Editing Photogram (section)

==Procedure==
The customary approach to making a photogram is to use a [[darkroom]] and [[enlarger]] and to proceed as one would in making a conventional print, but instead of using a negative, to arrange objects on top of a piece of photographic paper for exposure under the enlarger lamp which can be controlled with the timer switch and aperture controls. That will give a result similar to the image at left;<ref>? Broken/omitted visual reference in the text</ref> since the enlarger emits light through a lens aperture, the shadows of even tall objects like the beaker standing upright on the paper will stay sharp; the more so at smaller apertures.

The print is then [[Photographic processing|processed]], washed, and dried.<ref name="ephotozine">{{cite web|url=http://www.ephotozine.com/article/making-a-photogram---traditional-darkroom-ideas-4688|title=Making a photogram - traditional darkroom ideas|last=Bargh|first=Peter|work=ePhotozine.com|publisher=Magazine Publishing Ltd.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230132836/http://www.ephotozine.com/article/making-a-photogram---traditional-darkroom-ideas-4688|archive-date=30 December 2011|url-status=live|access-date=2 January 2012}}</ref> 
[[File:Photogram Principle.svg|thumb|Generation of a photogram: A broad-source light (1) illuminates objects (2 and 3) that are placed directly in front of a sheet of photosensitive paper. Depending on the object's distance to the paper and properties of light emitted by the light source, the object's shadows look harder (7) or softer (5). Areas of the paper that are in total shadow (6) stay white; they become grey (8) if the objects are transparent or translucent (9); areas that are fully exposed to the light (4) are blackened. Point source light (e.g. enlarger lens at a small f-stop) will cast hard shadows.]]
At this stage the image will look similar to a negative, in which shadows are white. A contact-print onto a fresh sheet of photographic paper will reverse the tones if a more naturalistic result is desired, which may be facilitated by making the initial print on film.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Holter, Patra | title=Photography without a camera | year=1972 | publication-date=1972 | publisher=Studio Vista; New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold | isbn=978-0-289-70331-1 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/photographywitho0000holt }}</ref>

However, there are other arrangements for making photograms, and devising them is part of the creative process. Alice Lex-Nerlinger used the conventional darkroom approach in making photograms as a variation on her airbrushed stencil paintings,<ref name="Lange, B. 2004">Lange, B. (2004). Printed matter: Fotografie im/und Buch. Leipzig: Leipziger Univ-Verl.</ref> since lighting penetrating the translucent paper from which she cut her pictures would print a variegated texture she could not otherwise obtain.

Another component of this medium is the light source, or sources, used.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.lloydgodman.net/tech/tech/Photograms/photograms10b.html|title=Lloyd Godman index photograms|website=www.lloydgodman.net|access-date=2019-07-04}}</ref> A broad source of light will cast nuances of shadow; [[umbra, penumbra and antumbra]], as shown in the accompanying diagram.

Photograms may be made outdoors providing the photographic emulsion is sufficiently slow to permit it. Direct sunlight is a point-source of light (like that of an enlarger), while cloudy conditions give soft-edged shadows around three-dimensional objects placed on the photosensitive surface. The cyanotype process ('blueprints') such as that used by Anna Atkins (see above), is slow and insensitive enough that fixing an impression on paper, fabric, timber or other supports can be done in subdued light indoors. Exposure outdoors may take many minutes depending on conditions, and its progress may be gauged by inspection as the coating darkens. '[[Photographic paper#Chloride papers|Printing-out paper]]' or other daylight-printing material such as gum bichromate may also enable outdoor exposure. Christian Schad simply placed tram tickets and other ephemera under glass on printing-out paper on his window-sill for exposure.<ref name=":2" />

Conventional monochrome or colour, or direct-positive photographic material may be exposed in the dark using a flash unit, as does Adam Fuss for his photograms that capture the movement of a crawling baby, or an eel in shallow water. Susan Derges captures water currents in the same way, while Harry Nankin<ref>{{Citation | author1=Monash Gallery of Art | title=The wave : Harry Nankin | publication-date=2004 | publisher=Wheelers Hill, Victoria | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/26880385}}</ref> has immersed large sheets of monochrome photographic paper at the edge of the sea and mounted a flash on a specially-constructed oversize tripod above it to capture the action of waves and seaweeds washing over the paper surface. In 1986, Floris Neusüss began his ''Nachtbilder'' ('nocturnal pictures'), exposed by lightning.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Floris Neusüss (German, 1937 - 2020) (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/11447/floris-neususs-german-1937-2020/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}}</ref>

Other variations include using the light of a television screen or computer display, pressing the photosensitive paper to the surface. Multiple light sources or exposing with multiple flashes of light, or moving the light source during exposure, projecting shadows from a low-angle light, and using successive exposures while moving, removing or adding shadows, will produce multiple shadows of varying quality.<ref name=":3" />