Photograms and papers

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pipikate

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Hello!
I am very new to photography and have no experience at all! however, iam currently working on an art project and been looking at Susan Derges camera less photography and I want to have a go at making some photograms. I have looked in to the types of photgraphic papers and have got a bit confused! Can anybody help me with is and also know any stockists as all i seem to get up is printer papers. Thanks
 
Hi & welcome
Try posting in Talk Film & Conventional - they should know there :)
 
if you are talking about black and white there are plenty of brands such as ilford, kodak, foma, etc. But I m also getting myself into it but in colour. So far i have only found Fuji. Ilford used to make it but not anymore apparently.
 
I love photograms. Check out the work of Man Ray for some inspiration.

You need black and white photo paper and the suppliers mentioned above are great. Any black and white photo paper will do, and you will only get very subtle differences between different papers. For photograms the paper choice is the least important consideration, so just go for cheapest.

But, if you want to take them further and try Lumenprints, then you still use black and white paper, but the paper choice becomes very important. This is because unlike photograms that remain black and white, lumenprints register colour even though they are printed on black and white paper. For example:

lumenprint by SteveGam, on Flickr

This lumenprint was on Ilford FB warmtone paper which gives the lovely autumn colours. This paper is a lot more expensive compared to cheapest black and white papers, and would be a waste for photograms, but for lumenprints its worth the extra.

Not sure where you are but if in Manchester, I've got boxes and boxes of black and white paper and you are welcome to have some
 
You may also want to consider Cyanoype printing. You only need a couple of relatively safe, inexpensive chemicals and an absorbent surface such as watercolour paper or cloth. There's no complex developing, just expose in sunlight, then rinse in clean water. You don't need a darkroom. A room with the curtains drawn should do you fine
The prints are naturally a deep blue colour, but can be easily toned to a range of earthy browns.

Here is an untoned example
Untitled by the matt1, on Flickr

And here is the kind of tone I prefer
Untitled by the matt1, on Flickr
See my Cyanotype set for examples: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-matt/sets/72157650802278510
I tend to do photographs rather than photograms but the principle is much the same.

If you want more info, give me a poke.
 
Last edited:
I never even checked the date of first post. I'm glad I didn't bother to write a full tutorial!
 
The Matt said:
I never even checked the date of first post. I'm glad I didn't bother to write a full tutorial!
Click to expand...

Hah, no more did I! I just noticed she''d not responded.

Nevertheless, I think a few people might be interested in this, just a starter for 10 maybe? Specially since this new paper's available... But presumably you pretty much need a darkroom, and trays for processing etc?
 
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