Possible to "smear" a film's emulsion, Gerhard Richter style?

[andy_evans]

I love Gerhard Richter's paintings. I believe he just squeegees them when they're still wet. I'm wondering if there is any way to do

something similar with film -- nothing quite so dramatic, just moving the emulsion a few millimeters or so. But I know emulsion is designed

to stay solidly in place.

 

I have some soft emulsion film, Adox's Ortho 25 ("handle wet film very carefully; a hardening fixer is recommended"). I gave it a 5 minute

presoak, and tried both squeegee-ing and scraping before loading it on a reel and developing. I figured if I did this pre-development, I could

still get some interesting edge effects in an acutance developer, that would clash with the actual blurred subject matter.

 

Well, the squeegee had no effect -- it just glided across the wet emulsion, even when I applied a lot of pressure. And scraping with a

plastic edge did exactly that -- removed the emulsion entirely in streaks. Perhaps I will try something more variegated, like steel wool.

 

So, no luck with smearing yet. Should I try warmer water for the presoak? What happens to the emulsion with increased temperature? I

know basic developing technique warns us to avoid major shifts in temperature during the process.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Best,

Andy

 

Richter examples:

 

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_423817074_305104_gerhard-richter.jpg

 

http://www.skd-dresden.de/media/300_nm-richter-pr01.jpg

[evan_goulet]

<a href="http://www.photo.net/black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/00MWD9">Here's</a> a related thread, but I don't think a conclusion was ever reached.

[lex_jenkins]

Andy, take a look at the work of Emil Schildt:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=526277

 

...and the link to his "Kill Your Darlings" site:

 

http://www.emilschildt.com/TEKNIKSIDE-KILL.htm

[terence_spross1]

Based on my trials on color film years ago - should work with B&W also.

 

Expose and normally process a roll of film with identical exposures. If you can, do not use hardening fixer.

Do not dry the film after the wash.

Cut the roll into individual frames.

Divide the frames into individual groups sections for different temperatures.

Place each group in separate trays each regulated at a different elevated temperature.

Withdrawal frames from the groups sequentially and keep track of the times.

Place texture material over the emulsion and use a roller with a consistent pressure and consistent rolling technique.

Keep the process up until it is obvious that the emulsions are too soft to be usable.

allow to dry. Observe the neg with the most desirable texture and note the temperature and time used to achieve it.

 

The roller I would recommend would be a rubber roller like the kind sold for linoleum printing at a arts and crafts shop. Some have a flexible handle that can be observed while rolling such that keeping the handle flexed a certain amount coincides with a certain pressure.

 

The texture material could be, for example, a piece of fine grain wet use sand paper such as 600 grit finishing sandpaper such as sold at automotive suppliers . I used a piece of vinyl textured fake leather. I intended to try the sandpaper but never got around to it.

 

Note that the optimum soak time will vary with the texture material used.

After the first round of tests you may have a feel for an interpolated temperature between two of the ones originally picked.

 

The optimum temperature will be different for each emulsion type, for example, Tri-X will be very different than a non-Kodak cheap emulsion. I would think 85 degrees F would be in the ballpark for B&W. I think I remember using 130 degrees for a no-longer available C41 Fuji emulsion, Time was something like 20 minutes. Handle the negatives carefully as they will be softer than you are used to.

 

Since this is a destructive technique, after learning your optimum method, I would suggest shooting multiple exposures of your subjects and keep at least one unmodified of each subject.

 

Have fun, but be organized so you can get repeatable results.

[brucecahn]

You could try doing a normal negative and printing it on a Liquid Light type of emulsion applied to paper. The emulsion remains soft until the processing is completed, permitting manipulation.

[andy_evans]

Thanks, good suggestions all around. I emailed Emil, I hope I'll hear from him. Tomorrow I can try out elevated

temperatures.

 

I did a scan on my cheap flatbed, no tweaks or sharpening, from the first trial run, above. Some parts of it I like.

 

 

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=y3ctpbdrrt3&thumb=5<div></div>