Polaroid one600 alternative process (a tutorial?)

Those two images (see the bottom of the post) were shot with a polaroid one600 classic camera but were altered using an alternative process. For this you need: a subject, a Polaroid camera that can take 600 film and obviously, 600 Polaroid film.

Just take the picture normally and once it’s done, follow these steps:

1. Cut the Polaroid along the top and sides edges (don’t cut the bottom, that’s where the chemistries are kept)
2. *Optional* Put an ice pack over the Polaroid (cold temperatures will give the polaroid cooler tones, so you can instead warm the image to get warm tones, I just never tried it)
3. When the image is just about totally developed, open it (since it was already cut) in a sure yet not too fast or too slow motion (if you don’t have the right speed, the emulsion will stay totally on the transparency layer and the effect won’t work). A Polaroid is made of about 8 or 9 layers, but when taken apart, it comes out in two layers: one transparency layer which is really pale and a back layer that contains most of the image data.
4. One you have opened the image wet the inside (the back layer) and wait it out (for about 10-20 minutes) until you can really see the effect has taken place.
5. Now you can either cut an keep only the back layer or the transparency layer (what I done with the image of the toilet) or put the two layers of the image back together and mess with it a little(that’s what I did with the image of the stove).

Finally, be careful, the photographic chemistries held inside a Polaroid image were not meant to be manipulated or exposed, always wear gloves during this process as the caustic paste can supposedly cause burns (I think that’s just being a little paranoid, personally, as I got some on my hands and nothing happened), just be a little careful, it’s still chemicals.

And don’t be surprised by the quantity of emulsion (or whatever it is) that’s held inside a Polaroid picture, there’s a lot of stuff inside a Polaroid, just mess around with it and experiment, it is a fun process and can give great results, don’t give up (I wasted 10 shots before getting the two shots shown on my page).

All in all, it’s a very fun, easy, accessible and relatively cheap alternative way to take on Polaroid photography and opens the opportunity of analogical photo manipulation without the need for a dark room.

Post scriptum: Also check out this polaroid, shot by another photographer who followed this technique:

Quick Photoshop tutorial: Good looking grain

This is a quick tutorial that will show you an alternative way of adding grain to your picture wich, to me, looks more natural and less “computer generated”.

So let’s start with this image:

Some burning and dodging was induced and this image has some “film” aesthetic to it, so we might want to add some grain to truly give the illusion of analogical photography.

First step is to duplicate the layer:

Now we will add some noise to the duplicate layer:

15% gaussian is a good value for most images, now let’s move to the next step.
We will induce some blur to make the noise less strong and artificial looking:

A value higher than 1-3 will ruin the effect, so try to stay in that area, but don’t be afraid to experiment.

Next, we will add an unsharp mask to the blur layer (the blurring and sharpening of the noise will make it look more organic and natural):

Values from around 170 – 225% are always a best bet, a stronger unsharp mask will add too much contrast to your image.

Finally, the duplicate layer must be set to luminosity blending mode (variant: soft light can give good results too and a nice, dramatic contrast with an opacity of around 50%):

Try to play a little with the opacity, I find that 75% usually yields good results. You can mask and burn/dodge too to adapt the effect to your image.

With a little playing and post processing, the image should now have a pleasing look (don’t forget to add a final unsharp mask to the image to sharpen it and soften the histogram, I find 20, 50 and 0 values to work best for this).

Now let’s compare the results, this is what comes out with the same postprocessing using the basic artistic/add grain filter:

And the one made using this tutorial:

As you can see, add grain will make your image more flat and gray without giving you any real kind of control over the application of grain. I find the method outlined in this tutorial better, especially when trying to achieve a “film photography” look.

For another exemple of this technique, check this image (click on the image to see it):

-Jasmin