Solarisation

Solarisation is an effect whereby the tones are partially reversed, dark areas appear light and light areas appear dark. I created this effect by choosing an image with high contrast. The first step I did was expose the image for the correct exposure time, in my case it was 12 seconds, I then placed it in the develop until the image started to appear. I then quickly took it over to an enlarger with a aperture of 2.5 and exposed my print to the light for 1 second. I then placed it back into the develop tray until I was happy with the outcome. I then moved it into the stop then into the fix and lastly wash. It was quite hard to judge whether it had worked well in the darkroom, so after I had made the print I took it outside into the light to see if it had worked well. 

Some did not solarise as well as others but I really like the way the photograph of the stairs came out. I think because of the interesting crossing over of the columns the Solarisation makes it seem more interesting and draws attention to the eye. For the second image below I solarised a reversal which made some areas brighter than others, this may be due to shadows or it could be where the chemicals did not react with the photographic paper.