The Artistic Techniques of Lang Jingshan

于志

The collection photography created by Lang Jingshan has established Chinese photographic art in the process of world art development. Almost every one of his classic works is magnified，cut，and washed in the darkroom using the collection technique，condensing his life's hard work. . The so-called photographic darkroom is a room where you can develop film and make photos. Any room that can completely block the light can be used as a photographic darkroom for creation. In the darkroom，the images on the film are developed and fixed and eventually become classic works in the hands of the artist. The darkroom technique is the most important artistic method of Lang Jingshan's collection photography，which mainly includes red painting，masking，nesting and synthesis，etc.

1. Paint red method

In the post-production process of Lang Jingshan's highlights photography，the most important step is to enlarge and synthesize the negatives，and the main methods for the enlargement of the highlights are the red-painting method and the masking method. Lang Jingshan has a more detailed introduction to the red-painting method in "The Collection of Collections". "There are two methods available when joining two negatives：one is the red-painting method，and the other is the masking method. Paint the upper part with a red pen，and if only one part is taken，the whole line that is not needed will be painted out. This is the red-painting method." In other words，the so-called red-painting method has the core idea of removing turnips and using The red pigment increases the density of certain parts of the film，cuts out redundant images，and increases the desired effect，thereby achieving the purpose of enhancing perspective. For example，the red-painting method can create distant mists，seas of clouds and other effects. Although this effect is extremely simple today，it is also extremely difficult to achieve this effect in an era when there was no digital technology at that time.

The magnified paper is not sensitive to red during the magnification and exposure of the red-painted area，so some parts of the image can be deleted by the red-painting method，and the thin-painted area will become lighter and the thick-painted area may disappear.，At the same time，you can add preset images at will，so as to achieve the effect you want and enhance the perspective of the picture.

2. Masking method

Although both the masking method and the red-painting method are used in the later stage of the magnification and synthesis of the highlight photography，the two methods of action are different. The so-called shading method refers to blocking the light during the post-darkroom production. The overall exposure and tone of a work may be good when it is finished，but there may be flaws in the local light and dark details. Using a masking method to block the light or increase the amount of light can improve the detail flaws. During the exposure period，if a certain part of the light is blocked，this part will be brightened，and the tone of other parts will not be affected，so that the overall exposure effect of the photo tends to be balanced. According to Lang Jingshan's description，the specific operation method of the masking method is：first observe the photo and determine the details of the part that are too dark in the photo. The second is to take a piece of magnified paper and expose it normally. At the same time as the exposure，place the black paper between the projector lens and the photosensitive paper to be projected to block the light that hits the dark area and improve the brightness of the dark area. Finally，in order to make the boundary of the area to improve the brightness to be excessively natural，the paper must be moved continuously while partially shielding to prevent the formation of obvious boundaries. This operation is similar to the feathering effect in contemporary digital technology.

3. Mapping synthesis

Nesting and synthesis can be said to be the most basic technique in Lang Jingshan's collection photography，and it is also the essence of the creation of collection photography. The so-called nesting is a method of magnifying and synthesizing by using multiple bottoms. Simply put，it is to combine the negatives in the darkroom one by one at different times and places，according to the pictures you imagined and conceived in advance，and leave the pictures you want.，Eliminate useless parts，break the boundaries of time and space，and constantly try and modify. In the process of magnification in the darkroom，after multiple exposures，it is combined on a magnified paper and finally becomes an independent work. It weakens the reproduction function of traditional photography and attempts to re-express the picture. The so-called synthesis is to use the aforementioned red-painting method and masking method to join different negatives together to produce a new picture. Arrangement synthesis can be said to be a key step in the creation of Lang Jingshan's collection of photos. It is not only a display of technical techniques，but also contains the author's artistic thoughts and cognition of beauty.

References：

[1]Hu Zhichuan. History of Chinese Photography[M]. Beijing：China Photography Publishing House，1987.

[2]Zhang Gang. Pictorial photography[M]. Zhejiang：Zhejiang Photography Publishing House，1999.

[3]Le Quan. Lang Jingshan and Collection Photography[D]. Jiangsu：Nanjing Normal University，2018.

[4]Ma Mengya. Research on the photography art of Lang Jingshan's collection[D]. Hebei University，2011.

（作者單位：齊魯工業大學）