I Am a Mad Analogue Scientist: Experiments with 35 mm Films and Chemicals

14

Unfortunately, it happens sometimes that your pictures don’t turn out expected – the images don’t look that good, the colors are bland, and the subject is less than interesting. It most certainly couldn’t be the picture of the year! So, I propose a second chance for your pictures by modifying your negatives with everyday items. We hope that we can inspire you to try out some of these crazy ideas yourself. Anything is possible: burning, scratching, soaking in hydrochloric acid, balsamic vinegar, nail polish, bleach, or raspberry juice… Or use your imagination and create your own new film soup recipe! You can find a sample of the effects in this article.

Materials You’ll Need

Before running to your kitchen with your lab coat and gloves on like a real crazy chemist, check this list to know what you’ll need:

  • Exposed negatives (note that it’s impossible to revert to the original after subjecting them to any of these chemical processes)
  • Cotton swabs or brushes to apply your chemicals more precisely
  • some sheets of paper towels
  • Protective rubber gloves especially if you’re using acids, bases, or other corrosives chemicals
  • Protective glasses
  • Anything you can find in your kitchen that you think could be used
  • The Lomography Smartphone Scanner and the LomoScanner 2 app on your phone

Different Film Recipes

Now you’re ready to create your soup with exposed films! Don’t forget to scan your negatives before your modification just to compare!

Evanescence of Raspberry Juice – Raspberry juice is obviously red, but when you put them on the negatives, some green-colored shadows or spheres appear in the pictures when they are inverted!

A comparison between the original and the photos modified using raspberry juice, and XPro Slide 200 modified with some drops of raspberry juice

Emulsion of Balsamic Vinegar – The balsamic vinegar makes the pictures look older and so vintage-looking! These pictures were obtained by modifying Kodak 400 Portra films and Lomography XPro Slide 200 films.

A comparison between original and modified, and then other shots developed in balsamic vinegar

Bleach Soup – Bleach completely oxidizes the colors. If you put some concentrated drops, you will completely burn your films and create some black points! Be careful with your clothes, eyes, and hands.

Original slide vs bleach solution on XPro slide films and other bleach effects on XPro slide films

Red and Blue Nail Polish Cocktails – As you have seen in the effects of the red raspberry juice, if you try using some red nail polish, you will also obtain green-colored effects. In addition, you could also obtain yellow spots with blue nail polish! Play with the colors of your nail polish. If you want to get crazier, use your Lomochrome Purple negatives! Add some fluorescent effects to obtain completely dreamy pictures! I used red nail polish on LomoChrome Purple negatives and it created dotted effects. With your Smartphone Scanner, you can also play with the “Temperature” function to find your desired look. Indeed, you can have pink or blue pictures with your modified LomoChrome negatives!

The effects of blue and red nail polish on homemade redscale films; Temperature effect through the Smartphone Scanner

Film Fudge – I also call this BBQ films. Let’s burn your exposed films! Either use a lighter or match. Be careful when burning your exposures, though. Also make sure you do this in an open and well-ventilated place, burning negatives release toxic fumes.

Burned Kodak 400 Portra negative and other Film Fudge samples

Other Recipes for a Gastronomic Dinner – The possibilities are infinite. Play with everything in your kitchen, bathroom, or garage. You can find some other ideas that I tried below. For example, ammonia gives a vintage effect on XPro Slide 200 negatives. You can also make green dots with lemon juice.

Ammonia solution on XPro Slide 200 negatives and Lemon juice on homemade redscale films

Hydrochloric Broth – Lastly, my favorite dish, the hydrochloric broth. Please be careful when handling concentrated hydrochloric solution!

If you want to improve and be crazier, you may try the arsenic pudding seen on Asterix & Cleopatra: the arsenic cake song! You can read this article in French on my blog here. Enjoy chemistry with analogue films!


Did you enjoy this extraordinary tutorial? Share the results you got from your own experiments by uploading them to your LomoHome!

written by blackfairy on 2014-08-07 #gear #tutorials #lab-rat #tipster #chemicals #requested-post #film-experiments #35mm-films #film-soup #lomography-smartphone-film-scanner

14 Comments

  1. clownshoes
    clownshoes ·

    Nice, I have to agree doing the damage after development is ideal.

  2. blackfairy
    blackfairy ·

    Thanks! :-)

  3. herbert-4
    herbert-4 ·

    Cool article, gallery, techniques!!

  4. blackfairy
    blackfairy ·

    Thanks Herbert!

  5. gauthierdumonde
    gauthierdumonde ·

    great blog you have

  6. akula
    akula ·

    Great collection of ideas.

  7. blackfairy
    blackfairy ·

    Thank you very much! :-)

  8. wersofcked
    wersofcked ·

    Hey, really cool and bold experiments but the results are worth it! I'm definitely trying it! A question though: How do we dry the liquid after applying? Just wait for it to dry?

  9. blackfairy
    blackfairy ·

    @wersofcked Thanks! I just wait to dry and in some cases, I used paper towels to remove excess product! :)

  10. neonlights
    neonlights ·

    yeah, I do exactly the same :D

  11. lfought
    lfought ·

    This is awesome! @blackfairy

  12. glenn
    glenn ·

    EXCELLENT

  13. belkabelochka
    belkabelochka ·

    Gonna have to try this!

  14. gleg37
    gleg37 ·

    love this! doing a project at college however nail polish seemed to have no effect on my images. wish i could get my hands on some hcl!

More Interesting Articles