Talbotype/Calotype?

Donald Qualls · Mar 24, 2022

I've seen a couple references recently to Talbot's positive/negative process. I'd never realized previously that it could be done in camera -- apparently with exposures of mere seconds, in the 1840s! -- once he hit on developing out and using silver bromide instead of silver chloride.

Who's done the Talbot P/N Calotype? I didn't catch it in the video -- was it ferrous sulfate for developer?

Is it possible to add other salts to the impregnated paper, as is done with collodion, to further increase speed and broaden spectral sensitivity (collodion gets into green with some combinations)?

Are there good online references for this process?

BrianShaw · Mar 24, 2022

Arnow, Jan. Handbook of Alternative Photographic Processes. [ISBN 0-442-24850-4] New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. 1982.

Donald Qualls · Mar 24, 2022

Ugh. Out of print. Used copies, above $100. I always forget, this has been a rich person's hobby for almost two hundred years...

BrianShaw · Mar 24, 2022

I remember thinking it cost a lot back in the 1980’s. A great reference that is well worth the cost… even today’s cost.

JNP · Mar 24, 2022

A. Greene(Primitive Photography) and C.James(Alternative Photography) books detail the process. Both are about $50 on amazon.

revdoc · Mar 24, 2022

I've never tried it, but I'd like to. Peter Mrhar has some videos demonstrating the process on YouTube, if that helps. I also recall seeing a Flickr group about it, too, with some instructions. Google "Greenlaws process" and you'll probably find it.

Since it uses silver iodide, it's already pretty orthochromatic, but that's also why it needs a different developer. The real challenge seems to be finding a paper that works... most don't.

Jerevan · Mar 26, 2022

@Donald Qualls: A good resource is the Flickr group The Calotype Society -> https://www.flickr.com/groups/1384661@N22/ Some great photographs in there too. These days there is lot less traffic on there, but a lot of good information in the discussion threads. I know they have a FB group, but I don't know what sort of signal-to-noise ratio it has.

snusmumriken · Mar 27, 2022

Donald Qualls said:
Ugh. Out of print. Used copies, above $100. I always forget, this has been a rich person's hobby for almost two hundred years...

Donald, on eBay currently there are several copies of the 2nd edition paperback at around £50-60.

Donald Qualls · Mar 27, 2022

Jerevan said:
@Donald Qualls: A good resource is the Flickr group The Calotype Society -> https://www.flickr.com/groups/1384661@N22/ Some great photographs in there too. These days there is lot less traffic on there, but a lot of good information in the discussion threads. I know they have a FB group, but I don't know what sort of signal-to-noise ratio it has.

I no longer visit Facebook, and have never set up a Flickr account (which means I can't see a lot of the content there).

I did find some better descriptions in a couple online articles, however; it looks like it shouldn't be impossible to recreate the method. Pre-salted paper (with potassium bromide or iodide and bromide then silver nitrate to give embedded halide), sensitize just before use with short-lived mix of silver nitrate and gallic acid solutions, preferably expose while still damp, develop after exposure with more freshly mixed silver nitrate/gallic acid solution (same as sensitizer), fix with plain hypo fixer (two-bath if iodide is used -- this is modern knowledge). Hard part is (and was, even in 1850) finding good paper; needs to be "writing paper" by mid-19th century standards (suitable for quills and steel pens), and that's a pretty rare item today. Watercolor paper is too dense to contact print through for the positive (thin cold press might work with waxing), most common printer/laser papers have too many brighteners. Ideally high rag content.

snusmumriken said:
Donald, on eBay currently there are several copies of the 2nd edition paperback at around £50-60.

Well, that's under 2/3 what I found on actual used book sites. Somewhat better. Thanks, I always forget to check eBay for books.

snusmumriken · Mar 27, 2022

Donald Qualls said:
I no longer visit Facebook, and have never set up a Flickr account (which means I can't see a lot of the content there).

I followed up the Flickr link (because I am interested too). You can view all the content of that account without signing in.

BobD · Mar 27, 2022

This book has a detailed section on making calotypes:
https://u1lib.org/book/11826401/7d06ca

Jerevan · Mar 28, 2022

snusmumriken said:
I followed up the Flickr link (because I am interested too). You can view all the content of that account without signing in.

Yep, that the link is possible to access and of good quality is vital to me. Always good to see some other people interested in the process.

snusmumriken · Mar 28, 2022

BobD said:
This book has a detailed section on making calotypes:
https://u1lib.org/book/11826401/7d06ca

That site seems to have a lot of well known titles free to download, many of them still in print. I don't understand how it is legal? Anyway, both the books detailed above are available there as pdfs.

Michel Hardy-Vallée · Mar 28, 2022

Looking at my copy of Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes (2002), among those doing calotypes, I can see the names of Jon Kline, Dan Estabrook, and Laurent Millet.

I'm sure there are plenty more. Also, the tile of this otherwise excellent book is today a walking temporal paradox!

Talbotype/Calotype?

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