Rayogram

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A photograph produced by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to light, without using a camera
2. An image created on photosensitive material by arranging objects on its surface and letting light fall on them, a technique popularized by Man Ray
3. A cameraless photographic print formed when opaque items cast shadows onto treated paper during exposure to light

Etymology: Rayogram is a coinage of the American photographer Man Ray, who began making these images in Paris in 1922. He made them by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper, exposing it briefly to light, and developing the result, so the object's shadow became the picture. He called the process rayograph and the prints rayograms, a name built from his own surname, Ray, and the Greek-derived suffix "-gram," meaning something written or drawn. The term is therefore a deliberate personal invention rather than an inherited word. Man Ray first published the technique in 1922 and later exhibited the works under the name, and the word has since been used for his method and for similar cameraless prints made by others.

Synonyms: photogram