Digital Photogram's

Creating a digital photogram is one of the simplest ways to create an image with striking results. Ordinarily this is a technique mostly used in a darkroom as a way of creating a photograph without the use of a camera, which is also a fantastic skill to learn and experiment with.  

Ok, let me explain how you can create a digital photogram at home using a few key things. Firstly you'll need a digital camera, a sheet of glass - I used a glass chopping board! You will also need a torch, a sheet of A4 plain paper and an object of your choice to photograph. The method is to shine the torch up from underneath a glass or a see through surface; if you can acquire a glass table then that would be perfect, if not, you will need to find a way to balance your sheet of glass/clear surface, in order to place your objects steadily on top. I used a small wooden tray holder from Ikea. 

Now you have everything you need, let's get to the fun bit! Place your sheet of plain paper on top of the surface you are using, place the objects on top and arrange in to an eye catching composition that feels and looks good, you will need to shine the torch from underneath the paper to see where the light falls. The tricky part is focusing your camera, so you are best off mounting your camera on a tripod and manually focusing while you have a main light on. Once the main light is off you can still use the light from the torch to find your focus point. Using manual mode set your aperture to F22 and the ISO to 100 and your shutter to around 20 sec - the timings may vary depending on how light or dark your images come out. You need a longer exposure to compensate for the low light conditions from using a torch as the only light source. I used a very small torch which didn't give much light so I had to leave my exposure longer to allow more time for the light to reach the sensor. You can easily gauge this on the back of your camera. The tricky bit is shining the torch and moving it around underneath your subject, so a tripod, long exposure and even a cable release are very handy for capturing digital photogram's, and worth every bit off effort.