Photogram

A colour photogram of lemons and tomato stems. The background texture is enlarged paper grain.

A photogram is a photographic image created by placing objects on the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a silhouetted image varying in darkness based on the transparency of the objects used, with areas of the paper that haven't received any light appearing light and those that have appearing dark, according to the laws of photosensitivity. The image obtained is hence a negative and the effect is often quite similar to an X-Ray. This method of imaging is perhaps most prominently attributed to Man Ray and his exploration of rayographs.

History

Some of the first photographs ever made were photograms. William Henry Fox Talbot made numerous of these images by placing leaves and pieces of material, like lace, onto pieces of photo-sensitive paper and then leaving them outdoors on a sunny day to expose, making an overall dark background and a white outline of the object used (which had blocked the light from the paper). Also in the early days of photography, Anna Atkins produced a book of her photograms, the first book of photographs ever made. These were somewhat similar to Talbot's images, in that they were exclusively images of botanical specimens, but they differed significantly in their appearance as they were made by the cyanotype process which made them blue in colour, as opposed to the more conventional brown/black silver halide processes. This book, a one-off, can still be seen in the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, in the UK.

Rayographs

Photograms were again used to startling effect in the 20th Century by a number of photographers, particularly Man Ray, who called them "rayographs". His particular style was to capitalise on the stark and unexpected effects of negative imaging and unusual juxtapositions of identifiable objects, such as spoons and pearl necklaces. Others who have experimented with the technique include László Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad - who called them "Schadographien"-, Imogen Cunningham and even Pablo Picasso.

External links

• List of photographers who have used photograms and samples of their work
• Essay on the History of the Photogram