Editing Photogram (section)

{{Short description|Photographic technique}}
{{About|the photographic technique|the magazine|The Photogram (magazine)}}
[[File:Fotogramm.jpg|thumb|A photogram of a number of photography-related objects]]
[[File:Herbarium - Fotogram.jpg|thumb|Photogram with soil and plants]]
A '''photogram''' is a [[Photography|photographic]] image made without a [[camera]] by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as [[photographic paper]] and then exposing it to light.

The usual result is a negative shadow image that shows variations in tone that depends upon the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed for a shorter time or through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey,<ref name="Langford">{{Cite book| last = Langford| first = Michael| title = Basic Photography| place = Oxford| publisher = Focal Press| year = 1999| edition = 7th| isbn = 0-240-51592-7| url = https://archive.org/details/basicphotography00lang}}</ref> while fully-exposed areas are black in the final print.

The technique is sometimes called '''cameraless photography'''.<ref name="DelMonico Books">{{Citation | author1=Batchen, Geoffrey |editor=Batchen, Geoffrey |title=Emanations : the art of the cameraless photograph |date=2016 | publisher=DelMonico Books | isbn=978-3-7913-6646-3 }}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation | author1=Barnes, Martin | title=Cameraless photography |date=2018 | publisher=Thames & Hudson | isbn=978-0-500-48036-6 }}</ref> It was used by [[Man Ray]] in his [[#Man Ray's 'rayographs'|rayographs]]. Other artists who have experimented with the technique include [[László Moholy-Nagy]], [[Christian Schad]] (who called them "Schadographs"), [[Imogen Cunningham]] and [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref>According to Alexandra Matzner in ''Christian Schad 1895-1982 Retrospectief'' issued by the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (2009), {{ISBN|978-3-87909-974-0}}, p. 216, Schad was the first ''artist'' to use the photogram technique, developed by William Henry Fox Talbot. The photogram was applied by Man Ray, Moholy-Nagy and Chargesheimer after its introduction by Christian Schad, according to the author. However, this is not substantiated through further reference by Matzner. The Dutch catalogue was also issued in German by the Leopold Museum in Vienna (2008).</ref>

Variations of the technique have also been used for scientific purposes, in [[shadowgraph]] studies of flow in transparent media and in high-speed [[Schlieren photography]], and in the medical [[X-ray]].

The term ''photogram'' comes from the combining form {{transliteration|grc|phōtō-}} ({{lang|grc|φωτω-}}) of Ancient Greek {{transliteration|grc|phôs}} ({{lang|grc|φῶς}}, "light"), and Ancient Greek suffix {{transliteration|grc|-gramma}} ({{lang|grc|-γραμμα}}), from {{transliteration|grc|grámma}} (γράμμα, "written character, letter, that which is drawn"), from {{transliteration|grc|gráphō}} ({{lang|grc|γράφω}}, "to scratch, to scrape, to graze").