Christopher James, Kafka-man, Venice, Italy, 1987(Diana plastic camera negative—platinum print)(Courtesy of the author)

An International Thomson Publishing Company Albany • Bonn • Boston • Cincinnati • Detroit • London • Madrid • Melbourne • Mexico City • New York •Pacific Grove • Paris • San Francisco • Singapore • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington

Christopher James

The Book of AlternativePhotographic Processes

The Book of AlternativePhotographic Processes

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

James, Christopher.The book of alternative photographic processes / by Christopher James.

p. cm.Includes index.ISBN 0-7668-2077-7 (alk. paper)1. Photography--Processing. 2. Photography--Printing processes. 3.

Photography, Handworked. I. Title.TR350 .J35 2001771--dc21

2001028615

ContentsAcknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Chapter 1The Pinhole

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Little History: Conception and Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . 2The Conception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6How a Daguerreotype Is Made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A Little Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Pinhole Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Testing the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Finding the Correct Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Making Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Pinhole Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 2The Negative Traditional and Alternative Options

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24A Vision from 1760 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26An Appropriate Moment to Explain Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32NEGATIVE PRODUCTION OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Commercial Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34The Copy Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34The Desktop Printer and Film Recorders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Acrylic Films from Printed Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Polaroid Type 55 Positive/Negative Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38A Quick Nod to Conventional Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39More Negative Options: The Cliché-Verre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40SINGLE STAGE NEGATIVE-TO-NEGATIVE DUPLICATING FILMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42A FEW MULTISTAGE DUPLICATING FILMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Exposure and Development: Average Negative Densities . 44Pyro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45DAVE SOEMARKO’S LC-1 AND LC-1B LOW CONTRAST DEVELOPER FORMULAS FOR LITH FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

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Chapter 3The Digital Options

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48A Little History: The Digesting Duck to the Present . . . . . . . 51My View of the Present State of the Digital Arts . . . . . . . . . 55A Caveat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57The Digital Negative: A Layman’s Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . 58CMYK SEPARATION NEGATIVES: THE BARE ESSENTIALS 64CMYK Separations in Photoshop: The Speedy, Non-Fussy Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66CMYK Separations in Adobe Photoshop: The Longer Version (Photoshop 5.0 and 5.5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67CMYK Negative Separations in Adobe Illustrator . . . . . . . . 70Photogenetics: An Imaging Alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 4The Plastic Camera

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Toy Camera Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75The Six Plastic Virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Plastic Camera Hints and Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Chapter 5The Salted Paper Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Chemistry and Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Coating Salted Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Printing Salted Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Prewash/Salt Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Toning Formulas for the Salted Paper Process . . . . . . . . . . 96Fixing the Salted Paper Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Final Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Contrast Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Chapter 6The Cyanotype Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102How Cyanotype Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107The Chemistry: Chemicals and Sensitizer Formula . . . . . . 108The Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Paper and Fabric Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Exposing the Cyanotype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Development: Water or Acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Washing and Oxidization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Clearing Your Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Toning the Cyanotype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

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Chapter 7Cyanotype Variations Fabrics and the New Cyanotype

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Materials You Will Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Making the Image: Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Coating the Fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Oxidizer: “Intensification” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Postprinting Washing Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133THE NEW CYANOTYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133The Five Shortcomings of the Traditional Cyanotype Process, According to Dr. Ware . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Chemical Solutions for the First Three Problems . . . . . . . . 134The Sensitizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Preparation of Sensitizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Coating Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Drying the Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Exposure and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 8The Kallitypes

Van Dyke, B-V-D, and Kallitype

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140THE VAN DYKE PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Van Dyke Sensitizing Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142The Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144The Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Coating the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Processing the Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147TONING THE VAN DYKE IMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149THE BLUE-VAN-DYKE (B-V-D) PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151THE KALLITYPE PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154The Kallitype Sensitizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Coating the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Exposing the Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Developing the Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157DEVELOPMENT METHOD #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157DEVELOPMENT METHODS #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158A Toning Process for Kallitype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Controlling Contrast with Potassium Dichromate . . . . . . . 160Fixing the Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Final Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161THE BROWNPRINT PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161The Brownprint Sensitizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

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Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Fixing the Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Final Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Chapter 9The Platinum/Palladium Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164The Process Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Supplies and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170The Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Papers and Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173The Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Two Pt/Pd Developer Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175The Clearing Baths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Formula for EDTA Clearing Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175The Sensitizer Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Preparing the Formula and Coating the Paper . . . . . . . . . . 178Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Best Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Developing the Platinum/Palladium Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Prewashing and Clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Some Points to Consider: Trouble-shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Cyanotype, Gum, and Van Dyke with Pt/Pd . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter 10The Ziatype Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188A Little Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192How It Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193The Working Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Additional Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198End Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Chapter 11The Anthotype Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Anthotype Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202The Working Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

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Chapter 12Paper

History, Preparation, Shrinking, Sizing, and Hardening

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206A Few Words About Paper and Its History . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Shrinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Sizing and Hardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212GELATIN SIZING AND HARDENING PROCESSES . . . . . . . 212Gelatin Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Materials You Will Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212GELATIN SIZING: STEP 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213GELATIN HARDENING: STEP 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Formalin Hardening Bath and Process: A Step 2 Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Glyoxal Hardening Bath and Process: A Step 2 Alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215GLYOXAL-GELATIN SINGLE-COATING OPTION . . . . . . . . . 215Arrowroot Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Gesso-Acrylic Medium Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Gloss Polyurethane Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Gum Arabic-Dichromate Sizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Chapter 13The Gum Bichromate Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223How Gum Bichromate Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226A Few Words Before We Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226The Gum Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229The Ammonium/Potassium Dichromate Sensitizer . . . . . . 230Watercolors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Gum Arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232A Traditional Gum Bichromate Sensitizing Formula(Ammonium Dichromate) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Another Sensitizer Formula (Potassium Dichromate) . . . . 233An Alternative Sensitizing Formula: “The 5-10-10” . . . . . . 233Sensitizing the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233A Few Words Regarding Conventional Gum Wisdom and Staining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Exposing the Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Printing a Single Color Gum with a Single Negative . . . . . 236Development: Clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Other Miscellaneous Trouble-Shooting Notes and Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

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Chapter 14Dichromate Options 3-D Gum, Alternative Surfaces for Gum,

the Dusting-On Process, the Ferro-Tannic Process,

and the Ferro-Gallate Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2443-D GUM BICHROMATE PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244How 3-D Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246The Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246GUM BICHROMATE ON ALTERNATIVE SURFACES . . . . . . 249The Basic Premise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Coating, Exposure, and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250THE DUSTING-ON PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Contemporary Dusting-On Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Working on Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254The Traditional Dusting-On Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255Materials Needed for Dusting-On Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255The Process for Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255Hot and Humid Image Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Dusting-On Glass: Transfer Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257THE FERRO-TANNIC AND FERRO-GALLIC PROCESSES . . 257A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257The Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Chapter 15The Albumen Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260How the Albumen Process Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Method 1: The Traditional Raw Egg Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 265Method 2: The Powdered Albumen Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Method 3: The Instant Gratification Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Coating the Paper with the Albumen Solution . . . . . . . . . . 266Hardening Options If You Double Coat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Sensitizing the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Exposure: Contrast Control and What to Look For . . . . . . . 269Silver Albumenate and Highlight Yellowing . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Processing: First Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Optional Toning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Fixing the Toned Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Final Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

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Chapter 16POP Printing-Out Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272POP Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274A Traditional POP Emulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Formulas and Process for Precoated POP Paper . . . . . . . 276Gold-Thiocyanate Toner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Gold-Alkaline Toners (Gray Silver-Sepia to Pink) . . . . . . . . 277Sodium Bicarbonate Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Replenishment for Gold Toners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Platinum Toner: Traditional Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279POP Platinum Toner (Neutral Black-Sepia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Gold-Platinum POP Split Toner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Gold-Platinum-Selenium POP Split Toner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Fixing the POP Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Final Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Chapter 17Hand-Applied Emulsions Liquid Emulsions, Photo-Etching, Paint,

Photo-resists, Contemporary Tintypes,

Wet Collodion, and Ambrotype Processes

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282LIQUID EMULSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284The Working Process for Hand-Applied Emulsions . . . . . . 286Emulsions on Glass, Ceramic, and Similar Surfaces . . . . . 288Emulsions on Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290SOLARPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293PHOTO-RESISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296CONTEMPORARY TINTYPE PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300The Dry Plate Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303THE WET COLLODION AND AMBROTYPE PROCESS . . . . 304A Little History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304The Ambrotype Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Salted Collodion Emulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307Prefix Wash: Developer Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309Fixing the Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309Drying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311Varnishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311Mounting and Presentation of a Wet Collodion Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

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Chapter 18The Mordançage Process

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Redevelopment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317Depouillment (Gelatin Removal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317Oxidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Chapter 19Image Transfer Processes Color Laser, Lazertran System, Polaroid Transfer

and Emulsion Lift Processes, Ink Jet Water Transfer

Overview and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318How a Color Laser Copier Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320At the Copy Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321Materials You Will Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322Solvent Transfer Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322The Varneytype Transfer Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Water/Dry Mount Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Transfers to Fabric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324THE LAZERTRAN TRANSFER PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Lazertran Transfer Papers for Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Fixing a Lazertran Transfer to Glass, Ceramic, Perspex®,and Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328Fixing a Lazertran Transfer to Paper, Wood, Stone, and Plastic with Turpentine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329Lazertran Silk Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329Lazertran on Heavy Fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329Lazertran Etch: Printmaking Press Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . 330Polaroid Transfers and Emulsion Lifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330What Is Polaroid Film and How Does It Work? . . . . . . . . . . 331Materials Needed for These Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332The Wet Transfer Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332The Dry Transfer Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335Polaroid Emulsion Lifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335Exposing Type 59 4”�5” Film in an Enlarger . . . . . . . . . . . . 336Ink-Jet Water Transfer Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

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Appendix ASafety Considerations and Data

for Chemicals Used in This BookExcellent Sources for Chemical, MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) and Lab Safety . . . . . . . . . . . 342A Few Simple Chemistry Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Chemistry and Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344Chemical Abstract Service Registry (CAS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Appendix BSmall Volume Conversion Table

Dry measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Liquid measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357Percentages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Appendix CA Simple Ultraviolet Exposure Unit

Materials Needed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358How to Make It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Appendix DA Working Inventory Check Sheet For an Alternative Process Curriculum,

Workshop, or Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Appendix EA Modest List of Resources

Chemicals, Lab Gear, and Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Lab materials and art supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368Films and Photographic Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Negative Scans, Digital Resources, Books, Postcards, and Portfolios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Appendix FAlternative Processes on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Appendix GAn Alternative Process Working Space . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Appendix HSelected Bibliography

Contemporary and Traditional Alternative Processes

Contemporary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376Early and Historical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

It is inconceivable to me that a book project of this magnitude could be real-ized without the generous support, knowledge, and wisdom of friends, fellowartists, and family. I would like to use this space to express my gratitude to thosewho have given me so much of themselves. A heartfelt thanks to my motherand father, Edie and George, for believing in my dreams of being an artist whenI was young. Thanks to my uncle, Michael James, for showing me, by exam-ple, what it meant to be an artist. Most importantly, I thank my wife, RebeccaWelsh, for her love, patience, graceful balance, and excellent advice.

I make an especially deep bow of gratitude to Dan Estabrook, Judy Seigel,Dick Sullivan, and Michael Ware for their generous time and care in readingcritical sections of my manuscript. The value of their advice, editing, and friend-ship has been immeasurable.

Special thanks go to my generous proofreaders and experimenters, MargaretAdams, Jody Ake, Xtine Burrough, John Paul Caponigro, Brenton Hamilton,Julie Kahn, Sarah Van Keuren, Galina Manikova, Nancy Marshall, Bea Net-tles, Bonnie Robinson, Mike Robinson, Stephen Savage, France Scully Oster-man and Mark Osterman, Laurie Snyder, John Quackenbos, and Frank Varney.Thanks to Tom Kerr for his fine illustrations.

Thanks to my colleagues and playmates at the Art Institute of Boston atLesley University, especially Stan Trecker and Angelo Fertitta, for seeing thatI had a little release time to work on this book. Thanks also to those in theworld’s archives: Mark Abbott, Angela Murphy, Clare Newman, and JoannaDruk at the Science Museum in London; Samantha Johnson, Claire Bertrand,and Debbie Ireland at the Royal Photographic Society; Katia Busch at SocietéFrancais de Photographie; Linda Briscoe at the Harry Ransom Research Cen-ter/University of Texas–Austin; Martha Hazen at Harvard University; SylviaInwood at the Detroit Institute of Arts; Lisa Kahan at Artists Rights Society;and Janice Madhu at the George Eastman House.

Grateful thanks also to my editor Jim Gish for his advice and good senseof humor, and to Tom Schin, Sandy Clark, Rachel Baker, Larry Main, JaimieWetzel, and Fionnuala McAvey at Delmar Publishers. Thanks to Zernicke Au,Andrew and Robin Cahan, Enna Dole, Konrad Eek and the Oklahoma Sum-mer Arts Institute, Jesseca Ferguson, Don Ginther, Sarah Hasted, BarbaraHewitt, Charles Levy, David Lyman and the Maine Photographic Workshops,Phoebe McCormick, Mick at Lazertran, Elizabeth Opalenick, Martin Reed,Eric Renner, Nancy Spencer, Martha Schneider, Laurie Snyder, John Steven-son, Beth Ann Souther, Dave Soemarko, and Tim Whelen.

Last, but not least, my sincere thanks to all of the artists who allowed meto reproduce their excellent work in this book; your generosity, support, andenthusiasm were outstanding.

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AKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Book of Al te rnat ive Photograph ic ProcessesThis book represents a significant part of the evolution of my education as anartist and teacher of artists. For the last two decades I’ve been modifying andadding to these pages, and in their abbreviated form, they have served as work-ing notes for my students. The content represents what we have learnedtogether; pertinent and peculiar observations, techniques, anecdotes, and agood dose of interesting history to enhance the connections between the pastand contemporary process. My intention was to create a resource that was inter-esting to read and “user friendly” and to write a flexible guide that wouldencourage the reader to see what might happen if they let their creativity, andinterdisciplinary associations, out to play. To paraphrase Mark Twain: … ithardly matters when your technique is great if your imagination is out of focus.

I have organized this book to meet the needs of several different audiences.For the teacher, the book is designed to be flexible and compatible with indi-vidual teaching styles, and I have done my best to make the contents accessi-ble to “students” from high school through the professional levels. Teacherswill be able to use this book to guide their students through the alternative pho-tographic arts, via the generating of hand-made camera negatives through alogical evolution of alternative process techniques. It is very significant, to bothteacher and student, that many of the wonderful illustrations in the book weremade by students at all levels of instruction.

For the student, the book is designed as an inspirational and comprehen-sive technical resource because it addresses the historical, procedural, andinterdisciplinary connections from the beginning of photography throughdigital. The word student implies someone in a class, but in truth we are allforever… students. In that regard, this book is a guide for photographic artistsof all abilities and levels of knowledge.

The creative opportunities of alternative and non-silver photographicprocesses have been, until recently, relatively unexplored territory for con-temporary artists. A recognition of the genre’s interdisciplinary possibilities israpidly changing this situation, because creative people of all ages and disci-plines are seeking modes of expression that best suit their intentions. They areembracing, in this digital age, the interdisciplinary potential of alternativeprocesses; the marriage of nineteenth century handmade craft, science, andromanticism in concert with twenty-first century technologies and conceptualperceptions.

I’ve made every effort to avoid creating a book that functions as a dogmaticarchetype or to serve the reader as a pedagogical and scientific model. You willdiscover that repeatable success in alternative image making will be based on a IN

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INTRODUCTION

willingness to enjoy making imagesfor the process rather than the product.As you work, practiced techniques,patience, and attention to detail willreward your efforts. You will oftensee that it is the unexpected accident,in tandem with your practice, thatwill transform the science to art. It isoften the logic of the unplannedeffect that is one of the fine benefitsof working in this discipline. It is thisphilosophy that has allowed our dex-terity in the arts to evolve. If you getexcited by challenges and are willingto enjoy the idiosyncrasies of alterna-tive process, you will have wonderfultimes learning and will discover a vastmenu of inspirations for your per-sonal vision. The primary thing Iwould like you to remember is toenjoy your creative self and not tosettle for the quick solution. Takeyour time and pay attention to yourtechnique, small details, and chemi-cal safety. In that regard, I have donemy best to make this book a safe oneto use. Always handle the chemistrywith reasonable care, pay attentionto my safety notices, and you will nothave any problems.

Alternative and non-silver processes are somewhat mercurial in nature andfull of surprises; enjoy their quirks and see them as opportunities. Much of whatyou will personally discover will emerge as a result of play, and your discover-ies will be similar to the process of learning that you experienced as a child. Ifyou stop to consider the things that you do best in your life you will come tothe reasonable conclusion that your special, and unique, talents are ones thatyou taught yourself. This is the ebb and flow of how the animal kingdom learns,and it is called play. It is this play that delights the mind and stimulates theprocess of teaching yourself—just for the joy of it. That is, of course, why youdecided it was a good idea to be an artist in the first place. This book, like you,will always be a work in progress.

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Christopher James, Gellert Baths, Budapest,1983(Black and white silver print, sepia, selenium,gold toners, watercolor, pencil, and enamels)(Courtesy of the author)