Solarization
ソラリゼーション / 19th century– / 1920s revival / Technique / Photographic Techniques
Re-exposes the print mid-development, reversing part of the tonal scale into glowing edges and metallic light.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Partial tone reversal
- Glowing edges
- Metallic feel
- Darkroom manipulation
Best used for
- Making a figure or a still life stand out with metallic edge light
- Adding a single unrepeatable transformation to an existing darkroom print
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Add no lettering and let the glowing edge act as the drawn line
- Composition
- Simplify the ground and isolate the subject so one reversing edge reads
- Material
- Second exposure mid development, timed and logged, tested on the same paper
- Caution
- Imitating it with a digital inversion flattens the tones evenly, loses the single edge that only the darkroom produces, and leaves a flat effect.
- Further study
- Man Ray / Lee Miller / Maurice Tabard
Related entries
- Photogram (フォトグラム)Same Photographic Techniques lineage.Compare Solarization and Photogram
- Psychedelic (サイケデリック)Shared effects: Rebellion.Compare Solarization and Psychedelic
More from Photographic Techniques
Continue through styles in the same Photographic Techniques family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Photomontage (フォトモンタージュ)Shared effects: Rebellion.
- Chronophotography (連続写真／クロノフォトグラフィ)Shared effects: Futurity.
- Daguerreotype (ダゲレオタイプ)Shared effects: Luxury.
Browse all Photographic Techniques entries
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/solarization
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- [Solarization — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/solarization)
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