A Sabattier print is made by re-exposing a partially developed print to light during the processing. This gives a print both positve and negative qualities and adds "halo" like Mackie lines between adjacent highlight and shadow areas. The technique is commonly known as solarization, although, strictly speaking, solarization (which looks similar) takes place only when film is massively overexposed. The correct name for the phenomenon described here is the sabbattier effect.

The unusual appearance of a Sabbattier print results from a combination of effects. When the print is re-exposed to light during processing, there is little effect on the dark areas of the print because most of the crystals there have already been exposed and reduced to black silver by the developing process. The bright areas, however, still contain many sensitive crystals that can respond to light and development. The bright areas thererfore turn gray but usually remain lighter than the shadows. Between the light and dark areas, by-products remaining from the first development retard further development; these border refions remain light, forming the mackie lines.

There are several ways to produce a Sabattier print. The simplest way, but the most difficult to control, is simply to turn on a light briefly while the print is in the developer. A procedure that gives much more control is found at the end of this text file.

Printing from a negative will give a positive image plus negative effects from the second exposure. You can also print from a positive color slide, which will give a negative image plus some positive effects. Black-and-white printing paper responds differently to colors in the slide: blue prints as black, yellow as white.

The Sabattier Effect