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Alt Processes (platinum, carbon, bromoil, etc)

JimCollum

Member
Anyone out there printing using any alt process? If so, this might be a good thread to discuss process, progress, pitfalls, digital negatives, etc)

For my workflow, i'd say 75% of my prints to sell are done in Platinum or Platinum over pigment. I have a few sheets of carbon tissue, and will probably try that out over the next month or so..


anyone else??


jim
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Jim,
This is one of those things that I have been itching to try.In the mid 1960s I did coat some of my own paper using a ferrocyanate process, but nothing since then other than silver halide paper and now inkjet printing.
I am eager to learn.
-bob
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I have thought about it a lot, but not pursued it. I have been fortunate enough to become friends with some photographers who do it exclusively and their influence is pretty strong. In the process of investigating it, I ran across this site which might be useful. http://www.alternativephotography.com/process.html

I'd be very interested to learn more and perhaps pick up the extra bit of inspiration that would get me started.

Tim
 

JimCollum

Member
my main process of choice is a combination of Platinum and ink jet pigment. I convert the image to CMYK, using the CMY as a color layer, and the K as the black/platinum

As an example, the initial image is



after the CMYK conversion, i take the color part





and print it on watercolor paper


I then take the K layer



and make a digital negative from it. I take the watercolor paper with the color info, and brush coat it with sensitized platinum emulsion. I put the negative on the paper, in registration, and expose it to high intensity UV light. I then process the platinum print and wash.

Some scans of prints:








]












 

JimCollum

Member
Jim,
I have wondered what you do to get registration.
-bob
Photoshop provides a registration mark when printing, so you print it on both the watercolor paper when you print the color, and on the negative.

There's a slight problem though.. when you coat the paper, it expands slightly, and you need to expose it while it's still 'damp.. but not wet' (otherwise, you destroy the negative). So before printing the color layer, you need to get the paper about the same dampness as when it's exposed.. otherwise there will be registration issues
 

donbga

Member
Anyone out there printing using any alt process? If so, this might be a good thread to discuss process, progress, pitfalls, digital negatives, etc)

For my workflow, i'd say 75% of my prints to sell are done in Platinum or Platinum over pigment. I have a few sheets of carbon tissue, and will probably try that out over the next month or so..


anyone else??


jim
Hi Jim,

I have a few alt. process prints I can share made from in camera negatives and digital negatives.:)

Here are a couple of tri-color gum prints originally captured with digital cameras. The tri-color gums are made using 3 seperate CMY digital negatives generated in PS.

Don Bryant
 

Jeremy

New member
I do a little dabbling myself in cyanotype, tri-color gum, gum over platinum/palladium, straight pt/pd, wet plate, and pt/pd over inkjet.

There's a show up right now of 9 pt/pd prints in Denton, TX:

 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
In the early 1970s I helped develop and use a high-contrast dye transfer process.
The problem was color matching designer color concepts for fabric patterns with the fabric prints that would eventually be produced at the mill. No artist pigments at the time could accurately represent the actual dyes used in the fabric printing process, especially fluorescents. The process involved the creation of positive separations for each color in the designer's pattern at 1:1. Those were then used as negatives in a vacuum contact frame to make negatives on Kodak contact process film.
After processing to a negative image, the high contrast negatives were immersed in a bath of copper sulphate, sulphuric acid, and hydrogen peroxide. This reacted with the silver particles in the emulsion such that it softened. We rubbed off the residual emulsion with cotton. The transfer sheets were then fixed and dried.
We then took pure dyes, the very same dyes used in the fabric printing process, and created mixes with dye transfer buffer to strengths that would match the visual appearance of the finished goods. That dye-buffer solution was rubbed on the emulsion side of the transfer shets, they were squeegeed off, then rolled face down on to dye transfer paper previously soaked in buffer in a registration plate. One transfer sheet per color. The transfer shets could be washed off and other color combinations tried. Once all of the colors had been transfered to the paper, the paper was dried, then silk-screened with matte clear acrylic to mimic the appearance of fabric texture.
At the time, I also used this for several photographic images other than fabric patterns, including a series of "posterized" nudes that I had collected.
Unfortunately none of these survived my First wife's attic cleaning.
-bob
 

donbga

Member
I do a little dabbling myself in cyanotype, tri-color gum, gum over platinum/palladium, straight pt/pd, wet plate, and pt/pd over inkjet.

There's a show up right now of 9 pt/pd prints in Denton, TX:
Hi Jeremy,

Wish I could see your exhibit. I have a show up in Atlanta right now - all color inkjet though no alt. prints.

Don
 

JimCollum

Member
Jeremy, you should post some scans of those prints here!!!


Here's another Pt/Pd over Pigment


Dawn, Aces&Spades, North Shore




the color info for that print


 

JimCollum

Member
Bob,

if you look in the corners of the color portion, you'll see the registration marks i use when aligning the neg.

jim
 

gogopix

Subscriber
Dear Jim

Great stuff. It inspires me to want to go back to chemical (I was taught by my aunt who worked in a photo finishing lab in the 40's and 50's)
...., but we just took out a 10x20 darkroom to make room for a 'mother-in-law kitchen! (my wife and daugthers did use, but we are empty nesters, and my wife thinks the 8660 Kodak makes fine color prints. She is "from Missoiuri" on my new 7900 :rolleyes:

So, I will just enjoy the work here.

BTW, for inkjet people, you can see why the light black and light light black inks go so fast-many images are undersaturated (or more, there is a 'grey base' to most images)

keep it up

best regards
Victor
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
These are all wonderful. I love the aspect of "hand craftsmanship" that includes the digital.

Jim: all of your images are superbly crafted, but the Aces and Spades stands out for me. It's easy to imagine some interesting stories of what when on there when the lights were lit on a Saturday night.
 

JimCollum

Member
Dear Jim

Great stuff. It inspires me to want to go back to chemical (I was taught by my aunt who worked in a photo finishing lab in the 40's and 50's)
...., but we just took out a 10x20 darkroom to make room for a 'mother-in-law kitchen! (my wife and daugthers did use, but we are empty nesters, and my wife thinks the 8660 Kodak makes fine color prints. She is "from Missoiuri" on my new 7900 :rolleyes:

So, I will just enjoy the work here.

BTW, for inkjet people, you can see why the light black and light light black inks go so fast-many images are undersaturated (or more, there is a 'grey base' to most images)

keep it up

best regards
Victor
Thanks Victor,

You might want to know, though... that Pt prints don't need a darkroom. The process is UV sensitive. I coat in a bathroom (i have a low watt 'bug light' that i use, then carry the coated print up the stairs into my office where the UV exposure unit is. All i have to worry about is direct sunlight and florescent light (it contains UV).
 

JimCollum

Member
These are all wonderful. I love the aspect of "hand craftsmanship" that includes the digital.

Jim: all of your images are superbly crafted, but the Aces and Spades stands out for me. It's easy to imagine some interesting stories of what when on there when the lights were lit on a Saturday night.
Thanks Tim!

The Salton Sea has been one of my favorite places to shoot. It's constantly changing, and has offered something new every time i've been there
 

Jeremy

New member
I coat in a bathroom (i have a low watt 'bug light' that i use, then carry the coated print up the stairs into my office where the UV exposure unit is. All i have to worry about is direct sunlight and florescent light (it contains UV).
Yep, I coat in a bathroom with the lights fully on and have my exposure unit in a closet. There is no "darkroom" used at all except for under the bathroom sink where I dry the coated paper before exposing it.
 

JimCollum

Member
Yep, I coat in a bathroom with the lights fully on and have my exposure unit in a closet. There is no "darkroom" used at all except for under the bathroom sink where I dry the coated paper before exposing it.
:D i *just* coated one, and have it sitting under the sink myself
 
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