Image Treatment intermediate ghostlyabstractelemental

Photogram

Objects laid directly on photographic paper, so what you see is a shadow, not a picture.

What it does

Man Ray called them rayographs, Moholy-Nagy made them at the Bauhaus, and Anna Atkins was doing it with cyanotype in 1843. There is no lens and no camera: an object rests on the paper and light casts its shadow. Opaque objects render as pure white silhouettes, translucent ones as grey with internal structure visible, and anything not touching the paper throws a soft-edged shadow. There is no perspective at all, because nothing was ever projected.

The prompt

[Subject] rendered as a camera-less photogram. Objects laid directly on photographic paper, so opaque parts read as pure white silhouettes, translucent parts as grey with their internal structure showing through, and anything raised off the surface throws a soft blurred shadow. Deep black exposed ground, no perspective, no depth cues, no lens character. Fibre-based paper with visible edge.

Replace [Subject] with what you are shooting. Everything else is deliberate: the gear, stock and lighting are what push a generator towards this look.

Works well in

Midjourney, FLUX

Pairs with

Cyanotype / Blueprint Solarisation

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