Image credits: shared with permission from Jake Hicks. All rights reserved. Analog photography has been making a steady comeback for the past several years. So much so that Polaroid, who was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, recently merged with the Impossible Project — a startup responsible for rescuing and reviving interest in its proprietary instant film.
Photographer Jake Hicks authored a tutorial, years back, outlining steps necessary for extracting a printable negative from Fujifilm's FP-100C peel-apart instant film and created an accompanying video, embedded above. Unfortunately, this product was discontinued in 2016 (though it can be found, for a hefty price, on eBay). Thankfully, the format might not be entirely dead though, as a new startup Supersense, created by Florian Kaps, Impossible Project's founder, is looking to revive peel-apart film with One Instant.
While people, particularly editorial photographers, were extracting printable negatives in the '80s and '90s, as UN of Photography points out, the process yields some interesting results if it develops properly. Besides, nostalgia never goes out of style. Either Fujifilm FP-100C or ONE INSTANT can be used for this creative twist on an instant print.
Peel apart the print from the backing ensuring you remove as much border as possible.
In his 2014 tutorial, Hicks outlines steps for getting it right. He takes the guesswork out of how much time should pass during different phases of the extraction process, which chemicals are needed to remove the backing and expose the image, how to properly bond the image to a pane of glass so it can fully develop, and more.
What's especially refreshing is the materials needed to create this effect are affordable and can easily be acquired. The challenge lies in getting the desired effect right, and it will take a bit of trial and error. Hicks created a video tutorial, as well, so you can watch an instant peel-apart image be converted to a printable negative.
. dpreview.com2021-2-7 21:34