Very nice - they look great, and it sounds like you had fun making the prints! That is the thing about cyanotypes, when I get tired of futzing around with all the details of Kallitypes ( my current alt photo project) - I just make some cyanotype and they usually come out looking really great. I like the deep blues, I will have to try that Canson marker paper.... In the past, I have used Canson Bristol XL for cyanotypes and had some really good results...always interesting to try something new. Thanks again for sharing with this group
Dave
#1 - When working out a new process, take good notes. Do not rely on your memory... it is unreliable!
#2 Also, when making tests, change only one variable at a time.
#3 - When you have a good method worked out, write up a recipe (or protocol) and follow it as consistently as possible.
Question: Did you oil or wax the print at all to boost the transparency of the negative?
Man Ned that 55 minutes would torture me! I made a lot of cyanotypes back in the 90s with BLB and those were some long exposures. It was just too slow for my impatient side. (For the same reason I rarely do lith prints). UV LEDs really changed the world for me.
Don't even think of hypo-cuprotypes....they will take you 4 hours!
:Niranjan.
There was a contemporary of Talbot in Norway in the 1840's named Hans Winther. He developed an in-camera positive process that used dichromates. It needed exposures of 2 or 3 or 4 hours. I've tried to replicate his process using iron salts ( and it works for a photogram in the sun! ) but there just are not enough hours of sun in a day!
Honestly, I kind of like the 55 minutes. I can go watch baseball or do something else, and I hardly ever make more than one print a day anyway. I can make a print in the evening even on days I work.
I did do a few dozen Lumen prints a few months ago. Those were like 12 hours so I am not completely without patience. Then again I didn't have to sit around and wait for them either.
I was planning on doing some cuprotypes like Frank has done. I did some digging last night and I have all the chems for it. Should be fun!
Good one! I think it works because there are no white highlights. I kind of gave up on toning cyanotypes because -- as Serdar has noted and knows a lot better than me -- the highlights don't really clear all the way. There seems to be an unavoidable light yellow or light pink "stain" in the highlights. I'm also kind of fanatical about highlights, and can't be happy if I don't like the way they lookHere is another cyanotype.
Good one! I think it works because there are no white highlights. I kind of gave up on toning cyanotypes because -- as Serdar has noted and knows a lot better than me -- the highlights don't really clear all the way. There seems to be an unavoidable light yellow or light pink "stain" in the highlights. I'm also kind of fanatical about highlights, and can't be happy if I don't like the way they lookSo this is definitely a YMMV thing.
Off to start exposing the next print, right now! Little sand crabs....
I did a study of various toners some time ago that I have to sit down and summarize - there are some where the staining is very minimum. I will share, hopefully, soon.
:Niranjan.
Or, it might make an especially good print and the printer will not know how to repeat it.
Hi Frank,
I took the liberty of revising your comment into 3 important rules and I agree wholeheartedly with everything you wrote!
My writing was ambiguous and sloppy. Let me see if I can do better. Maybe this:
I don't worry about perfectly following some "gold standard" cyanotype formula to start with, because what is important is to stay consistent between prints.
Now, way more detail than you want:
From previous experience making cyanotypes on this paper, I've learned that ratios of AFC to Pot Ferri between 20:8 and 20:10 all produce good and similar results, and this ratio is not a highly critical factor. However, this paper buckles a little when it gets wet, and with too much total liquid it can puddle in the "valleys" while drying. This can produce defects in the final print ( presumably by soaking through into the alkaline internal sizing ), and really is a critical factor. I wasn't sure exactly how many total drops to use for this size negative ( 40 is ballpark, but needed to dial it in... ). As I made the 1st 3 prints, I reduced the total number of drops while keeping the ratio of AFC to pot ferri and the concentrations the same.
So the 16:18 drops wasn't a haphazard guess, but the end result of reducing the total volume ( 1 variable! ) while keeping everything else the same. This was only possible because I have pencil notes on the back of each print. Only printing on weekends, I wouldn't even be able to remember how many drops I used from one print to the next, not to mention If I want to do this again next year! I'd never remember anything without those notes!
TLDR: I don't think it matters much which cyanotype "recipe" you start with, and I don't think there is a "best gold standard one", but I sure agree with Frank that it's important to stay consistent, only change one thing at a time, and keep good notes.
That said, there's also a balance. Being creative and enjoying the magic of a print ( opening the printing frame to see what you have really is a special kind of magic! ) or getting too immersed in technical details. To me, cyanotype has a kind of carefree freedom and I'm more likely to "put it out in the sun and let's see what happens!". It's cheap and non-toxic and relatively simple and forgiving, so you won't waste a lot of time and money if you play around with it. I guess I'd say "carefree" but not "haphazard"
Some Kallitypes from yesterday - still kind of trial and error on the negatives, probably need to learn quadtone RIP and run through the calibration sequence. These were made from digital images taken with Fuji X-T1, printed on Fixxons transparency. Used the B&S Pl/Pt curve and iteratively adjusted the contrast and brightness setting in the epson ABW menu to get these results - standard B&S chemistry with "black" developer. Gold toned for 10 minutes standard hypo fix 2 minutes, hypo clear and wash.
Revere Platinum paper, single coat, used the Onforu 2 Pack 96W Black Light Bar, LED Blacklight (385 to 400 nm - great for kalli) - thank Rollieflexible for the recommendation. They could be tweaked a bit WRT contrast, but overall not too bad. I have a large injet print of the Paris scene and the Kalli (5X7) looks very similar but with a bit more tonality. The stream is Gore Creek just outside Vail Colorado (6x9)....could use a bit less contrast/more midtone, nevertheless I am pretty pleased with both of them given my limited experience. These are best two of six so some lessons were leaned, including don't leave your print face down in a toner tray with ribs...
Dave
.View attachment 342916 View attachment 342917
Niranjan,
That would be very interesting if you can find it. My limited experience has been that the paper is a significant variable in the extent of stainging. I have done some cyanotypes with tea, coffee, wine tannin and sweet potato skins (Annette Golaz's book on toning) and while I have liked some more than others, certain papers tend to stain much more than others.
Some Kallitypes from yesterday - still kind of trial and error on the negatives, probably need to learn quadtone RIP and run through the calibration sequence. These were made from digital images taken with Fuji X-T1, printed on Fixxons transparency. Used the B&S Pl/Pt curve and iteratively adjusted the contrast and brightness setting in the epson ABW menu to get these results - standard B&S chemistry with "black" developer. Gold toned for 10 minutes standard hypo fix 2 minutes, hypo clear and wash.
Revere Platinum paper, single coat, used the Onforu 2 Pack 96W Black Light Bar, LED Blacklight (385 to 400 nm - great for kalli) - thank Rollieflexible for the recommendation. They could be tweaked a bit WRT contrast, but overall not too bad. I have a large injet print of the Paris scene and the Kalli (5X7) looks very similar but with a bit more tonality. The stream is Gore Creek just outside Vail Colorado (6x9)....could use a bit less contrast/more midtone, nevertheless I am pretty pleased with both of them given my limited experience. These are best two of six so some lessons were leaned, including don't leave your print face down in a toner tray with ribs...
Dave
.View attachment 342916 View attachment 342917
One more salty treat:
Same everything.
Image from a >30 years old Kodachrome - scanned @1200 dpi, photoshopped.
View attachment 342987
Walk In / Rhinebeck, NY
:Niranjan
Thanks, Dave. I like the color too. Normally it comes out much more reddish without toning but somehow the confluence of my process and material choice is giving me this cooler shade and I am not complaining. As the weather turned hot and humid, I was afraid it will change the tone somewhat. But luckily it seems to have survived. I had to apply greater amount of the salt and silver solutions for the same number of passes as the paper has become much more thirsty.Very nice, like the tone, a warm black. Good subject. Makes me think I should add this process to my list of things to try.
[...]
If you are interested in seeing more of my kallitypes, I just posted a new site that collects my NC landscapes into a series, available at this URL:
MADISON: A Hymn in Three Verses - Sanders McNew
MADISON: A Hymn in Three Verses on Sanders McNewwww.xynk.org
I am glad you liked them!Thanks for the link. I enjoyed looking at those.
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