Van Dyke

The Van Dyke Brown method of making photographs has been around since the early days of photographic printing, and was based on the first iron-silver process, the argentotype, invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel. it was one of those methods that just kind of "found itself" as one could say.

I was not able to witness the creation of these miracle photographs, but here is how it is done.

1. Prepare a solution (1) of 33 milliliters Distilled water and 9 grams Ferric Ammonium Citrate in its own container.
2. Prepare a solution (2) of 33 milliliters Distilled water and 1.5 grams Tartaric Acid in its own container.
3. Prepare a solution (3) of 33 milliliters Distilled water and 3.8 grams Silver Nitrate in its own container.
4. Combine solutions 1 and 2 in a Beaker.


5. With a GLASS ROD slowly stir in solution 3. After stirred, put the solution in a brown bottle and let it age at least a few days.



6. Coat your paper in the solution and let it dry. Note that the paper is highly light-sensitive, and should be protected from UV radiation.

7. place a negative on top of your coated and ready paper, sandwich glass on top for stability, and expose*
8. Once exposed, you should notice your paper has an image on it, although the density will be deceptive. After looking at it, place it in a light-proof "something" and prepare a mixture of Distilled water and 2% Sodium Thiosulphate solution, prepare it in a photo-tub.


9. Rinse your print under room temperature running water for about 5 minutes, it might be a good idea to do this in several different tubs to make sure all of the iron leaves the paper.
10. Remove your print from the water and fix in the 2% Sodium Thiosulphate solution for 3 minutes.
11. Remove your print from the fixer and rinse in running water for 20 minutes.



12. Let your photograph dry, and you are done! Congratulations for you!


*I'm sure a camera obscura would be satisfactory too, although a longer exposure time would probably be necessary.


Take your paper, of course a rag is better, and

The washing solution is, as Wikipedia puts it, "a weak, alkaline fixer of 5% sodium thiosulfate with a teaspoon of household ammonia per liter. The alkali slows the fixing process and prevents rapid bleaching of the image. Almost immediately, the tones of the image will change to a deep chocolate brown. Keep fixing until the whites appear clear; about 2 minutes, and finish with a second, clean fix if desired for thorough removal of salts that would fade the image. Use a fixer clearing bath of sodium sulfite to help remove residual fixer, and give the print an extended wash fitting the absorbancy of the substrate, around 30-45 minutes for absorbent papers, or 5-10 minutes for gelatin sized tile or glass."




SOME SWEET LINKS!!



The simple way to do it

A Guy who knows his STUFF

Albumen

The albumen process is pretty sweet. More a coating than a specific process, albumen prints use a coating of Albumen (egg whites) and salt to create a nice surface on top of the desired paper, and allowing the one making the paper to place the light-sensitive silver nitrate on top - this produced a much sharper image than the other processes of the time, and also just looked sweet. It allowed for a glossy finish! Eat your heart out cyanotypes.

With the ability to create sharp images, the albumen process became a hit very fast. The paper was sold commercially, or you could make your own - as it is such a simple process. After you decide this is what you wanna do, the next step is to de-yolk about a dozen eggs, and whisk them in a container (shaking works well too) and do so VIOLENTLY until you get a nice foamy goo. I wanted to point out that this is definitely the most physical part of the process: you really have to feel the egg goo as you beast it. But even though this is the most active step to the albumen process, it is NOT the best part! That comes a bit down the road.

This photo was swiped off the internet: It is frothy egg goo.





The process:
First, you have to make your solution:

---I would recommend making all of the different "potions" on the same day, because they need time to get ready for you. Let your materials get some time to get to know you beter, and then the final print (AKA "Money-Shot") will yield much beter results and mean so, so much more.

1. Get a large beaker and combine 15-ml of distilled water with 2 milliliters of 28% acetic acid, and 15-g of ammonium chloride (sodium chloride or de iodized table/sea salt may be used as an alternative). It is also okay to "loosen things up" by adding 2 drops Kodak PhotoFlo, however it is completely optional.

2. The next step is to get together *500ml of egg white (12 eggs) and get it in a large tupperware container with a strong lid.**
Take the beaker of chemicals and mix it into the egg whites, secure the lid tightly, and begin your vigorous onslaught at the mixture's agitation. REMEMBER - These mixed chemicals and goo need to be agitated VIOLENTLY in order to get the mixture to be efficient. You have to really really get the motion going, because the froth that is made from agitation is the enemy - and you want to get that son of a bitch out of his bunker so you can scrape his ass up later.
3. Get your foamy and thick-yet-not-stiff bowl of chemistry and put it in the fridge for a night.
4. When you get to your fridge the next afternoon, remove all of the dirty foam from the top of the container, and filter the remaining liquid through a cheese cloth into your preferred containment vessel.
5. You should now get paper ready for the coating process, and this involves (wait for it) The floating of your paper on top of the albumen mixture. This really means-FOLD THE PAPER INTO LITTLE BOATS! Hell yeah: Start by folding the corners upwards, such as around a frame or make a paper-box, and bow the center of the paper to make a sort of "keel", and preventing air bubbles.
6. Float the paper on top of the mixture and eliminate any air bubbles as they appear.
7. Hang the paper to dry, making sure to rid the surface of those pesky little bubbles. Also make sure that you keep the paper in boat-form, because you will need these smooth-sailing curves later.
8. For a RE-COAT: prepare a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol with 3% ammonium chloride added, making sure that it is the same temperature of your paper.
9. Submerse the once-coated paper in the solution for 15 seconds, ensuring the albumen will harden, ensuring a proper second coat.
10. "When the alcohol has evaporated (fully – otherwise the second coat won’t stick), float the paper on the surface of the albumen mixture once again following the previously described procedure. The recommended salt concentration corresponds directly with the concentration of salt in the albumen coating. (Since 70% isopropyl alcohol will leech salt from the albumen, the same concentration must exist in both solutions.)" Copied from Alternative Photography
11. The paper should be dried again, and then depending on your desired amount of time the paper should rot, you need to sensitize it.
12. Prepare a mixture of 37.5 grams of silver nitrate with 250 milliliters of distilled water, giving you a 15% solution. Cloudy at first, this will go away, but doesn't matter anyway.-So store the sensitizer in a cool, dark place (fridge) overnight.
13. Take the new sensitizer and get it to room temperature, or however hot your paper is. Get the sensitizing chemical into a nice and wide Pyrex or glass container***
14. Take your single or double-coated albumen boats, and float them on the surface of the sensitizer for about 3 minutes. Make sure to eliminate the evil bubbles- you'll have to figure this out on your own, as every bubble-demon is different. after floating your boat (I recommend listening to This During boating times) take it and hang it to dry in a dark place. I mean it -the paper is light-sensitive now.
15. After it is dry, you are done making your paper! Cut it to your specifications, making sure to remove the flaps of uncoated paper. The coated paper is placed under a photo negative, and then glass to keep it in place. The contraption is then exposed in sunlight.


16. The paper is then rinsed in a solution of water, and then either a toner can be applied, or you can simply soak the print in a non-hardening fixer, and wash in water again for about an hour.

17. Your resulting image will be light brown, maybe a little red or purple-ish. But after you are done here, you will know what your image is like.

So On this whole lab thing, I missed the best part. i didn't make any boats, all i did was expose and wash them. Also, My prints were ruined after i unknowingly destroyed the albumen by drying them on a mirror, as is my norm in the darkroom with regular silver prints.


HERE ARE SOME LINKS!!!!!

A great site to look at some great prints!

How to make an Albumen print from start to finish

* The best method is to crack fresh ones, I was told EggBeaters (or whatever the trademarked product is) do not work so well.
** Perhaps a better mix can be made with a high-power mixing bowl, but why bullshit the historical nature of the process?
*** The Pyrex or Glass container is best, but using an aluminum cake-tray might be easier if you are a poor college student. I might say though, that the unclean metal might react with your chemistry. Who knows right?

Albumen

The albumen process is pretty sweet. More a coating than a specific process, albumen prints use a coating of Albumen (egg whites) and salt to create a nice surface on top of the desired paper, and allowing the one making the paper to place the light-sensitive silver nitrate on top - this produced a much sharper image than the other processes of the time, and also just looked sweet. It allowed for a glossy finish! Eat your heart out cyanotypes.

With the ability to create sharp images, the albumen process became a hit very fast. The paper was sold commercially, or you could make your own - as it is such a simple process. After you decide this is what you wanna do, the next step is to de-yolk about a dozen eggs, and whisk them in a container (shaking works well too) and do so VIOLENTLY until you get a nice foamy goo.
This photo was swiped off the internet: It is frothy egg goo


The process:
First, you have to make your solution:
500ml of egg white (12 eggs): These need to be agitated VIOLENTLY in order to get the mixture to be efficient. Letting the foam settle and the whites age (rot) for a while will give better results.
15-g ammonium chloride or salt
15-ml distilled water
2-ml 28% acetic (glacial) acid
15-g sodium citrate (optional preservative)
2 drops Kodak PhotoFlo (optional)

Paper can be divided with tape, although a slice-and-part technique before taping will

The coated paper is placed under a photo negative, and then glass to keep it in place. The contraption is then exposed in sunlight.


The paper is then rinsed in a solution of water, and then

Cyanotypes and Toning

The cyanotype process was discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, as a means to copy notes and documents - the process resulted in a blue color, and this invention can be credited to the "blue print" that people still use today. While SJH had discovered the cyanotype process, the usage of it for a photographic technique didn't occur until Anna Atkins used the paper for use in photograms, which also dates her as the first female photographer.

Here is Anna Atkins's "algae"



The cyanotype process uses very safe chemicals, and is very interesting as it only uses WATER to fix the image.
With Iron salts being the light-sensitive part here, they just have to be spread on a surface and absorbed. This is kind of lame because impregnated paper always has fuzzy images, but the cyanotype process is boss anyway.

An example mix:
First, 5 grams Ferric ammonium citrate and 100 ml. distilled water are mixed into solution into their own container.
Next, 10 grams Potassium ferricyanide and 100 ml. distilled water are mixed into solution in their own container.
The solutions are mixed thoroughly, and the solution is ready to use as a coating, in our case with a foam brush.
Once coated, the paper is exposed under UV rays (sunlight dummy) and then rinsed in water, rinsing away extra color, but also fixing the chemicals. The finished cyanotype shouldn't be left in direct sunlight, but it is a long-lasting type of print.

The toning that can be done on cyanotype's is very fun: aided by the amount of things you can do to them. In lab: we used tea, coffee, and ammonia to tone our cyanotypes, catching them between the first rinse and the drying stage. Tannic acid, found in tea and coffee, changes the color of the cyanotype to a brown color, and the ammonia really lightens the job. Alternately, hydrogen peroxide or lemon juice will make ta stronger blue. Also, with a solution of salt, ammonia, or clorox, you can bleach the print.

Some toned prints swiped from the web: the left one is regular while the other is toned with tea!


Class Lab
First, the paper is taped around the borders to be even while coating.

Next, the potassium ferricyanide ferric ammonium citrate solution are applied with a foam brush.


The paper is then dried, removed from the tape, and placed under glass with a negative sandwiched in between - and placed in sunlight for exposure. I held the negative and the paper together tightly using a cotton glove to add pressure.


After 20 minutes of sunlight exposure, the paper was removed from the glass and the resulting image appeared.

Next the print is washed in water. In this case, the color almost completely washed off, and my beautiful flower cyanotype became faded and sad. A little splash of hydrogen peroxide aided in recovering some color, but not too well.



After the whole process was over, another identical process was done, the image on the bottom with a different process. The bottom image was the photograph from above, but the top is a cyanotype of the same exposure, however processed in a tea toner and then placed in strong ammonia before being washed in water again, and dried.


Here is a cyanotype I made with a contact sheet of 6x6 film, exposed in much brighter sunlight for 10 minutes. Rinsed in hydrogen peroxide and then water left a yellow color. Or so I believe.

For more info on cyanotypes, click here.

or here.

or here!

Camera Obscura

cam·era ob·scu·ra
/ˈkæmərə, ˈkæmrə/ɒbˈskyʊərə/
–noun
a darkened boxlike device in which images of external objects, received through an aperture, as with a convex lens, are exhibited in their natural colors on a surface arranged to receive them: used for sketching, exhibition purposes, etc.




"ancestor of the photographic camera. The Latin name means "dark chamber," and the earliest versions, dating to antiquity, consisted of small darkened rooms with light admitted through a single tiny hole. The result was that an inverted image of the outside scene was cast on the opposite wall, which was usually whitened. For centuries the technique was used for viewing eclipses of the Sun without endangering the eyes and, by the 16th century, as an aid to drawing; the subject was posed outside and the image reflected on a piece of drawing paper for the artist to trace. Portable versions were built, followed by smaller and even pocket models; the interior of the box was painted black and the image reflected by an angled mirror so that it could be viewed right side up. The introduction of a light-sensitive plate by J.-N. Niepce created photography."

Originally, the camera obscura was a large room with only a small opening to allow an image to appear against the opposite wall. This method has been around a very long time, with such a simple method of operation that it is really hard to place it exactly. Seriously, thousands of years ago in ancient china they had these things - not just since the middle ages, aka the 60's.




Larger camera obscuras built for amusement are all around the place; once a spectacle, the camera obscura structures of the last century are now a novelty to those who could simply pull out a cellphone and take a 10 megapixel image. Coming in a variety of sizes and shapes, these structures usually have a similar periscope-type lens to produce an image on a flat surface near the ground that allows people to see the image outside the enclosure.








Portable camera obscuras had been used for a long time as well to aid artists in painting more realistically. These devices typically used a single lens and a mirror to reflect the subject upwards onto tracing paper, which the artist would then outline, or, more simply, the artist would enclose himself in a wooden box with a lens to face the model, and the artist would use the tracing paper to outline the model. I feel like the man in the first image is compensating for something.





Camera obscura's can be made in a room, in a box, or in a shoe - as long as you have a dark space and an aperture to focus light, an image should appear on the other side. In our class, we were assigned to make our own camera obscura, something that I found to be an absolute joy as I love to build things.

My design used a +10 diopter from a lens filter and another piece of glass from an old lens, giving a very sharp, very nice view on the ground glass on the back of the camera obscura. The glass also allowed me to have a larger opening in the front, however my focal point was rather close to the lens, and the focusing range goes from 2 feet to infinity with a slide of about an ince, positioning the lens closer or further from the ground glass.

Photographic drawing salted paper: part deux

"How charming it would be if it were possible to cause these natural images to imprint themselves durable and remain fixed upon the paper! And why should it not be possible? I asked myself."
-William Henry Fox Talbot

During this part of our wonderful photo process class, we focused on making contact prints on self-made paper. We stuck to 3 different kinds of coating: Arrowroot, gelatin, and albumen, to create our "old-timey" photographic prints.

The wizard of the photographic drawing, William Henry Fox Talbot's discovery came between 1834-35, when he made the world's first silver chloride photo paper, and a process that could keep images from suddenly disappearing after being exposed to light again. Talbot's "photogenic drawing" paper was made in two steps: 1, fine quality writing paper was dunked in a weak salt solution and dried. 2, the paper became light sensitive by brushing on a strong solution of silver nitrate. After sensitized, the paper could be contact-printed, turning very dark in the sunlight. The paper was then soaked in a strong salt water solution to remove the paper's sensitivity to light, although bright light would still ruin the print. Herschel suggested that Talbot change to sodium thiosulfate, or "hypo" as the fixing material,which was a glorious choice, because the prints would now be fixed for real, and gave them white highlights instead of the faded opaque look from before. So in 1839, "hypo" became the preferred method of fixation, and Talbot's "photogenic drawing" paper became known as "regular photo paper".



Talbot noticed that his prints looked different than those elsewhere, and found out that gelatin in his paper made his images more red and brown than the other guys. He used neutral citrate to make his prints brighter and more red, and also looked into changing the binder from salt. The resulting discovery was a paste of arrowroot, a starchy mixture instead of a salty one that gave better color and more detail to the image. In fact, once arrowroot was discovered, single-salt papers were obsolete.

The Albumen print was invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and used the albumen found in egg whites to stick adhere silver to the paper. Eggs being so inexpensive, Albumen prints grew in popularity and were used world-wide for photographic purposes, and the shiny surface of the dried egg whites made the albumen print the right choice aesthetically out of the three.




In class, we experimented with 3 different types of silver-based photo paper, each made in lab under controlled settings.

The papers

Arrowroot coating:
4g arrowroot
119mL water
4g NaCl
.5g citric acid

To get the solution, an arrowroot paste was added to the NaCl and citric acid, and then ready for use.

Gelatin coating:
125mL water
1g gelatin
2.5g citric acid
2.5 g NaCl

The mixture was heated in a double boiler, and while warm, coated onto photorag paper.

Albumen coating:
500mL egg white
3mL vinegar
7.5g NaCl

The egg white was shaken (violently I may add) then let to sit in a container for two days. The coating process involved taking photo rag paper and floating paper on top of the surface of the albumen, avoiding bubbles of course, dried and re-coated.


After the paper coating ordeal (My group actually was kind enough to do it for me in my absence) I had 2 sheets of paper for each mix, the first with one coat and the second with two coats of each concoction. The albumen with two coats was shiny but the single-coated page was pretty flat.

Eat type of paper was exposed with the same process:
first, the dried albumen, gelatin, and arrowroot papers were coated with one coat of silver nitrate solution, dried, and then a second coat was applied and dried. In the end, I had a sheet of each paper with 1, 2, and 3 coats of silver ---- to make sure which worked best.

A 4x5 negative of a rose was placed on each paper individually, and they were exposed in direct sunlight for 5 minutes, washed, fixed, and washed again.




My best results were with albumen, with 2 coats of albumen and 3 coats of silver.




Good links on the subject:
http://albumen.conservation-us.org/library/monographs/reilly/chap3.html
http://steveanchell.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34%3Asalted-paper&catid=15%3Aoutput-darkroom-and-lightroom&Itemid=39
http://chadjarvis.com/pdf/Reilly.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=k2gMwudsE3IC&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226&dq=19th+century+manuals+salted+paper&source=bl&ots=QFXXHcgbZC&sig=pQwH6pAjpWYhmqpBziCEeeUPdjQ&hl=en&ei=xGW3Tca5DYyltwe-qKzeBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=true

The photogenic drawing

The photogenic drawing is a type of image making that uses silver nitrate and salt to create a positive-negative image on the exposed surface. Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, the photogenic drawing was announced after the discoveries made by Daguerre with his own photographic process. Being reasonably inexpensive and simple, the photogenic drawing was a great advance in photographic image making, the process using basically the same end product that black-and-white photo paper is today.
With the light sensitive silver nitrate applied to the paper, an object or a negative is placed on the surface and allowed exposure until they seemed done, about 5 minutes depending on the mixture. Another method was placing the paper in a camera obscura, also giving an image.



The Procedure
In our experiment, we created our own photogenic drawings, and tested the varying sensitivity to light that different mixtures of chemistry would have.

1. 100% rag paper was labeled and adhered to a cutting board with masking tape for stability and organization
We labeled 12 sheets for different ratios of salt (NaC)l and silver nitrate (AgNO3), and different number of coatings of each
These are the mixtures used:
1. 1 coat 2% NaCl and 2 coats 12% AgNO3
2. 1 coat 2% NaCl and 2 coats 5% AgNO3
3. 1 coat 5% NaCl and 2 coats 12% AgNO3
4. 1 coat 5% NaCl and 2 coats 5% AgNO3
5. 2 coats 2% NaCl and 2 coats 12% AgNO3
6. 2 coats 2% NaCl and 2 coats 5% AgNO3
7. 2 coats 5% NaCl and 2 coats 12% AgNO3
8. 2 coats 5% NaCl and 2 coats 5% AgNO3
9.2 coats 2% NaCl and 1 coat 12% AgNO3
10. 2 coats 2% NaCl and 1 coat 5% AgNO3
11. 2 coats 5% NaCl and 1 coat 12% AgNO3
12. 2 coats 5% NaCl and 1 coat 5% AgNO3

2. Salt solution was applied with a brush and then allowed to dry, either 1 or two coatings
3. Silver nitrate solution was applied with a brush and allowed to dry, either 1 or two coatings
4. A variety of objects were placed upon our paper, including a zippo lighter, car keys, scissors, and pens
5. The paper was set outside in daylight for a 7 minute exposure time, and then brought inside
6. The sheets were peeled from the holder, washed in strong salt water, and then washed in cold water.

Results

We found that more salt is bad for the paper, as it gives less sensitivity to the silver, and the resulting image is very light, where too much silver or not enough salt leads to a dark, overly sensitive and ugly image.



Here are more resources on the subject:
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/features/ephotos/pdtypes.htm
http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/PhotoDrawing.html
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_early/1_early_photography_-_processes_-_photogenic_drawing.htm

Anthotypes: First Project

Photograph by SILVINO GONZÁLEZ
Check him out: http://bipolaryourmung.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/anthotypes-update/

Our first topic in class was the anthotype: an image making process developed by Sir John Herschel in the early 1840's. The process paper to be coated with a light-sensitive extract obtained from various organic material, more commonly leaves and berries, and exposing the coated surface to light with a desired image overlay, creating a contact print. The name is derived from the Greek word antho, meaning flower. For the completely exposed surface of the paper, color will bleach away as the sunlight destroys the color of the juice. The covered part of the surface will not be exposed to the UV rays of the sun, and the color will remain, resulting in an image with a positive image. While the exposure takes a long time, the resulting image can be quickly destroyed if exposed to more sunlight, due to the now vulnerable and previously-protected coating.

Lab work: In my class, my team and I created an experiment to test what light sensitive materials: Raspberry or spinach juice; and which binder: water or alcohol; would create the best image when used as a coating for an anthotype.

The process involved 2 coats of light sensitive material on 6 sheets of bristol board, using 6 different coating mixtures:
1. Sheet one was coated with a ratio of 1:1-filtered raspberry juice and distilled water
2. Sheet two was coated with a ratio of 1:1-filtered spinach juice and distilled water
3. Sheet three was coated with a ratio of 1:1-filtered spinach juice and filtered raspberry juice mixture, and distilled water
4. Sheet four was coated with a ratio of 2:1-filtered raspberry juice and alcohol
5. Sheet five was coated with a ratio of 2:1-filtered spinach juice and alcohol
6. Sheet six was coated with a ratio of 2:1 - filtered spinach juice and filteres raspberry juice mixture, and alcohol

7. All sheets were covered in some locations, covering the different coatings
8. Sheets distributed to group members
9. All sheets were set up and places in sunlight for exposure.

I received the sheet coated with 2 parts spinach juice, and 1 part alcohol. I placed a cut-out of a supermodel on to block some light and allow other light to expose the coating. I placed it in a window that gets the most light in my house, and taped a black board behind it to prevent strange reflections through the glass. I hope for an image of a bikini-model within the next few months.

Here is an image of my current set-up:




Hopeful!

Here are some good links to learn more about the anthotype process, and help you make your own:

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/anthotypes/anthotype-process

http://193.166.40.90/?cat=18

http://www.f295.org/Pinholeforum/forum/Blah.pl/Blah.pl?m-1187767675/