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first class in my Alternative Processes course at SFAI was today. we made photogenic drawings (aka salt print photograms). swabbed salt solution on gloved hand, pressed hand to paper, swabbed silver nitrate on paper, exposed to light, rinsed, stabilized in potassium bromide  I forgot which side I put the silver nitrate on and got bebsi  fresh leaves don't transmit UV very well  I've been away from darkrooms for three years and forgot that fixer is different from hypo-clear. also I mashed down on the paper too hard while coating it next week: 4x5 cameras (to make sure we know how to take a good shot for the platinum printing section) and cyanotypes
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Jan 23, 2016 05:35
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Is there an appreciable difference between a 00 and 0 filter for split-filter printing? I'm using a public darkroom right now that has several sets of Ilford filters, but none of them include a 00 filter.
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Apr 3, 2016 12:24
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rohan posted:Is there an appreciable difference between a 00 and 0 filter for split-filter printing? I'm using a public darkroom right now that has several sets of Ilford filters, but none of them include a 00 filter. I teach an advanced darkroom class and I start my students off using 00 and 5 just for the sake of simplicity. In my own practice I actually do 0 and 5. I find that for a main exposure, the 00 reduces the contrast just a little too much so I stick with 0. I've been doing it for a very long time, however, and it is a very small distinction that I doubt most people would notice. 0 is fine if you don't have a 00 and there's very little chance you'll see the difference. You really should have your own set of filters though, if you're working at a place with such iffy equipment. Consistency is your friend.
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Apr 3, 2016 16:19
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McMadCow posted:I teach an advanced darkroom class and I start my students off using 00 and 5 just for the sake of simplicity. In my own practice I actually do 0 and 5. I find that for a main exposure, the 00 reduces the contrast just a little too much so I stick with 0. I've been doing it for a very long time, however, and it is a very small distinction that I doubt most people would notice. 0 is fine if you don't have a 00 and there's very little chance you'll see the difference. Also, I don't want to give the wrong impression about the darkroom -- their sets of under-the-lens filters seem complete, except they have a safelight filter where the 00 filter should be. They do have 00 filters for the filter drawer, but that doesn't do me any good for the 4x5 enlarger. I might pick up my own set anyway, just to guarantee a scratch-free set.
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Apr 4, 2016 11:29
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ordered final project supplies for my alt process class 
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Apr 12, 2016 18:20
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Pham Nuwen posted:For the hell of it, I spread some cyanotype formula on a white t-shirt and gave it a shot: Keeping the thread out of archives by saying this shirt is still going strong, in fact it looks better now after a few washes to sort of mellow the blue. I may try the process again if I can figure out a better way to stretch the shirt. I also think I'd want to do something about the edges of the negative... either brush the formula into an area smaller than the negative, or do some sort of gradient at the edges so it transitions more gracefully, because I do think the ragged brush edges look kind of neat.
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Jul 15, 2016 16:43
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How many prints do you guys get out of one session, and do you feel bad about dumping dev mix after each session if it's not exhausted? Or do you reuse it for a few days? I can get maybe 5-6 prints done in a couple hours, including test prints, and that's apparently nowhere near exhausting the developer. I know developer is not terribly expensive, but I still feel crummy to waste it.
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Jul 27, 2016 07:02
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I've reused developer several months later.
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Jul 27, 2016 07:19
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BANME.sh posted:How many prints do you guys get out of one session, and do you feel bad about dumping dev mix after each session if it's not exhausted? Or do you reuse it for a few days? To be completely honest, I get one print, sometimes two in a 4 hour session. Thankfully I do my work at a public darkroom, so there's other people in there using the chemistry. We DO NOT reuse developer, it exhausts in the air, no developing required.
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Jul 27, 2016 08:22
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A few questions: How much of a self inflicted chore is B&W printing with an enlarger ? Assuming I would do it for the occasional really good shot. Follow-up quesstion, is it doable chemicals wise to only use it intermittently ? My reasoning so far is that I'm not satisfied with my scanner and the quick lab options are pretty poo poo here, so I wouldn't mind spending some time every so often on a home made print. I'm looking at a Durst M605. e vvv thanks ! unpacked robinhood fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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Aug 1, 2016 18:30
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You can put about as much or as little work into wet printing as you want. You can spend hours on a single negative, to find the perfect exposure with split-grade printing, dodging and burning in various amounts for each grade. Or you can mass produce prints from a roll of film by just assuming the negatives are decently exposed and printing them all at grade 2, exposing each sheet the same amount. Then you can print one negative in less than 5 minutes, even less if you make small prints and are okay with exposing multiple negatives/sheets and put away, to build up a batch to develop together. As I've posted previously, I've literally had partially exhausted paper developer last years in a glass bottle. Apart from that, paper developer and fixer can usually be diluted extra, you may get somewhat different contrast, and longer processing times, but you can save on chemistry that way.
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Aug 1, 2016 19:09
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Does anyone keep some sort of print log for their pictures? I have a habit of writing down what I'm developing and how when working with film, stuff like stock, chemicals, dilution, and times, but never usually brought that to printing until recently. Stuff like naming each roll, picking out frames from contact sheets, frame #, etc. I'm overcome with the desire to put some order to this process, instead of printing what I feel like at the moment.
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Sep 26, 2016 07:04
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Understanding posted:Does anyone keep some sort of print log for their pictures? I have a habit of writing down what I'm developing and how when working with film, stuff like stock, chemicals, dilution, and times, but never usually brought that to printing until recently. Sounds like a good idea so that you get some constancy across your prints, especially important if you're printing for a show. I would also log the temperature of your chemicals too.
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Sep 29, 2016 02:40
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Hi, first post on the forum, pls let me know if I am loving up. Where do you guys buy cyanotype chemicals, and how is it with shipping it across international borders? I set my kitchen up as a dark room back in February, but only managed to knock a few prints out before the nights got too bright to keep my kitchen light tight (I live in Norway. So, I'm thinking cyanotype prints are actually going to be easier to do for me at times of the year. Really looking forward to setting up my enlarger again one of these days, the nights are getting darker every day. Included is the best photo I have, ofone of the few prints I had time to make back in winter. Yes, it's RC paper. I was given it for free, and this was my first time ever wet printing so I had to teach myself how to do it. It was printed off an obscenely thin D3200 neg, so I'm quite happy with how it came out, but am looking forward to printing off more quality negs this winter. 
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Sep 29, 2016 14:17
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As you're in the EEA, I'd recommend Mamut Photo. Their physical shop is in Prague (and is worth a visit if you're ever in the area but they will ship anywhere at reasonable rates. AFAIK, they are pretty much the most complete supplier of alternative process equipment in Europe.
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Sep 29, 2016 14:45
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Helen Highwater posted:As you're in the EEA, I'd recommend Mamut Photo. Their physical shop is in Prague (and is worth a visit if you're ever in the area but they will ship anywhere at reasonable rates. AFAIK, they are pretty much the most complete supplier of alternative process equipment in Europe. Thanks for the tip, it looks like a really good site. I work part time in the last remaining real photo lab in my city, and I talked to my boss just now, he could order some from Maco the next time he orders supplies, but it'll be another month or so. It will actually be slightly more expensive than Mamut, but I really hate dealing with shipping and customs, so I think I'll just let my boss deal with it. He did say I was a retard for wanting to do cyanotype since it's super toxic and the sunlight will be too weak in winter to expose it, but I guess nothing worth doing is easy. Have another print, a contact print of a selfie I made on 4x5 Washi paper to test the EI. 
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Sep 29, 2016 15:28
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Catsby posted:Thanks for the tip, it looks like a really good site. You don't have to pay customs fees in Norway on EU-sourced goods. Or is that not the case anymore?
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Sep 29, 2016 15:50
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Catsby posted:He did say I was a retard for wanting to do cyanotype since it's super toxic and the sunlight will be too weak in winter to expose it, but I guess nothing worth doing is easy. Don't heat the chemicals above 65C or mix them with a strong acid and you won't get any free cyanide at all. Potassium ferricyanide is used in Europe as an anticaking agent in table salt - you might see it in ingredients lists as E536. You look like a fairly skinny guy but I guarantee you you'd have to consume at least 300 grams of potassium ferricyanide to put your life in danger.
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Sep 29, 2016 16:23
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Helen Highwater posted:You don't have to pay customs fees in Norway on EU-sourced goods. Or is that not the case anymore? MrBlandAverage posted:Don't heat the chemicals above 65C or mix them with a strong acid and you won't get any free cyanide at all. Potassium ferricyanide is used in Europe as an anticaking agent in table salt - you might see it in ingredients lists as E536. You look like a fairly skinny guy but I guarantee you you'd have to consume at least 300 grams of potassium ferricyanide to put your life in danger. I'll keep posting learner prints until people ask me to stop. Don't know if people find it spammy, but I always like to see others post as many pictures as possible, so I try to too. This is another self portrait contact print, off a bleached FP-100C neg, that came out surprisingly good in terms of contrast. 
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Sep 29, 2016 22:13
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Spedman posted:I would also log the temperature of your chemicals too. That's crazy talk. I use a gang darkroom anyway, but I can't imagine it'll be anything close to 70-75F. For my own sake, I'm sure I'll take measurements a couple of times, tho I honestly stopped temperature measurements a long time ago since the darkroom and it's water never deviated significantly in all the years I've been there.
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Oct 1, 2016 03:14
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Understanding posted:That's crazy talk. That's pretty much what I was getting at, if you know it's consistent from experience then don't worry about logging it. More an issue if you live somewhere where tap water/room temp varies greatly between seasons.
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Oct 2, 2016 02:44
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What paper do you guys like to use for cyanotypes? I've had pretty reasonable results with pads of watercolor paper from the craft store, but I'd be interested in what your preferences are.
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Oct 10, 2016 21:05
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I use Strathmore Bristol paper. I've never felt like it was going to tear while I was washing it and it has a very little texture on the paper (which could be a negative too I suppose).
eggsovereasy fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Oct 10, 2016 |
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Oct 10, 2016 21:13
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My prof used 90lb Hot Pressed 22x30 by Saunders, Winsor Newton, or Arches 140lbs paper. Takes that kind of abuse from what I've seen getting multiple coats of Gum bichromate.
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Oct 25, 2016 20:28
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Catsby posted:Hi, first post on the forum, pls let me know if I am loving up. no idea about internationally, but I buy from Bostick & Sullivan Pham Nuwen posted:What paper do you guys like to use for cyanotypes? I've had pretty reasonable results with pads of watercolor paper from the craft store, but I'd be interested in what your preferences are. Canson sketchbook paper works pretty nicely.
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Oct 25, 2016 23:16
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Canson 140lb Watercolor is easy to find and coats very easily with rod or brush. I find adding citric acid to the initial salt emulsion when doing a silver salt print is necessary to prevent fogging. I've been experimenting with bromide salts and HC-110 developer during the washing steps. Bromide produces a yellowish unexposed paper, tends to appear to expose more quickly, but also washes out a lot more during the fixing & rinse. While developer isn't strictly needed, I have a feeling it makes the paper much faster and will develop a latent exposure into more 'traditional' b&w tones rather than the reddish/brown you get from a fresh salt print.  (silver chloride, hypo fix, rinse) (neocyanotype) (silver bromide gelatin, hc-110, hypo fix, rinse)
Father O'Blivion fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Dec 1, 2016 |
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Oct 26, 2016 04:31
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You can use BW developer (hc-110 in this case) to reintensify a silver chloride contact print underneath a subsequent cyanotype. Going to try this with a bromide base print next. Its no gum bichromate but 2 tones are better than 1.
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Dec 1, 2016 07:48
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MrBlandAverage posted:Don't heat the chemicals above 65C or mix them with a strong acid and you won't get any free cyanide at all. Potassium ferricyanide is used in Europe as an anticaking agent in table salt - you might see it in ingredients lists as E536. You look like a fairly skinny guy but I guarantee you you'd have to consume at least 300 grams of potassium ferricyanide to put your life in danger. We even use sodium nitroprusside intravenously therapeutically, which is very close chemically (and probably more dangerous, honestly) to Prussian Blue, so you'd probably have to ACTUALLY DRINK quite some cianotype solution before you were at any risks. It's honestly one of the safest alternative methods out there. It's also very forgiving and you should try taning it with whatever trees you have around since you're in a colder area (usually bark has more tannins, just grind, put them in boiling water and let it cool, dilute as you feel like), you'll probably get different colours from each plant. It's a really fun process with a lot to explore safely. Pham Nuwen posted:What paper do you guys like to use for cyanotypes? I've had pretty reasonable results with pads of watercolor paper from the craft store, but I'd be interested in what your preferences are. If I'm doing something archival/for a show/whatever I'll use Canson Montval 300g/m, you can even bleach it with common household bleach and it wont even care, otherwise whatever cheap watercolour paper the craft store has (thought 180g tend to be way easier to flatten after all the wetting then 120, in my experience) Hell, you can apply it to wood, fabric, mix with gelatin and make cianotype plates... I'm actually giving a workshop on cianotypes this sunday, so yeah, anybody want to talk it, I'm game. Primo Itch fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Dec 3, 2016 |
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Dec 3, 2016 00:15
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Mussing with alt chemicals in conjunction with a bit of image processing is good fun. Made this composite from a couple cyanotype scans. Surely Hartman would be proud... 
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Dec 3, 2016 13:58
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Does anyone know of a place online that can do large prints on transparencies? I'd like to try some big cyanotypes.
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Dec 10, 2016 03:18
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Father O'Blivion posted:You can use BW developer (hc-110 in this case) to reintensify a silver chloride contact print underneath a subsequent cyanotype. Going to try this with a bromide base print next. Its no gum bichromate but 2 tones are better than 1. Mind expanding a bit on the process? Primo Itch posted:We even use sodium nitroprusside intravenously therapeutically, which is very close chemically (and probably more dangerous, honestly) to Prussian Blue, so you'd probably have to ACTUALLY DRINK quite some cianotype solution before you were at any risks. It's honestly one of the safest alternative methods out there.
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Jan 22, 2017 17:02
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Catsby posted:Mind expanding a bit on the process? I used a split digital negative to layer a cyanotype over a silver chloride salt print. Perform the salt print w/ the brown half of the negative as usual, making sure to rinse ALL the hypo out of the print so it doesn't contaminate the subsequent cyanotype solution coating. Perform the cyanotype with the other mask. The ferricyanide in the cyanotype bleaches the silver image but the exposed areas of the salt print can be re-intensified with standard b&w film/paper developer after the cyanotype has been exposed & processed. For comparison you can see a few areas near the bottom of the print (bottom right particularly) where areas of the silver print weren't redeveloped. Its a bit tricky since the alkaline nature of HC-110 tends to bleach the cyanotype, but I did 3 versions of this print and they all came out fairly well. Apply the dilute developer with an eyedropper or brush, not an immersion bath. Developer with a more neutral or acidic pH (if it exists) would be easier to use in this process as it wouldn't bleach the cyanotype. Experiment with hypo fixing times of the initial salt print and dilutions of the developer. Van Dyke Brown prints (those that use citrate salts rather than chloride) seem to be initially more resistant to the bleaching effects of the ferricyanide and might allow a similar look without the need for any redevelopment.
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Jan 22, 2017 21:21
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Father O'Blivion posted:Alchemy I'm writing it down of my list of things I need to do before I die.
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Jan 24, 2017 20:40
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Get some sencha while you're at it; its the best for cyanotype toning. Black tea will give you a similar hue shift but it also stains the highlights. 
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Jan 25, 2017 09:25
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Father O'Blivion posted:Get some sencha while you're at it; its the best for cyanotype toning. I really like erva mate (yerba mate, ilex paraguariensis). It gives very dark, black shadows with minimal staining and a toning time of a few minutes... White tea, after a strong bleach also gives a nice light pink that's very pleasant.
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Jan 28, 2017 00:12
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Nothing too exciting but I tried making prints using some mixed developer I had stored in a bottle since last summer, and I think it came out just fine considering how many people tell you not to use old developer. I gotta pay more attention to alignment though.
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Feb 7, 2017 20:37
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BANME.sh posted:Nothing too exciting but I tried making prints using some mixed developer I had stored in a bottle since last summer, and I think it came out just fine considering how many people tell you not to use old developer. I've been developing film in some dektol that was prepared some two or three years ago and everything is going just fine... People are way too cautious with photography chemistry in general imo. If you're not Ansel Adams trying to get a perfect negative out of film and developers made with technology from 100 years ago, you can be way less cautious than what a lot of people and classes will tell you to be and still come out with pretty good negatives. just my 2 cents.
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Feb 8, 2017 22:37
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Primo Itch posted:I've been developing film in some dektol that was prepared some two or three years ago and everything is going just fine... People are way too cautious with photography chemistry in general imo. If you're not Ansel Adams trying to get a perfect negative out of film and developers made with technology from 100 years ago, you can be way less cautious than what a lot of people and classes will tell you to be and still come out with pretty good negatives. I'm not saying either of you are necessarily wrong, but at some point in your darkroom adventures you do get skilled/picky enough that every little nuance of a negative because something you notice and work around. I make it my personal policy not to use expired film, paper, or chemistry just to avoid any potential inconsistency.
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Feb 9, 2017 03:00
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McMadCow posted:I'm not saying either of you are necessarily wrong, but at some point in your darkroom adventures you do get skilled/picky enough that every little nuance of a negative because something you notice and work around. I make it my personal policy not to use expired film, paper, or chemistry just to avoid any potential inconsistency. Well, one good point you have is that your process, from what i've seen, tends to be all-analogic. If I was doing wet prints I'd probably be more picky with my negatives, but since I use a mixed process (I'll scan the negatives and them have all the goodies photoshop gives) I can be less cautious. Maybe that difference (All-analogic x mixed analogic and digital) is what allows people to have more leeway in modern times, rather than evolutions in film or chemicals technology... Something to think about... My background in chemistry is probably biasing me here... There's also something stylistic about it. I'm someone that doesn't really care about dirt and scratches, tends not to care about grain size too much or latitude either as long as my subject is well (and even that well is quite relative) exposed, so I can give in and not be so precise in the process, while your work involves a level of craftmanship that honestly, I can't even imagine myself doing (If you didn't get it yet, I love it and you should post more pics!).
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Feb 9, 2017 20:40
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Primo Itch posted:There's also something stylistic about it. I'm someone that doesn't really care about dirt and scratches, tends not to care about grain size too much or latitude either as long as my subject is well (and even that well is quite relative) exposed, so I can give in and not be so precise in the process, while your work involves a level of craftmanship that honestly, I can't even imagine myself doing (If you didn't get it yet, I love it and you should post more pics!). Hah, thank you!  Unfortunately I'm doing a steady amount of work at the moment, but lately with the project I'm in, a photo session usually concludes with one single select. If that select happens to have some nudity, then it's verboten here. So I may only produce a dozen or so photos this year, but I promise I'm still shooting plenty, and I'll keep posting everything I'm able to. That's a roundabout way of talking about why things like precise exposures and developing an technique matter so much at the moment. I promise I'm not a real darkroom sperg- I don't do any zone system work, no fancy developing, no nothing beyond the basics- but when I'm shooting for a concept and I may only even like one or two shots from a whole day, then they drat well better have a good negative. I just hate leaving anything to chance.
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Feb 17, 2017 21:56
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