All images and photographs © Scott Nichol. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
here are two images i decided to print yesterday from my trip to Rossland, BC. i wanted to print them in the dark room and chose to do them as salt prints rather than palladium because in some ways, its quick and easy (despite a 20 minute exposure time). the chemistry is simple and the results look wonderful.
Stephanie Anne - Corner Light, Salt Print, 9x11 inches
Rhus - Ferns, Salt Print, 12x8.5 inches
well after about a full day of curve design and some tweaks this morning, i finally got a curve that produces a fairly linear curve for salted paper prints. the salted paper process was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, known as The Father of Modern Photography, in 1833 while he was on his honey moon. the kit that i am using from bostick and sullivan uses a solution of Ammonium Chloride and Sodium Citrate as the salt sensitizing agent. a Silver Nitrate solution gives you the metal base to create the image. the paper is coated with each solution and then exposed to UV light to create the image. after the exposure is complete, there is no development per se. the image is already formed on the paper. you’re only left to wash away the unused silver and then the print is fixed in regular photo fixer (Sodium Thiosulfate). the result is a print with blacks that are kind of dark chocolate, but toning the print in a gold chloride solution gives the prints a more neutral, almost eggplant tone that’s really pleasant.
this scan is of one of my first artist proof prints and the tones are about right. its cropped not exactly how i want it, but rather to match the size of the coatings i’d done. as i write this, i’m waiting for a few more 8×10 inch sheets to dry and i’ll make a one or two more prints tonight. with a 20-minute exposure time, it take a while to make each print, but they’re quite worthwhile!
enjoy,
scott
Kiera - Beltzville, Frame 6. 5x7 inch Salt Print, toned with Gold Chloride
film: Ilford Delta 400 at ISO 800
model: Keira Grant
a little while ago i ventured back into the darkroom armed with some new ideas for tweaking my palladium printing techniques. i wasn’t happy with the prints that i’d made before. there were issues with clearing the prints and the density of the blacks wasn’t exactly where i wanted it to be. i’d read on an APUG thread that, while the developer lasts almost indefinitely, it does need to be replenished and that a little bit of fresh potassium oxalate should be added before each printing session. there were also recommendations for clearing baths – using disodium EDTA and adding some sodium sulfite to the tetrasodium EDTA. so i ordered some new chemistry from Art Craft Chemicals and had another go at it. right from the first couple of test prints it was obvious that the process was working much better than anything i’d done previously.
the following images are scans of the palladium prints made that weekend. the enlarged negatives were made from scans of the original film frames, printed on Pictorico OHP transparency film with a custom Quadtone RIP profile. the prints are about 9×11 inches, printed on 11×15 sheets of Arches Platine paper. they are available for purchase.
Stephanie Anne - Clay Frame #2
Stephanie Anne - Clay, Frame #3
Stephanie Anee - Clay, Frame #5
Making Wet Transfer Prints on Watercolor Papers from Digital Images
Dominique - Embryo, Wet Transfer
This workshop is the first in a series of printmaking classes for both photographers and other visual artists. This class will teach students a unique digital printmaking technique similar in feel to a Polaroid transfer, but with the advantage of being able to use virtually any digital image. The process starts with an inkjet print made on specially coated sheets of polyester film. The print is then transferred to wet sheets of watercolor paper. The results bring a new dimension to digital photography, introducing imperfections and rough edges that produce truly one of a kind prints.
Students will learn hands-on by coating the sheets of film, preparing them for printing and making the prints while in the class. Each student will leave with several completed transfer prints. Each student is required to bring 3-4 digital images that are ready to print.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Class starts promptly at 10:00 am and should finish around 5:00 pm
Location:
645 North Jordan Street
Allentown, PA 18104
Price: $120 (includes all materials fees)
This class is limited to the first 10 artists who sign up. Your payment reserves your place in the class.
More details and to sign up, visit The Illuminated Figure web site!
shot on ilford delta pro 100 film with the Mamiya RZ67, scanned, adjusted in photoshop for contrast, dodging and burning, spotted with healing brush for dust, and cropped. printed on duralar coated with a custom mix of ink aid clear gloss pre-coat and golden acrylic flow release then wet transferred to Rives BFK watercolor paper. the distressed edges and some of the white spotting are a result of the randomness of the transfer process. model and paper backdrop did have a fair amount of talcum powder for texture in the original shot.
this will be on display at the show i’m doing with Bill Earle at Three Little Pigs, 131 North High Street in West Chester, PA. show opens Friday, March 5, 2010 at 7pm.
Dominique - Embryo, Wet Transfer
an emulsion lift is one of the really interesting things you can do with a polaroid print after it has been developed. the process intrigued me and now that i’ve got my hands on an honest-to-goodness polaroid, i had to try it. i’ve got a vision of a series of shots i want to do when Brooke Lynne comes to town next weekend. but its hard to do something like this without at least practicing first. i am frequently surprised at how quickly i can zero-in on the root cause of a problem and fix it, especially when it comes to photography!
the emulsion lift process typically involves soaking the polaroid print in hot water for a few minutes and, like magic, the emulsion will start to separate from the paper. for the polaroid 664 film that i was using, it takes water a bit hotter, so you’ve got to soak the print in boiling water for up to 15 minutes. my first few attempts at this didn’t go very well. while the emulsion started to peel away at the edges of the print, it didn’t release totally. and trying to pull the thin emulsion from the paper caused it to rip. and once the pieces of emulsion are separated from the paper, they’re thin as jellyfish and getting them back together is nearly impossible. the emulsion is so thin and light there’s almost no way to actually feel when you’re touching it.
but i did have one print where the emulsion seemed to lift much more easily and i tried to deduce what was different about this print. at first i thought it was that the print had a lot less shadow areas where there was less dye impregnated in the emulsion. so i tried another print that had less black in the emulsion. but the emulsion on this print refused to lift as well. and then i realized that the real difference was that i used a much shorter development time with the prints where the emulsion lifted easily . so, i did an experiment with some of the remaining frames from the pack. i developed these prints for only 30 seconds instead of 45 seconds. i let the prints dry for a few hours and when i tried to lift the emulsions, they came off with out any problems whatsoever. bingo. now i had a process for making this work.
however, its never really over until the process is truly complete as i just found out while fiddling with the completed transfers. i’ve been applying some diluted acrylic gesso to the transfers to help adhere them to the paper. however, this can cause problems because the emulsion seems to shrink as it dries, bending the paper and separating the emulsion from the paper in the middle. attempting to flatten the image only cause the emulsion to rip and tear. it seems like i might be able to solve this by bathing the paper and emulsion in a cool water bath prior to final adherence to the paper. this would allow the emulsion to shrink naturally before it is applied to the paper. back to the drawing board in a sense…
First attempt at a Polaroid Emulsion Lift, the emulsion ripped and this was the only part of the image i could get onto the transfer paper.
A later emulsion lift. Only part of the emulsion tore this time.
The most successful lift, even after drying, this print is mostly in tact and can probably be salvaged after a soak in some warm water.