The Sabattier Effect: Teaching the Origins of Solarization in the Darkroom

In the digital age, where “solarization” is just a Photoshop filter, revisiting its darkroom origins provides invaluable insight for photography students. In the darkroom class at Montana State University, Bozeman, USA, students explore the Sabattier effect – a process where light reverses tones mid-development, producing glowing highlights and surreal edges. Through hands-on experimentation, they not only learn chemistry and timing but also experience the creative unpredictability that shaped early photographic discovery.

Writer / Christina Z. Anderson
Photography / Greta Jungbluth, Max Finger, Jon Lau, Marina Adelmann, Landon Leete, Nathan Huisenga, Ruben Kornbluh, Klara Dumbrovska, Kian Gaz Rec, Jenna Kirby and Alec Thompson

Developer to use

The old method of Sabattier employed an exhausted developer nicknamed “old brown.” It was thought that old brown was necessary for the process, but William Jolly discovered that sabattier works best in the absence of hydroquinone, which is depleted in old brown. A fresh, hydroquinone-free developer therefore works beautifully. (Formula below, quick and easy kitchen recipe from The Experimental Darkroom).

In my PHOT 374 Experimental BW Darkroom class at Montana State University-Bozeman, I do a lot of “gang labs” where I set up a specific chemistry so the students can get the assignment completed during the lab time. Far cheaper to bulk-buy chemistry and set it all up for them than to have them make their own. Last week was the sabattier gang lab.

The lab is kind of nuts. 16 students are at their enlargers. This is how we did it:

Sabattier (Darkroom Solarization) — step by step

Prep the workspace. Set up enlargers. Place two shop lights on timers (used as a brief “flash”) and have trays, tongs, gloves, and two sabattier developer trays ready, one for each shop light.
Choose a high-contrast negative. The effect shows best where highlights meet shadows.
Expose under the enlarger. Expose the paper under the enlarger with a high contrast filter, and give it about ¼ to ½ stop less exposure than it requires. Rule of thumb: the longer the initial exposure of the print, the more positive the final print. The shorter the initial exposure, the more negative.
Development. Place the paper in the sabattier developer for 1/3–2/3 the normal development time—around 50 seconds, for instance. Make sure the midtones have come up.
Flash exposure. Flash the paper while in the developing tray with a 25 watt bulb several feet above the tray for about 1/10 second. A shorter, brighter flash increases contrast; a longer, dimmer flash reduces contrast. It is easiest to have this light attached to a timer to measure time accurately. 1/10 second is a starting point, but by no means the best time for every print. It is also possible to flash more than once. Be sure there is no other paper out in the open that may be fogged by this exposure.
Watch for reversal & Mackie lines. Over a couple of minutes, you’ll see highlights darken and midtone “Mackie” lines (thin white or glowy edges) form where tones meet; shadows often lighten. Flesh tones usually look especially effective.
Fix and archival process. Fix the print, wash thoroughly, and proceed with normal archival finishing (wash/fixing times as your chemistry requires).
Dry and evaluate. Let the print dry and assess contrast, detail, and overall effect. Adjust negative contrast, flash timing, or initial development time for future prints.

Notes & tips

Timing is approximate — experiment with shorter/longer initial development and flash durations to vary the effect.
Use glossy paper for the strongest results; mattes will work but may yield less dramatic reversal.
Handle prints with tongs or disposable gloves (avoid contaminating fixer).

One thing we learned this time was that typical kitchen rubber gloves retain chemistry, so a print should only be handled by tongs and/or disposable nitrile gloves, which should not touch the fixer ever. Another thing to keep in mind is that though matte paper works, glossy BW paper is best for the resultant very dark print. Images that work best, aside from flesh, have lots of areas where highlights and shadows meet.

I quit teaching sabattier for a few years in this class because you can do “solarization” with the press of a button in Photoshop, but then I decided to return to teaching it because it is always good to learn the physical origin of a digital technique. Plus it is engaging and an in-the-flow experience.

I also teach a Chromo gang lab (sabattier is light fogging, chromo is chemical fogging with no light and results in paper silvering out all over the surface like a mirror), so the students can compare two kinds of fog. I learned a number of years ago to always teach sabattier first, chromo second, because chromo has a greater wow factor and more appealing result, like a “poor man’s daguerreotype,” so it essentially “upstages” sabattier.

Note, sabattier is often called solarization, though true solarization is exposing film in a camera to intense light so long that what would be a darkened emulsion reverses to clear. Think Ansel Adams’ Black Sun. However, the terms are used interchangeably today and solarization is the term most recognized so probably that horse has left the barn.

For more information on both of these processes, see The Experimental Darkroom at Routldge, Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.