under the light and completed the fully image on A4 paper.
This was my first attempt of using the darkroom to create a different type of image, however I do not think that this attempt was as successful as it could have been. When creating this image, I did not realize that the colours were too grey and had to be re-done so that the magenta was higher. This image was already manipulated in Photoshop before I decided to use it for the darkroom experimentation and I chose this image because I thought that the contrasting colours would work well and look interesting when given the darkroom effect. I like this image because I like the overlay at the top of the image, which is the subject of the image. The idea of this is that it is getting a closer look into the memories and that the image focuses in one particular memory for an individual and by looking into the jar, someone is looking back at a memory. Furthermore, the contrast in this image, which is the same for all dark room images is the black and white, also I would say that there is a contrast between the overlayed images within the picture, as there is an image of the full jar which contrasts with the close up of the top of the jar – which are both at contrasting angles.
This is the improved version which is no longer grey because they magenta was increased – this contrasted the colours more for the image outcome to be of a higher quality.
This is the second image in which I was experimenting with in the darkroom and I think that this image has worked a lot better and has a lot better quality, I also think that it looks better because there is a lot more contrast with the black and white and the focus can be seen a lot better. I think that by using the darkroom effects on this image from my fourth shoot, it allows the lights to stand out more and enhances the fact that they are the subject of the image. Furthermore, by having the image darker, it allows the lights to be brighter and illustrates the shine more to the viewer. When creating this image, I set the lighting timer to 8 seconds to get the right exposure for the contrast of black and white, then I set the magenta to 2 so that the image was not grey and this also made then focus more clear.
On this example, I experimented by using a paint brush to apply the developer solution to the image rather than putting the full image into the tray. By doing it with a paint brush, it has allowed me to experiment with the effects it may have, as shown, by using the paint brush, only some of the image is developed and I think that this differentiates this image from the normal darkroom images, it also makes the image more successful. Other than using the paint brush to apply the developer, everything else in the process was the same.
This was my first attempt of using the spray bottle for the developer solution, I think that this effect is good however I do not think it is as successful as it could have been because when spraying the developer, I was holding the paper vertically which made the solution run and I do not think this looks very good, so I did an improved version of this which I think is more successful. I like this image because of the contrast between the colours and the fact that you can only see part of the image.
This is the improved version of the last attempt and I think it is successful because there is more of a contrast between the colours as I added magenta to this example. Also, the colours have not run in this image so that the effect is over the full image giving it more of an effect to the viewer.
I think that this attempt of the spray as the developer has went exceptionally well. I think that the contrast between the colours in this image is also of a high quality and it helps the viewer to see the focus in the image and the main subject of the image is visible. The only thing which I don’t like is the way that the spray has run on the image and created the lines at the bottom of the page so if I was to do this again I would not spray the developer when the page is being held vertically.