Solarisation

Solarisation by Michaela Christie

Background
Solarisation, or solarization, is the process of flashing a partially developed print to white light. The result is a print where some of the tones are reversed. The process works best with high contrast negatives. 

Artists to consider: Man Ray, Maholy Nagy, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Fingers, 1930

Assignment
Your assignment is to look through your old negatives to find a few that may work for this project. You must mount one 5x7 on black paper and 2 5x7's on the back.


Steps

• Choose a high contrast negative for your solarisation. The process will look almost surreal/dreamy so you should choose a neg that will work well with that theme.
  
• Make a test strip normally.
  
• Use a 4 or 5 contrast filter if necessary. Expose your print for the normal time.
  
• Place your print in the developer until it is 90% developed. Take it out and put it in a tray.
  
• Expose your print for a split second using WHITE LIGHT. That means take out both your negative and your filter.
  
• Develop the print again for another few seconds.
  
• Continue the developing process as normal.

---