Printing on overcast grey days ?

[Terry Breedlove]

So I live in the Pacific Northwest a place where it is always cloudy and grey in the winter months. I am strongly interested in salt and Platinum/ Pladium prints made from exposure to the sun. Is it impossibly slow to print under heavy grey skies ?

 

[M Stat]

It isn't impossible, but you will never have any consistency doing it that way, even if it is a sunny day. A U/V printer is the best way to go.

 

[Terry Breedlove]

I am going to make a UV printer but there is a big draw to make a print straight from my camera negative under the Sun.

 

[desertrat]

I'm making similar plans soon. I can't afford to build a UV printer at the moment, and certainly won't be able to afford to buy one. I'm aware the printing times on overcast days will change a lot from one day to the next, or at different times during the same day. The game plan is to bring the contact printing frame inside fairly frequently and inspect the salt print in subdued light using the split back. Instead of printing to a set time, I will be printing by inspection.

 

[NedL]

I am not making a salt print today because it is dark and rainy here and my thick/opaque paper negatives require >1hour in full sun or >4 hours toward a bright open North sky. My favorite prints have used a mixture of the two, and there are real differences in contrast, gradation, and maximum dark tones.

They take >14 hours under my single BLB fluorescent bulb, and do not come out as well. I must admit it is tempting to make a good UV printer. I have not used the BLB bulb much after testing it a few times. ( I do use it for some other printing-out processes, but not any more for salt prints. )

On the other hand, there is something satisfying to me about making a print with the sun and not using electricity or modern UV sources. I like judging the quality of the sunlight for printing, checking my print from time to time with the split-back printing frame, and the variation that different days make in the prints. I like deciding when to move the print exposure from North open sky to full sunshine. So I'm conflicted. If I had a good UV printer, I might be making a print right now. But I enjoy the variation and the "natural" aspect of making a print with the sun. I think there is a sentimental aspect to this that probably has nothing to do with the final result, but that's okay too... I will do what I enjoy even if it is not pragmatic or logical!

Alan Greene's book suggests using a developing-out method for making salt prints. He says he prints on cloudy days and that sunny days are for making photographs. Also see the wonderful description of developed-out printing here. I have never tried this but it seems like a great way to continue forward and be able to make salt prints on cloudy winter days.

 

[Rick A]

You are aware a 500w quartz halogen flood lamp will work as a uv source. Yes, they do get hot, but they are dirt cheap, and can be purchased at any hardware or builders supply. Oh, almost forgot, remove the UV filter from it before using(ahem).

 

[pschwart]

If you want to advance your printing technique in a reasonable time frame, you need to be able to print on demand using a consistent light source. I want exposures < 30 minutes so I have enough time during a print session to coat, print, make adjustments, and reprint at least a few times.
This seems like a no-brainer -- if you have an exposure unit you can print with the sun, too, but if you have only the sun, you are severely limited.

 

[cliveh]

I now mostly print with a UV lamp, but because some of my most successful alternative process prints were made using sunlight, it is with reluctance that I use a UV lamp. I know many may think I'm nuts in what I'm about to say, but printing with sunlight/daylight (yes you can pint with a cloudy sky, but with longer times) seems to be a purist way of printing. If you use a UV lamp you are printing using energy produced from historic times. It is not the right here, right now Zen light.

 

[NedL]

Clive, I don't think you are nuts. And I also don't disagree with pschwart in any way at all. I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to say what I mean without sounding foolish... maybe I can't but it just boils down to what is satisfying for me, and that I like the variability of the days and seasons and that it affects my printing.

For me personally, I enjoy making the prints outside. Over the past few months I've made a salt print on nearly every sunny day ( we have many in N. California ). Progress is slow, but that's okay, it's a long term hobby and I don't have any deadlines. Time in between for considering what I've learned or what to do next. It's not like I have nothing to do on dark days: I can print in my darkroom or coat paper or any number of things. I could work on learning developed-out salt prints from the link I provided above, or I could learn to make more transparent paper negatives that will print on a dark cloudy day.

I do think if I lived in the PNW I'd want a UV exposure unit. Here we might get 2 weeks when printing is difficult, but it is practically half the year there.

 

[Terry Breedlove]

I am very interested in sun printing and I want to use negatives from the camera not digital negatives. Can't really explain it but making a print in the Sun With my negatives is a really attractive idea to me. However I will try the digital negatives and a uv light just out of curiosity and who knows maybe I will like it somewhat.

 

[dpurdy]

I don't understand why you need digital negs for printing with UV bulbs. If your in camera negs work in the sun they will work under UV bulbs. A florescent UV light bank doesn't have to be expensive or difficult. I made mine by going to a specialty light bulb shop here in North Portland and buying UV bulbs and ready to use fixtures like you would use in a bathroom or kitchen. I attached 10 of these side by side to a couple of boards and there you have it. The place I went to is.... http://sunlanlighting.com/ I am sure where ever you are there is a store somewhat similar.

 

[Jim Noel]

I have both a NuArc and a fluorescent box but there are nuances to prints made utilizing the sun which do not show up under these sources.
Printing on a cloudy day is very slow, yes, but there are some pluses.
The prints will gain contrast so it is a good time to print some of those "almost enough contrast" negatives.
There may be a richness to the prints which is not obtained with artificial sources.

Those beautiful prints made during the heyday of salt printing were all made under the sun, sometimes on a cloudy day.

 

[desertrat]

You are aware a 500w quartz halogen flood lamp will work as a uv source. Yes, they do get hot, but they are dirt cheap, and can be purchased at any hardware or builders supply. Oh, almost forgot, remove the UV filter from it before using(ahem).

Good to know. Thanks! I happen to have one, and we're having so much heavy overcast lately I might use it.