From Digital to Cyanotype

Alternative processes for photography are most often UV light sensitive only. Because UV enlargers do not exist, you need a negative the same size as the final print for contact printing. In the past this has mostly been done with either in camera original negatives (using large format view cameras to produce the negative) or […]

Cyanotypes

I’ve been struggling with technical aspects of cyanotype over the past couple weeks. And those struggles go to the root of why I started this discourse. To describe challenges and solutions and approaches for some processes I’m experimenting with. The problems I have encountered so far include highlight staining, unblocking shadow detail, resolving mottling in […]

Cool Resource Site for Epson 3800 Printer

Mark Nelson sent out a note pointing us at a resource site for the Epson 3800 printer. The Internet is so cool. The page is maintained by Eric Chan – who seems like quite an interesting fellow.

Some Technical Notes from David Michael Kennedy

David Michael Kennedy is an accomplished photographer and palladium printer. His landscape work is moody and immediate. I love his portrait work – and the way he expresses them in his prints. Rangefinder Magazine has an interesting profile on him. But, once again, I digress. He has published some extensive technical notes on palladium printing […]

Light Sensitivity of Alternative Processes

So, I’ve been preparing some scans of the various steps of making an image in cyanotype. I’m not the most accomplished print scanner (just setup my Epson V750 scanner which I had bought some time back to scan some 8″ x 10″ black and white negatives I have). I use a discontinued Imacon (now Hasselblad) […]

Bulk chemicals vs. pre-packs

At some point one will ask themselves the question “Should I buy pre-packaged chemicals or buy them in bulk?” This is almost the same as deciding whether to do your shopping at the corner grocery store or at Costco. The difference in price is great when you consider the chemistry needed for cyanotype. I buy […]

Brigitte Carnochan

I went to Brigitte Carnochan’s opening of Imagining Then at Gallery 291 in San Francisco tonight. The work struck me very hard and left me in an emotional state that I can’t shake. Gitta’s hand-painted photographs of figures and still lives are exquisite. This new work is very different. Working from photographs and objects from her […]

The Epson 3800 Printer

I use the Epson 3800 printer to produce my digital negatives. There, I’ve said it. So, one thing I continually bump into is there’s not enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do with my photography. And I try to ask people who are working in similar areas for […]

Feeling a Bit Blue

Bleu, bleu, le monde est bleu. I spent the past couple days wrestling with classic cyanotype. This is somewhat embarrassing, given the supposed ease with which this most basic of processes can be done. Invented by John Herschel (a famous polymath) in 1842, it is simplicity itself. Two chemicals, expose in sun, develop in water, […]

The Cyanotype Process

I stumbled across a printout of a chapter on cyanotypes from Christopher James’s most excellent book, and I had quite forgotten where I had found it. It turns out the cyanotype process is the sample chapter from his book published  on his website. This is quite a find, it is full of valuable information on […]