Alternative Photography Processes

I found the area of Alternative Photography Processes to be very fascinating as well as a way of fulfilling my artistic need to create something unique.

My fascination was aroused when I realized that a person had an idea of how he wanted a photographic work of art to look, and had to work with an alternative photography process of inventing a technique to achieve it. I find it interesting following these photographic processes through the years and I’ve tried a few of them myself.

I want to talk a little about the main alternative photography processes and go into a brief description of how to do them. I’m not going into elaborate detail because there are some great books out there that already do that. We will have links to these books and a few good websites as well.

Before we get into the alternative photography processes, I want to go over handling the chemistry involved in making this all work. The chemicals used in these processes are very pure and come in a very high concentration. Some chemicals don’t like to be mixed with other chemicals and may react violently. Follow mixing use and storing instructions carefully. The burden of responsibility for the chemicals you buy are yours so be careful.

Here are a few other tips on handling chemicals, when mixing your solutions put the chemicals into the water and do it slowly, don’t splash or spill. Don’t allow the chemicals to become airborne where you could breathe harmful fumes.

Work in a well ventilated room. Cover your trays and put caps on bottles to avoid vapors from filling you work space. Label your containers and date them as well. Use the same containers for the same chemicals, don’t mix them up.

**The information presented here regarding the use of chemicals for alternative photography processes is general in nature and it is your responsibility to follow all directions and safety precautions provided by the chemical manufacturer.**

Look up the MSDS sheet for the chemical if you’re not familiar with it. This sheet tells you all you need to know to safely handle that chemical.

Always wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when mixing or weighing chemicals.

Mix chemicals in the order listed in the instructions, except where the instructions direct you to do otherwise.

Keep your work area clear; wash all utensils and equipment that you used following the manufacturer’s instructions. Extra steps are needed with some chemicals.

Dispose of used chemicals as instructed and be sure you’re not polluting your environment.

One more thing you should know is the Chemical Abstracts Service Registry or [CAS]. This worldwide standard assigns a number to each chemical name that’s out there and a description of the chemical and how it is typically used. The number insures there is no mix up of chemicals worldwide. The CAS numbers and descriptions can be found at www.chemfinder.com

Now that we have the important safety issues covered we can get into the alternative photography processes that I’m sure you’re interested in knowing more about.

Negatives are used the same way in most, but not all alternative photography processes. Here is a description of using a negative to directly print onto paper.

First, you need your negative to be the same size as your final print. The paper you’ve Sensitized is put into contact with the negative and put into a Print frame. It is then exposed to Ultraviolet light or the sun and then developed.

Because of the printing process used, your negative should have a good Tonal range to print well. The negative needs to be the same size as your paper, if not you can enlarge it using a black and white duplicating film like Kodak professional duplicating B/W film SO-339. (Kodak film numbers can change, or be replaced. Check with a full-service photo store or on the web if you can't find a duplicating film with this number.)

The paper used should be 100% rag paper of high quality. Prepare the sensitizing solution following instructions carefully. Using a soft brush, evenly coat the paper and let dry. Use either the sun or a good ultraviolet lamp to expose the negative and coated paper. Next prepare your developer and clearing solution and wash completely and dry the print.

In this section I want to give you a very brief description of some of the alternative photography processes and I hope enough information about them so that you can look up those that interest you. There are a few very good books that cover these alternative photography processes in total detail. I feel I’d be wasting my time trying to reproduce all that great information from those books in this article when they’ve done such a great job in the first place.

The best book on the subject I feel is Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James, available at Amazon.com.

I get my supplies for these processes from Photographer's Formulary, a company I can highly recommend. I’m sure there are other good sources, but I haven’t used them and therefore don’t feel I can recommended them.

The Albumen Alternative Photography Process[1850-1920]

Table salt was beaten into egg white and the mixture spread on sheets of fine quality drawing paper and allowed to dry. The treated paper was sensitized with silver nitrate and dried in the dark. Printing was by contact with the negative over a long exposure to daylight until the image was completely printed out during exposure rather than being developed after exposure. The prints using this process were found to have an objectionable luster to it so it was recommended diluting the Albumen about 50% with salt water to lessen the effect. The resulting print is very clear with fine detail.

The Ambrotype Alternative Photography Process [not commonly used after the mid 1860’s]

This is a wet plate collodion process and shares many of the characteristics of the traditional Silver gelatin Process but does require modifications to your equipment. One of these modifications involves your Film Holder and another involves modifying the tank used to sensitize the Glass plate. When exposed and developed you have a beautiful image on the plate that should be varnished to protect it from damage.

The Bromoil Alternative Photography Process [1907]

The process is simple to do and involves mixing gelatin with Potassium dichromate which will absorb less water when exposed to light than when unexposed. When you apply oil-base ink to the print surface the ink will adhere better to the less saturated areas, resulting in a definite contrast between blacks, white and shades of gray. The gelatin-dichromate layer is UV sensitive. When a contact negative is placed on this layer, the UV rays harden the gelatin based on how much light reaches the gelatin layer. The final print is made when you roll or brush ink on the hardened gelatin layer and transfer the ink to the final support medium..

The Calotype Alternative Photography Process [1840]

I found this a fun and straightforward process in which you actually end up with a paper negative. The process starts off with paper that you’ve impregnated with silver iodide and made light-sensitize by adding a solution containing silver nitrate, acetic acid and gallic acid. You expose this paper in a camera and develop it like a negative. After the negative is dry it is a good idea to wax the paper with beeswax to protect it. Once waxed you can use this negative to contact print other positive prints.

The Collotype Alternative Photography Process [1855]

This is a photo-lithographic process that produces prints in ink from a photographic image made of gelatin. Like carbon and gum-bichromate processes it is based on light-sensitive dichromate colloids. These photographic images are beautiful and are where I adopted the process when I first started painting photographs with watercolor paint.

The Cyanotype Alternative Photography Process [1792-1871]

The cyanotype or Ferro-prussiate process is based on the light sensitivity of various salts of iron. This is a very popular process with beginners because it is very simple and nearly foolproof to do. You can do this in a relatively short time. Ferric ammonium citrate and Potassium ferricyanide Sensitizing solution and applied to paper. When dry the negative and sensitized paper is exposed to sunlight or UV light and a contact print is made. The print is developed and turns a rich blue. It is this color that gives the process its name.

The Daguerrotype Alternative Photography Process [around 1839]

I’m writing about this alternative photograhy process as information on the subject. I do not recommend doing this dangerous process.

The process was invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre and he published the process in September 1839. This process produces a beautiful highly polished silvery copper look to the plate. The silver on the plate was sensitized by the fumes of iodine to form Silver iodide. After the plate was exposed in the camera the latent image on the plate was made visible by development in the fumes of mercury by way of boiling the Mercury [a very dangerous thing to do] which gives off fumes. These fumes are hazardous and can even be lethal. It was then fixed in Sodium hyposulfate [now called Sodium thiosulfate]. The plate took on a mirror-like reflection of the image because that is how the cameras lens sees an object. Originally Daguerre required camera exposure times of a few minutes to thirty or more minutes making portraiture photography nearly impossible.

The Gum Bichromate Alternative Photography Process [first seen around 1858]

This process first looks to be a simple uncomplicated process and I guess it is but the choice of options are almost endless. Gum Bichromate is a positive printing technique using a coating of pigmented, light sensitive Gum Arabic which is a chemical that allows the photographer to actually manipulate the printed image during development. Using Gum Arabic mixed with watercolor pigment is sensitized by adding Potassium Dichromate to the mixture. This colored mixture is brushed onto paper and dried. Using a contact exposure through a negative and strong light hardens the coating differentially according to the amount of light that passes though each part of the negative. During development in water insoluble or partially soluable areas can be lightened with a brush. I like this colorful and flexible process.

The Platinum/Palladium Alternative Photography Process [1873]

The Palladium process is a positive printing technique that’s identical to the Platinum printing process except for the metal used to form the image. Palladium prints have a brown or sepia hue to them; Platinum prints on the other hand have a neutral black to a slightly warm sepia hue to them. Most people I talk to work in Palladium because of the cost of Platinum that seems to keep going up each time I look.

This process was invented and patented by Richard Willis in 1873. Either process is a positive printing process that employs light sensitive iron salts to form a provisional image that is subsequently made visible by conversion into palladium/platinum metal. After contact exposure though a negative, the paper is developed in Potassium oxalate. The dilution of the exposed iron caused the metal to be reduced to pure, elemental metal. The print is immersed in a weak bath of hydrochloric acid, washed, and then dried. A platinum print is a very stable permanent print that should last a very long time.

The Salted Paper Alternative Photography Process [1833-1834]

Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, it was the first silver-based, negative to positive paper printing system to be used in photography. Talbot preferred using Silver chloride, but Silver iodide, Silver bromide, and Silver oxalate were also used. Some photographers add a starch called Arrowroot to improve the color of the print as well as strengthen the image by preventing the silver salts from penetrating too deeply into the paper. This process calls for the paper to be prepared with non-light-sensitive salts ahead of time and sensitized with silver nitrate shortly before use. These prints are susceptible to fading from excessive humidity or pollutants in the air.

Silver Gelatin Print

This is the term used to describe the printing process photographer’s use today. The light sensitive silver salts commonly used in today’s high quality paper is Silver bromide and produces a lot of tonality in the print if the negative is good. This paper is made in a Resin coated back or a more natural Fiber based paper.

Modern printing paper comes in Variable-Contrast paper or the Graded Contrast paper for a more precise print. You can chose from a high Glossy surface all the way to the Flat matte finish I like to use when hand coloring photographs using modern techniques.

I want to finish up the subject of alternative photography processes by going into the fun and rewards I have with Infrared Landscape Photography.

I love working with this film because of the beautiful images I get, but they are often a surprise to see as they are printed. Let me explain.

As I’ve written elsewhere on this site Infrared Light is a spectrum of light that’s just beyond what we can see. We see from about 400-700 nanometers of energy or light. Infrared energy or light is from around 700-900 nanometers in the red wavelengths so it’s just beyond our sight.

Infrared film is very sensitive to heat and light. I have even seen light streaks coming from static electricity on the film, it is that sensitive. Infrared film needs to be kept cold until you use it. Carry a cooler bag and ice packs while in the field. You can keep film in the camera for the day, without any bad effects, unless it’s a very hot day.

You will also need a Changing bag to load film in and out of the camera. Normal light hitting the tail of the infrared film will cause the film to fog so load your camera in a changing bag. Also infrared film is very thin so handle it carefully or it will scratch or tear.

Infrared film usually comes with an ISO of 25 or 50 on it. I have found using a rating of 300 is better to get a good negative for hand painting prints. The negative is thin but I like that because I will paint any detail missed when printed.

When I make an image I will use #25 A red filter or a much darker #87 red filter depending on the light [heat] and the effect I’m looking for. These two filters represent the two basic filter types used in infrared photography. The #25 filter is look-through filter, in that you can see through the filter. A #29 and #70 are also of this type. The #87 red filter is an opaque, true infrared filter. These filters are very dark, and you cannot readily see through them. The true type of infrared filter is expensive.

Focusing your image is tricky because you can’t see infrared light so the lens you’re using has a mark on the barrel called the infrared mark and is used by first looking through your lens normally and focusing, then look at your lens barrel and reset the focus to that mark. You then place the filter on the end and expose your film.

I find an easy way around that by just using a wide angle lens like a 28mm for 35mm film, 50mm for 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 format film and 90mm for 4x5 film. Set your aperture high, f22 or higher if the lens will go higher. With that lens and f stop everything will be in focus to start with.

Develop the film in Kodak D-76 developer at straight concentrations.

Develop film for 11 minutes at 70 degrees F.

Use a stop bath for 30 seconds.

Fix with a rapid hardener fixer for 4 minutes.

I like D 76 developer because it’s a fine grain developer that lets you enlarge the negative larger then you could using another developer.

I like using fiber based paper to print on and a matte surface to paint.

I hope you've found the information on Alternative Photography Processes helpful. Good luck with your projects and have fun but be safe.

If you have questions or comments, please Contact me.