Grunge Border

[Davor]

What do you guys do to get a good grunge border? Please explain it to me, as I quite fancy the effect and would like to recreate it.

The only thing I can think of (and that I have heard people do) is filing down the neg. holder or using a piece of torn up carboard as a neg. holder.

 

[FrankS]

I use a filed out neg carrier.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=61267

 

[John Rountree]

If you are working in the wet darkroom you will need to file out all four sides of our negative carrier. The sloppier you are with the filing he more "grunge" effect. If you are using Photoshp , there are several little (cheap) add on programs that give you a selection of different borders. Also in Photoshop you can easily add a black line around your image (you will have to decide whether it is "grungy" enough). Just Select All, then go to Edit and select Stroke, then choose the color and thickness of
the line that suits your needs. BTW, if you file the neg carrier you must finish the edges very carefully or your negatives will be scratched beyond repair.

 

[pvdhaar]

In the days that I still had my 6x6, I would tape a piece of cardboard cut-out and a slide of exposed 35mm positive film on the film gate between the camera and the back. No need to file down anything. But of course, on small format that'll only work if you take some even smaller size slide film (APS ?) or a smaller that 1:1 picture of a slide.. But for experimenting it sure beats ruining equipment.

 

[FrankS]

The neg carrier is irreparibly altered, but it is not ruined. Images with clean straight edges can still be made using the easel blades to define the edges - the way it should be done in any case.

 

[Joe Vitessa]

I've got a filed-out neg carrier I'd be willing to part with. Which set-up are you using? Feel free to PM.

 

[Bryce]

I've made some pretty grungy looking borders with unaltered negative carriers. Just let the carrier's edges define the edge of the image on paper and the rest is automatic. Probably would look even sloppier if you hacked it up though.
I saw on image made that way early on, tried it, liked it. Then I discovered the snippet of the community affectionately known as 'crop nazis', and that the border was one of their hallmarks.
I've never done it again, though I have thought of making odd shaped masks for whatever shaped images I feel like today. Kind of a form of rebellion.

 

[Davor]

Hmm, thanks for the ideas. I'm going to experiment a little this weekend, and we'll see how it goes.

 

[dazedgonebye]

I've got a 120 negative carrier that uses anti-Newton ring glass instead of film edge channels.
I should try scanning my 35mm with that.