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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Photography Culture

Here’s How You Do a Polaroid Paper Transfer

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/20/2015
2 Mins read

Last Updated on 04/20/2015 by Chris Gampat

urbanski-self-portrait-polaroid

Image by Chris Urbanski. Used with permission.

Chris Urbanski doesn’t call himself a photographer, but he surely defines himself as an artist. So when he showed off his specially made Polaroid Paper Transfer on Reddit, we were amused with the process. Paper transfer techniques have been around for years, but they’re unique and interesting.

Growing up in the 80s, Chris’s dad always shot lots of photos. “At a young age I was also interested in manipulating Polaroids by drawing on them with a dull point while they were developing. And probably driving my dad crazy by “ruining” the photos.” says Chris. “They weren’t cheap then either.”

This eventually developed (pun totally intended) into Chris wanting to move even further with his Polaroid work. Later on, he would do paper transfers. To do these, Chris recommend working in a dim room and working quickly.

He tells us:

“You’ll want to be sure to have a sheet of damp paper prepared before hand. Don’t let your negative develop for longer than 10-15 seconds after a shot. Peel your negative, align quickly on the paper or medium you’re applying the negative to and use a roller for about 1 minute on the back. Be careful not to move the negative once it’s placed. Peel back… then voilà! You’re an arteest!”

Chris believes that doing paper presses has a way of making even bad shots look romantic or earthy with textures that you wouldn’t normally see with film.

“Some take on a life of their own resembling a small watercolor painting. It tends to make framing easier too when transferred to standard paper size and centered correctly.”

Chris is doing a series of transfers for a limited edition music release next winter.

A video of how to do a Polaroid paper transfer is after the jump.

Chris Urbanski emulsion Paper Transfer Photography polaroid
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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