Solarization (photography)

In photography, solarization is the effect of tone reversal observed in cases of extreme overexposure of the photographic film in the camera.

For instance, Minor White's photograph of a winter scene, The Black Sun 1955,[1] was a result of the shutter of his camera freezing in the open position, producing severe overexposure.

[5] When a photographic layer, suitable for solarization (see below), is exposed to actinic radiation, the resulting darkening after development will not increase steadily, but reaches a maximum which decreases under more intense exposure.

In general is the phenomenon only then called solarization if the exposure has been produced in one "shot", meaning no pauses or double-exposures.

In general, it can be stated that solarisation can only be observed if the photographic layer is capable of creating a latent image inside the halide grain underexposure by actinic radiation.

H. Kieser published in 1929 a paper in which he speculated about the possibility of bromide migration by defect electrons (see: Photosensitivity).

Pseudo-solarisation (or pseudo-solarization) is a phenomenon in photography in which the image recorded on a negative or on a photographic print is wholly or partially reversed in tone.