|
As an avid photographer, Tolga Kurtoglu has occasionally taken on the task of developing his own photographs from film. Tolga Kurtoglu finds this to be a particularly enjoyable activity because there is some very interesting science behind the process. Although chemistry isn’t Togla Kurtoglu’s specialty, he is deeply interested in the chemical processes that draw a photograph out of a negative. The first thing you need to understand is a little about film. Film is light sensitive because it is covered in a chemical emulsion that includes silver halide crystals. When they are exposed to light, says Tolga Kurtoglu, these crystal react and form groupings of silver ions. Those ions form the negative image that exists on the film and that the photographer wishes to develop into a photograph. After a roll of film is exposed to light through the photographic process, the next set of chemical reactions take place in a dark room. The light sensitive film is placed into a developer liiquid. The developer pulls away the silver ions, turning them into pure silver, and leaving behind halide crystals. The halide crystals are then washed away by a different liquid, the fixer. The remaining metallic grains form densities where the image was, creating a negative, explains Tolga Kurtoglu. This is really the end of the chemistry process that is film development. After the creation of a true phorographic negative through the silver-gelatin process, the negative is placed on an enlarger and is printed into photographs, by a technique called dodging and burning. Today they also can be digitally processed. Dodging and burning is a highly approrpiately named process that is used to produce the coloration of a photograph. Dodging is a way to decrease the exposure on an area of the print that should be lighter, while burning is a way of increasing exposure for the areas that are intended to be darker, says Tolga Kurtoglu. Developing film is an exciting science experiment of its own, involving a number of chemicals and microscopic reactions. Tolga Kurtoglu encourages anyone who is enthusiastic about photography to develop their own film at least a few times. You don’t need a dark room, just some black construction paper to cover the windows and a lock on the door. There is something thrilling about knowing that you are causing a chemical reaction to take place, and that the result will be an amazing photograph. Film developing is becoming a lost art with the era of digital photography, but Tolga Kurtoglu is sure that hobbyists will keep the skill alive. Source: http://chromogenic.net/develop
Related Articles -
Tolga Kurtoglu, Dark Room Science, Film Development,
| 
