Cyanotype/vandyke combo print of Path to Power Center
And a link to a spark page with more darkroom and alternative processes prints of my large format photography:
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Alternative Processes 2018 Project
During the winter semester of 2018, I took a photography projects course with Tim Householder. I spent the semester making cyanotypes, van dyke brown and cyan-o-dyke prints of large format negatives. It was fun to play with the two processes and combine them in the end. Here is my most successful image from the project:
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Fresh Start
Welcome back! It has been over a year and a half since I last posted on this blog. Much has developed in my photographic and artistic life since then, but without the commitment device of a class requirement, my blogging has fallen by the wayside.
So why resurrect the blog now? Because I need a blog to fulfill a requirement for my photo seminar class this semester. My first posts will report on my photographic development since taking alternative processes class in the Summer of 2017. I may also fold in a few posts that treat my creative output in other artistic media: drawing, painting, design and sculpture. The final set of posts will treat my current photography projects.
So why resurrect the blog now? Because I need a blog to fulfill a requirement for my photo seminar class this semester. My first posts will report on my photographic development since taking alternative processes class in the Summer of 2017. I may also fold in a few posts that treat my creative output in other artistic media: drawing, painting, design and sculpture. The final set of posts will treat my current photography projects.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Week 7 Report
Dates: June 20 & 22, 2017
Processes I learned this week: My goal this week was to check off the two remaining processes on my to-do list and make another series of prints from my pinhole shoot. Goals were accomplished. I tried my hand at hand coloring with both prismacolor pencils and water color paints/pencils, transferred two images using packing tape and began the transfer process with gel medium for an additional two images, and made a vdb print of one of the tape-transferred images and experimented with b&w prints and solarization with the other. In addition, I made a traditional black and white and a lith print of the another image from my pinhole, a shot that was exposed to light in utero by my rough handling of the delicate winding mechanism. As promised, I shot and developed a new roll of film on the Holga, from my excursion to Detroit on Sunday, and made a few more prints. Finally, the line between my courses in darkroom and alternative processes has blurred, and on Wednesday, I successfully solarized one of my Holga prints.
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
NA
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
1. Medium Format. On Monday night I developed my second roll of film shot using the Holga at the Scarab Club and DIA and on Tuesday, I printed this contact sheet:
Then, on Wednesday, I made the following medium format prints. The first one is of a sculpture in front of the DIA. Not sure which version I like better.
The only difference between the two is 2 seconds of exposure time (10 and 8 seconds, respectively, otherwise aperture at 5.6 and contrast at 3.) Scanned and on the computer screen, I prefer the lower image. The kid is easier to discern, and the details on the front of the sculpture give it depth. Perhaps the crop of the first, with the parameter values of the second?
Then, I played around with solarizing a classic Holga light leak shot, taken inside the conservatory at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The solarizing technique was developed by a couple of my darkroom classmates. After exposing print, place in developer for 30 seconds, then put in small tray with water, exposed side up, and go to the curtain at the darkroom exit. Expose briefly to light coming through curtain, but not to full light outside. Then hurry back and put print in developer and pull it out when image is at desired stage (snatch and grab like lith.) Then put in stop and fixer and rinse as usual.
My first attempt didn't quite work:
My darkroom teacher suggested that I pull it out of the developer earlier, so I gave it 25 rather than 30 seconds on the second try. I also was braver about the light exposure, walking to the far edge of the curtain where direct light comes in. Not only did my second attempt result in a light/dark flip in some of the highlight and shadow areas, but it also produced sabottier effect (light outline against dark background) along the ridges of the leaf. Success!
2. Hand Coloring. First, using prismacolor pencils, last Saturday, I drew in Coco's blue eye over my failed attempt at combining cyanotype and vdb a few weeks ago, where the cyanotype print almost completely washed out of her eye region.
Second, I added a psychedelic watercolor overlay to another so-so old cyanotype of Coco. Got frustrated with one section that was marred by the cheap water color paint that was purportedly yellow but actually a garish orange, which I then turned into a hole in the paper. To fill in the hole, I placed a cyanotype print of her blue eye behind it.
I have no idea what I am doing with watercolor, and look forward to a four day introductory workshop at the Ann Arbor Center this July.
3. Image transfer.
a. Tape. Using Duck brand clear packing tape as described in a post long ago, I made two image transfers. The first one is of a stock image of a moray eel that was printed out on my home computer ages ago by my husband Eric as a model for a ceramics sculpture, and has been subsequently lying around the house. First, the transferred image with a white background:
Now, what to do with this beauty.... First image is of the transfer placed against a fish tank:
Eric was worried that it might scare the current inhabitants of the tank, Bella the Oscar and her sidekick Loach. On the other hand, I think aquarium wallpaper is a cool idea for positive tape transfers. Love the sunlit illumination and the interplay between the background noise of the transfer image and the algae. Sadly, Algernon the algae eater passed away a couple of years ago, so most of the tank is covered with algae.
On Thursday, I played around in the darkroom. First, a regular contact print, except the negative is a positive. There must be a vocabulary term for this.
Then, I tried to solarize twice and was not happy with results. Might scan and post later. But the consensus is that the above print is the most dramatic of the three.
With two other images from Eric's moray eel project, I started gel medium transfer process. These are still drying. Will update with results next week. Might also try my hand with direct transfer onto either wood or glass. Inclined to do glass, as I have several small rectangular glass samples that I picked up from Scrap Box a month ago.
Finally, I could not resist one final tape transfer, this time of a wonderful old picture of Eric from his high school days. I used this image as a basis for my life drawing 2 surrealistic masterpiece last semester (should post this, along with scan of original photo), and had a few photocopies with jettisoned ideas and notes lying around.
The transferred image, against an brown envelope backing:
Then, at lab on Thursday, I made a VDB print of this.
4. Pinhole. Three prints made of one image of Coco sunning herself in front of two chairs and a clay hippy outdoor stove in my backyard, made with the pinhole, and exposed to an inadvertent light leak. Note the snakeskin pattern on the right, which I believe was made by scraping emulsion while advancing film in this primitive camera.
First try, black and white print, aperture 3, 20 seconds, contrast 2.
Next, the lith developed version:
As with the pinhole prints last week, my favorite this time is the lith.
5. Bonus. A mysterious letter arrived from Berkeley, CA on Thursday afternoon just as I was leaving for open darkroom lab. The letter contained seven medium format negatives. Made the following contact sheet:
And a cropped print of the artistic in-camera double exposure:
6. Field trip. On Friday, I visited Muskegon with two of my darkroom photography classmates, Rob and Magdalena. We took in the Edward S. Curtis exhibit at the Muskegon Art Museum, and went to the beach.
The following images are of a large format camera not unlike the one used by Curtis to shoot his 14x17 (!!!) negatives. Note my classmates in the background for a sense of magnitude.
The exhibit was beautiful and extensive. It was so exciting to see so many images printed in such rich shades of golden brown. Curtis loved to experiment, and the exhibit had one of his orotone prints of a portrait, in which he used banana oil as part of the emulsion. It was juxtaposed with a print made using his typical sepia toned process. The orotone softened the shadows abutting highlights relative to the sepia tone, giving the print a more painterly look. Unfortunately, I did not snap a shot of these images, so you will have to trek to Muskegon this summer to see it for yourself!
Processes I learned this week: My goal this week was to check off the two remaining processes on my to-do list and make another series of prints from my pinhole shoot. Goals were accomplished. I tried my hand at hand coloring with both prismacolor pencils and water color paints/pencils, transferred two images using packing tape and began the transfer process with gel medium for an additional two images, and made a vdb print of one of the tape-transferred images and experimented with b&w prints and solarization with the other. In addition, I made a traditional black and white and a lith print of the another image from my pinhole, a shot that was exposed to light in utero by my rough handling of the delicate winding mechanism. As promised, I shot and developed a new roll of film on the Holga, from my excursion to Detroit on Sunday, and made a few more prints. Finally, the line between my courses in darkroom and alternative processes has blurred, and on Wednesday, I successfully solarized one of my Holga prints.
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
NA
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
1. Medium Format. On Monday night I developed my second roll of film shot using the Holga at the Scarab Club and DIA and on Tuesday, I printed this contact sheet:
Then, on Wednesday, I made the following medium format prints. The first one is of a sculpture in front of the DIA. Not sure which version I like better.
The only difference between the two is 2 seconds of exposure time (10 and 8 seconds, respectively, otherwise aperture at 5.6 and contrast at 3.) Scanned and on the computer screen, I prefer the lower image. The kid is easier to discern, and the details on the front of the sculpture give it depth. Perhaps the crop of the first, with the parameter values of the second?
Then, I played around with solarizing a classic Holga light leak shot, taken inside the conservatory at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The solarizing technique was developed by a couple of my darkroom classmates. After exposing print, place in developer for 30 seconds, then put in small tray with water, exposed side up, and go to the curtain at the darkroom exit. Expose briefly to light coming through curtain, but not to full light outside. Then hurry back and put print in developer and pull it out when image is at desired stage (snatch and grab like lith.) Then put in stop and fixer and rinse as usual.
My first attempt didn't quite work:
My darkroom teacher suggested that I pull it out of the developer earlier, so I gave it 25 rather than 30 seconds on the second try. I also was braver about the light exposure, walking to the far edge of the curtain where direct light comes in. Not only did my second attempt result in a light/dark flip in some of the highlight and shadow areas, but it also produced sabottier effect (light outline against dark background) along the ridges of the leaf. Success!
2. Hand Coloring. First, using prismacolor pencils, last Saturday, I drew in Coco's blue eye over my failed attempt at combining cyanotype and vdb a few weeks ago, where the cyanotype print almost completely washed out of her eye region.
Second, I added a psychedelic watercolor overlay to another so-so old cyanotype of Coco. Got frustrated with one section that was marred by the cheap water color paint that was purportedly yellow but actually a garish orange, which I then turned into a hole in the paper. To fill in the hole, I placed a cyanotype print of her blue eye behind it.
3. Image transfer.
a. Tape. Using Duck brand clear packing tape as described in a post long ago, I made two image transfers. The first one is of a stock image of a moray eel that was printed out on my home computer ages ago by my husband Eric as a model for a ceramics sculpture, and has been subsequently lying around the house. First, the transferred image with a white background:
Now, what to do with this beauty.... First image is of the transfer placed against a fish tank:
Eric was worried that it might scare the current inhabitants of the tank, Bella the Oscar and her sidekick Loach. On the other hand, I think aquarium wallpaper is a cool idea for positive tape transfers. Love the sunlit illumination and the interplay between the background noise of the transfer image and the algae. Sadly, Algernon the algae eater passed away a couple of years ago, so most of the tank is covered with algae.
On Thursday, I played around in the darkroom. First, a regular contact print, except the negative is a positive. There must be a vocabulary term for this.
Then, I tried to solarize twice and was not happy with results. Might scan and post later. But the consensus is that the above print is the most dramatic of the three.
With two other images from Eric's moray eel project, I started gel medium transfer process. These are still drying. Will update with results next week. Might also try my hand with direct transfer onto either wood or glass. Inclined to do glass, as I have several small rectangular glass samples that I picked up from Scrap Box a month ago.
Finally, I could not resist one final tape transfer, this time of a wonderful old picture of Eric from his high school days. I used this image as a basis for my life drawing 2 surrealistic masterpiece last semester (should post this, along with scan of original photo), and had a few photocopies with jettisoned ideas and notes lying around.
The transferred image, against an brown envelope backing:
Then, at lab on Thursday, I made a VDB print of this.
4. Pinhole. Three prints made of one image of Coco sunning herself in front of two chairs and a clay hippy outdoor stove in my backyard, made with the pinhole, and exposed to an inadvertent light leak. Note the snakeskin pattern on the right, which I believe was made by scraping emulsion while advancing film in this primitive camera.
First try, black and white print, aperture 3, 20 seconds, contrast 2.
Then took contrast down to 1.5 to get details in the highlights on her face, and increased the time to 24 seconds to get darker blacks, as per Tim's advice.
Next, the lith developed version:
As with the pinhole prints last week, my favorite this time is the lith.
5. Bonus. A mysterious letter arrived from Berkeley, CA on Thursday afternoon just as I was leaving for open darkroom lab. The letter contained seven medium format negatives. Made the following contact sheet:
And a cropped print of the artistic in-camera double exposure:
6. Field trip. On Friday, I visited Muskegon with two of my darkroom photography classmates, Rob and Magdalena. We took in the Edward S. Curtis exhibit at the Muskegon Art Museum, and went to the beach.
The following images are of a large format camera not unlike the one used by Curtis to shoot his 14x17 (!!!) negatives. Note my classmates in the background for a sense of magnitude.
The exhibit was beautiful and extensive. It was so exciting to see so many images printed in such rich shades of golden brown. Curtis loved to experiment, and the exhibit had one of his orotone prints of a portrait, in which he used banana oil as part of the emulsion. It was juxtaposed with a print made using his typical sepia toned process. The orotone softened the shadows abutting highlights relative to the sepia tone, giving the print a more painterly look. Unfortunately, I did not snap a shot of these images, so you will have to trek to Muskegon this summer to see it for yourself!
Friday, June 16, 2017
Week 6 Report
Dates: June 13 & 15, 2017
Processes I learned this week: We are done learning processes. With just five classes left in the semester, the remainder of the time will be devoted to working with processes we have already learned. My goal this week was to revisit unfinished projects and items on my to-do list. I made a few more digital negatives; developed and made contact sheets for the rolls of film that I shot on my homemade matchbox pinhole, the lab's Holga #4, and my Minolta Autocord; made a traditional black and white print of the strongest image from my pinhole contact sheet, and then printed a lith version; and, made more cyanotype and van dyke brown prints.
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
NA
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
The second contact sheet, post light leak, was printed using the same parameter values (time, aperture, filter) as the first. The first set of photos was shot on Monday, May 29 from 11:15-11:35 pm. Again, in my yard, of my dog resting, though from a different vantage point. I was sitting in front of my garage, and had the camera at the ground level. A sunny day, and scene more side than front lit than prior shoot. Was more rigorous about my exposure times, used smart phone countdown timer. By row from left to right, the exposure times are: Row 1: 60 and 30 seconds; Row 2: 360, 240 and 120 seconds; Row 3, 480 and 600 (different scene.) Then I experimented with some longer exposures later in the day, and not all show up in my contact sheet.
Processes I learned this week: We are done learning processes. With just five classes left in the semester, the remainder of the time will be devoted to working with processes we have already learned. My goal this week was to revisit unfinished projects and items on my to-do list. I made a few more digital negatives; developed and made contact sheets for the rolls of film that I shot on my homemade matchbox pinhole, the lab's Holga #4, and my Minolta Autocord; made a traditional black and white print of the strongest image from my pinhole contact sheet, and then printed a lith version; and, made more cyanotype and van dyke brown prints.
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
NA
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
1. Digital negatives. In class on Tuesday, I printed four new digital negatives. For my negative of the lake behind the Gunder Myran building on Washtenaw's campus, Tim helped me selectively change the contrast, using the lasso and paint tool and separate layers for each section of the image requiring different levels of contrast.
2. Matchbox pinhole camera results at long last. Thursday's class time was devoted to printing pinhole pictures. First, a shot of what is left of the camera in question:
The photographs in first contact sheet were taken in my yard on Monday, May 15 at 12:50 pm. It was sunny that day. The pinhole camera was placed on a low-lying rock, and the image is of two chairs and my dog basking and rolling in front of them. The exposure times range from 1-35 seconds. The image in the upper left hand corner is the last in this series and shows the burst of light caused by the photographer inadvertently separating the film canister from the matchbox. The images in the second and third rows, taken with exposure times 25, 35, 20 and 10 seconds, are discernable. Although these images are overexposed, I can discern Coco stretching out with her belly exposed on the ground in front of the two chairs in the first three, and more upright with her head up in the last image (row 3, second image from left.) Tim liked the snake skin pattern in between exposures, which is not visible on the contact sheet due to the exposure time required for the actual images. This pattern is consistent with scraping when advancing film, and most likely was exposed by the light leak, as it is not present in the second, post-light leak portion of the roll of film. ( I should make a little test strip sized print of this pattern for the blog! Update next week!!)
To print both contact sheets, I used an aperture of 2.8, filter of 2 and time of 20 seconds.
The second contact sheet, post light leak, was printed using the same parameter values (time, aperture, filter) as the first. The first set of photos was shot on Monday, May 29 from 11:15-11:35 pm. Again, in my yard, of my dog resting, though from a different vantage point. I was sitting in front of my garage, and had the camera at the ground level. A sunny day, and scene more side than front lit than prior shoot. Was more rigorous about my exposure times, used smart phone countdown timer. By row from left to right, the exposure times are: Row 1: 60 and 30 seconds; Row 2: 360, 240 and 120 seconds; Row 3, 480 and 600 (different scene.) Then I experimented with some longer exposures later in the day, and not all show up in my contact sheet.
Overall, I was surprised to get any discernible images from the matchbox pinhole camera. And inspired enough to want to try this again, although not during the time left in this class. For my next camera, I will definitely add a sprocket counter-clicker so that I do not waste so much film when advancing.
To print, I chose the 30 second exposure (Row 1, second from left.) First, the black and white traditional print (aperture 4, filter 2, time 40 sec)
Then, I turned to lith printing. To increase by 3 stops, I opened the aperture from 4 to 2.8 (+1 stop) and increased the exposure time to 160 seconds (40 to 80 = +1 stop, 80 to 160=+1 stop.) I scanned the final image in black and white and will add color version next week.
Controlling for palette is actually useful for understanding how lith differs from regular b&w developing. Lith produces a fuzzy mottling effect. My lith image is not as dark, but that is likely more a result of the exact time when I pulled the image from the developer, rather than the effect of lith intrinsically. After a failed first attempt (not posted, very dark), I pulled this print out at the precise moment when the desired balance of light and dark and midtones was reached.
3. Medium format photos. Finished a test run on the Holga and Autocord, shot mainly at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, inside the conservatory, last Monday afternoon. Extremely hot that day, and just wanted to quickly get things done. Charmed by the Holga results:
Love the surreal effect of the light leak on the image of the koi (R4, C1) and fern (R3,C2) at Matthaei. Also like the vignetting around Coco's walk portrait at County farm park (R2, C1.)
Not as happy with the Autocord results. I think the Twin lens perspective and handling will take some getting used to. I found the quiet and gentle shutter was unnerving at first. Hence the "selfie", which is me checking to make sure the shutter is opening. Thought it would sound and feel more like the Hasselblad. Bill, my darkroom instructor, explained that the TLR does not have a mirror, which is what gives the Hasselblad such a dramatic and reassuring sound and feel to the shutter release. Film is also overexposed, although I used my modern canon 35mm camera for light metering. I think I will use the ISO 125 ilford film that I purchased in Berkeley for my next shoot on this camera. And ask Bill for a tutorial on light metering this coming Monday during class.
3. Cyanotype and Van Dyke Brown. During open lab on Thursday night, I made two VDB and two cyanotype prints using the digital negatives that I printed on Tuesday.
The first image is of the lake behind the Gunder Myran building, using the digital negative that Tim helped me to optimize in Photoshop. The paper used is Canson water color, coated with 40 drops of B &S VDB solution on May 25 and exposed in the demo room uv box for approximately 3 minutes on June 15th. Exposure time was probably a bit longer. I had not realized that the box was not attached to the timer and got distracted assessing my coated paper collection in the drying cabinet.
I followed the usual procedure of rinse, lemon wash, rinse, fixer, long rinse (30 min.) The image was taken after the rinse, on the drying rack. Will scan dried print next Tuesday. At that point, the brown will have deepened. Depending on the results, I may decide to further tone this print.
The next image is of Coco and her ball, the same one that I lith developed last week. Used two pieces of a full sheet of Canson water color 9X12 inch paper, coated with 40 drops of B&S VDB solution on May 25, and exposed for 4 minutes in the demo room uv box.
Same developing and fixing procudure as done with the other VDB print. Will post scans of dry and mellowed out prints next week.
Next, I made two cyanotype prints. Goal here was to get a nice deep blue. Fell short on first attempt:
Exposure time in the uv box was 9 minutes total: 6 minutes, then rest, and then another 3 minutes. Paper used was Lanaquerelle (the good stuff) coated once with 10 drops A and 10 drops B (B& S cyanotype chemicals) on Tuesday, June 13 at noon. Developed in the usual manner. Rinse til yellow is out, brief Hydrogen peroxide bath, then rinse again.
The second print turned out better, although I still did not get the very deep blue that I desire.
Exposure time in UV box was 30 minutes total: 9 minutes, then rest (dinner break), then 12 minutes, then rest (chat with darkroom buddies), then 12 minutes. Used same lanaquarelle paper, with 5 A + 5 distilled water + 10 B. Yes, I know. Changed two variables. But first print was so bad that I had to go for broke. Next week, with the solution formula of the better print, I would like to try exposing the same image using sunlight.
Finally, I brought home two more ful pieces and two test strips of Canson watercolor paper that I had coated with cyanotype solution in late May. Today, Friday, I made a photogram of starfish at High sunny noon (1 pm ish) exposing for 15 minutes. Blue looked nice and deep. Will post a picture once print has dried. Might try water color on these.
For the weekend, I checked out Holga #4 and plan on taking photos in Detroit before and after attending life drawing at the Scarab club on Sunday afternoon, weather permitting. Also, would like to make another cyanotype photogram, again, weather permitting. And may try my hand at anthotype photograms, using "warm crimson berry tea" on scraps of cream colored Rives BFK (yet again, weather permitting.) And, am going to draw in Coco's missing eye in the cyanotype/vdb print that I made weeks ago.
I close this post with process checklist, including plans for next week and beyond:
1. Photograms (check)
2. Lumens (check)
3. Pinhole Cameras (check plus, see today's post)
4. Digital Negatives (check)
5. a. Cyanotype & Van Dyke (check, but still want to pursue that lovely prussian blue)
b. Gum Bichromate (check, only did monochromatic print of medium format negatives on demo day, multi-color seems way above my pay grade at this point, but would love to revisit in the future with more time and experience. maybe even attend a weekend workshop.)
6. Medium Format (check plus, already shot on 3 different MF cameras (hasselblad, holga and minolta autocord, loving it!)
7. Image Transfers (NEED to try this next week; select image over the weekend; I think I know the one... would like to do a print on wood, and a duck tape negative or positive, and then make a contact print or two... and develop with lith.....)
8. Lith developer (check plus, 6 prints plus the pinhole...)
9. Hand coloring (NEED to do. Coco's eye in prismacolor color pencils, plus would like to try some water colors or water color pencils on my cyanotype photograms that I am currently making.)
Optional:
Screen printing (not this time)
2. Lumens (check)
3. Pinhole Cameras (check plus, see today's post)
4. Digital Negatives (check)
5. a. Cyanotype & Van Dyke (check, but still want to pursue that lovely prussian blue)
b. Gum Bichromate (check, only did monochromatic print of medium format negatives on demo day, multi-color seems way above my pay grade at this point, but would love to revisit in the future with more time and experience. maybe even attend a weekend workshop.)
6. Medium Format (check plus, already shot on 3 different MF cameras (hasselblad, holga and minolta autocord, loving it!)
7. Image Transfers (NEED to try this next week; select image over the weekend; I think I know the one... would like to do a print on wood, and a duck tape negative or positive, and then make a contact print or two... and develop with lith.....)
8. Lith developer (check plus, 6 prints plus the pinhole...)
9. Hand coloring (NEED to do. Coco's eye in prismacolor color pencils, plus would like to try some water colors or water color pencils on my cyanotype photograms that I am currently making.)
Optional:
Screen printing (not this time)
Polaroid and other instant cameras (not this time)
Anthotype (hope to try this weekend, definitely in the future)
Friday, June 9, 2017
Week 5 Report
Dates: June 6 & 8, 2017
Processes I learned this week: Lith developing (6.6.17)
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips, tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
1. On Tuesday, Tim gave a demo on lith developing. This process is similar to standard darkroom printing of film negatives, with the following twists. First, the test strip is made with the aperture at f/11, and with 7 seconds as the base and incremental value. This strip is developed using the standard darkroom black and white development procedure. The goal is to find the minimum amount of time it takes to expose a good, dark black. Next, the exposure is increased by 3 stops for the final print. The easiest way to do this is to increase the aperture opening by 3 stops, from f/11 to f/4. After the print is exposed, develop it in special lith developer, which is composed of diluted combination of chemicals used to process lithographic prints. This is the key step which differs dramatically from ordinary printing of black and white film, and hence I will go into detail in the next paragraph.
For this class, we have a solution A and a solution B, each of which are diluted with water by a ratio of 1:24. The recipe for lith developer is 300 ml A + 300 ml B + no more than 50 ml "old brown" mixed in a flat bottomed tray. "Old brown" is spent lith developing solution, and the addition of this small amount helps to initiate the developing process. Lith developing solution tires easily, and the consensus this week was that our formula is spent after developing just three images. Another deviation from the standard development process is to float the small tray of lith developer in a larger tray filled with very warm or hot water. This helps to speed up the developing time overall. Plus, I found it calming to gently agitate the developing print cradled in warm water, while waiting for the first traces of the image to appear.
Lith is a CONTAGIOUS developing process. That means that the dark areas will not develop at a uniform rate, rather the areas of the image with more dark tones will develop faster, as speed is determined by proximity to like values (please correct me if my interpretation is wrong!) In practice, it also means that it takes much longer for the initial image to appear and for the values to darken to the desired level than with the standard developing solution. The rate at which the tones darken accelerates as the contagion spreads, requiring the developer to focus and to have quick reflexes. As times vary with each image, the developer must pay very close attention once the dark values start to fill in. When the desired contrast has been achieved, the print must be snatched from the developer and immediately placed in the stop bath. Standard solutions and times apply to stop and fixing.
In this class, we used the Arista student grade RC paper that one can purchase at the lab. Note that not all papers lend themselves to lith developing. See Tim Rudman for details on which papers work best for lith developing.
After the demo, I made a few lith prints. And a few mistakes. For example, during my first attempt, I forgot to stop up the print exposure and got this stunning result:
This mistake underscores the need for light in the lith developing process. I subsequently stopped up by a factor of 3 by increasing the aperture from 11 to 5.6 (plus two stops), and then doubling the exposure time from 21 to 42 seconds (plus one stop.) I chose this tortuous route as as the lens for medium format negatives only opens to 4.5, so I needed to expand out to the dimension of time for that last stop of light.
Much better. Except I found the image to be a bit too dark. Got distracted during key phase of contagious development. On Thursday, made another lith print.
Coco seems a bit washed out, especially her face. And, so much detail in the image distracts the eye from the subject. I think somewhere in between the two images would be best. Left this aside, not ready to get obsessive about any one image yet, still getting a feel for the process. I made prints of two more negatives from my weekend with Hasselblad.
2. On Thursday, we began the day with instant printing technology, including old school polaroid cameras, new school sticker making polaroid cameras, instax cameras, and a cute little printer that works with smart phones. I missed the side demo on polaroid transfers. Not drawn artistically to this medium, but would love to have either the sticker polaroid or the little printer as a toy to amuse friends and family.
We also got a demo on scanning negatives. I then spent the day scanning on the side, was not happy with the speed nor with the results, and returned to spend another 2 plus hours scanning during lab. Found that the scanners need to be babysat, and nudged after each image is scanned. My preferred nudging method is to click on the epson scanner icon, because the scanner responds with a little sound that conjures up an image of R2D2 reacting to a loving little pinch. Moving the mouse also seems to work. Without nudging, the scanner will sit idle after each scan.
The one thing I could not figure out how to remedy is the fixed ration between height and width when scanning negatives. It is set to make slightly cropped impressions of 35 mm film in a 35 mm film holder. The cropping bothers me, and I did not notice it until the end, when examining a head shot of Coco where the tops of her cocked ears are slivered off.
I was not able to slightly increase the height dimension to include the full image. I was also not able to scan my square medium format slides for the very same reason, though, I did use the special medium format slide holder. There has to be a simple solution to this problem, as I observed an advanced student scanning medium format slides during Tuesday's developing lab two weeks ago. Will update next week when I find it. Update: easy fix. When viewing the scan preview, go to "normal" rather than "thumbnail" view. Then, use the marquee to define the desired boundaries. For the nicest scan, use 48 bit color, 4800 dpi rather than 16 bit grayscale. Will take up more space, but using RGB gets a richer range of black and white tonality.
Another problem that may admit a solution is that the scanner automatically turns the scanned negatives into positives. Which means I cannot avoid Photoshop. Is there anyway to keep the images as negatives? It just seems so inefficient to scan a negative, have it converted to a positive, and then have to reconvert it back to a negative using Photoshop. Update: in the epson scanner setup screen, there is an option to scan as a positive.
For both pragmatic and artistic reasons, I stuck to lith printing this week. One, I enjoy being in the darkroom. Two, as I only have one decent negative transparency and plenty of good old-fashioned negatives shot this spring in my black and white darkroom photography class, a process that uses the enlarger instead of contact printing enables me to efficiently print images other than mopey Coco of cyanotype and VDB fame. Three, I relish the personal control inherent in lith developing, choosing the precise moment when to stop the image from developing based on instantaneous visual input. Finally, I love the warm, brownish-black tones, creamy whites and the overall softness of the image. My classmate Fred said the prints reminded him of his albumen photos.
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
Did not work with any other process this week. However, I was not idle on the photography front....
Last weekend, I visited my husband, Eric, in Berkeley, CA. We went to Looking Glass Photo and Camera to purchase a roll of 120 film for my new old Tourist II, and to peruse their camera collection, which includes this whopper:
Back in Ann Arbor, and with an unexpected windfall of time due to the cancellation (sniff) of Wednesday's darkroom class, I visited the Argus factory museum. On display is an extensive collection of cameras spanning the life of this local company. Highlights for me were the case of twin lens reflex cameras and a photo montage tool called the "Jig-o-mat".
After visiting the Argus museum, I stopped at Camera Mall to check out their selection of old school photography supplies, and found out that they develop film every Tuesday evening! I have one roll of color film that I brought back from Berkeley from a found camera. The last 4 exposures are of Eric and Runty, our other dog, but the first twenty are a mystery. Until next Wednesday, that is...
Finally, when I got home, there was a package on my porch, containing a gift from my husband.
For the weekend, I have two rolls of 120, this lovely Minolta Autocord, and a Holga checked out from the lab. Loaded them up Friday night and took a few test shots on both cameras. On Thursday during class, we could not get the Autocord shutter to fire. It turns out that the shutter is cocked only when the film is advanced, and hence would not fire without any film in the camera.
Processes I learned this week: Lith developing (6.6.17)
1. On Tuesday, Tim gave a demo on lith developing. This process is similar to standard darkroom printing of film negatives, with the following twists. First, the test strip is made with the aperture at f/11, and with 7 seconds as the base and incremental value. This strip is developed using the standard darkroom black and white development procedure. The goal is to find the minimum amount of time it takes to expose a good, dark black. Next, the exposure is increased by 3 stops for the final print. The easiest way to do this is to increase the aperture opening by 3 stops, from f/11 to f/4. After the print is exposed, develop it in special lith developer, which is composed of diluted combination of chemicals used to process lithographic prints. This is the key step which differs dramatically from ordinary printing of black and white film, and hence I will go into detail in the next paragraph.
For this class, we have a solution A and a solution B, each of which are diluted with water by a ratio of 1:24. The recipe for lith developer is 300 ml A + 300 ml B + no more than 50 ml "old brown" mixed in a flat bottomed tray. "Old brown" is spent lith developing solution, and the addition of this small amount helps to initiate the developing process. Lith developing solution tires easily, and the consensus this week was that our formula is spent after developing just three images. Another deviation from the standard development process is to float the small tray of lith developer in a larger tray filled with very warm or hot water. This helps to speed up the developing time overall. Plus, I found it calming to gently agitate the developing print cradled in warm water, while waiting for the first traces of the image to appear.
Lith is a CONTAGIOUS developing process. That means that the dark areas will not develop at a uniform rate, rather the areas of the image with more dark tones will develop faster, as speed is determined by proximity to like values (please correct me if my interpretation is wrong!) In practice, it also means that it takes much longer for the initial image to appear and for the values to darken to the desired level than with the standard developing solution. The rate at which the tones darken accelerates as the contagion spreads, requiring the developer to focus and to have quick reflexes. As times vary with each image, the developer must pay very close attention once the dark values start to fill in. When the desired contrast has been achieved, the print must be snatched from the developer and immediately placed in the stop bath. Standard solutions and times apply to stop and fixing.
In this class, we used the Arista student grade RC paper that one can purchase at the lab. Note that not all papers lend themselves to lith developing. See Tim Rudman for details on which papers work best for lith developing.
After the demo, I made a few lith prints. And a few mistakes. For example, during my first attempt, I forgot to stop up the print exposure and got this stunning result:
This mistake underscores the need for light in the lith developing process. I subsequently stopped up by a factor of 3 by increasing the aperture from 11 to 5.6 (plus two stops), and then doubling the exposure time from 21 to 42 seconds (plus one stop.) I chose this tortuous route as as the lens for medium format negatives only opens to 4.5, so I needed to expand out to the dimension of time for that last stop of light.
Much better. Except I found the image to be a bit too dark. Got distracted during key phase of contagious development. On Thursday, made another lith print.
Coco seems a bit washed out, especially her face. And, so much detail in the image distracts the eye from the subject. I think somewhere in between the two images would be best. Left this aside, not ready to get obsessive about any one image yet, still getting a feel for the process. I made prints of two more negatives from my weekend with Hasselblad.
2. On Thursday, we began the day with instant printing technology, including old school polaroid cameras, new school sticker making polaroid cameras, instax cameras, and a cute little printer that works with smart phones. I missed the side demo on polaroid transfers. Not drawn artistically to this medium, but would love to have either the sticker polaroid or the little printer as a toy to amuse friends and family.
We also got a demo on scanning negatives. I then spent the day scanning on the side, was not happy with the speed nor with the results, and returned to spend another 2 plus hours scanning during lab. Found that the scanners need to be babysat, and nudged after each image is scanned. My preferred nudging method is to click on the epson scanner icon, because the scanner responds with a little sound that conjures up an image of R2D2 reacting to a loving little pinch. Moving the mouse also seems to work. Without nudging, the scanner will sit idle after each scan.
The one thing I could not figure out how to remedy is the fixed ration between height and width when scanning negatives. It is set to make slightly cropped impressions of 35 mm film in a 35 mm film holder. The cropping bothers me, and I did not notice it until the end, when examining a head shot of Coco where the tops of her cocked ears are slivered off.
I was not able to slightly increase the height dimension to include the full image. I was also not able to scan my square medium format slides for the very same reason, though, I did use the special medium format slide holder. There has to be a simple solution to this problem, as I observed an advanced student scanning medium format slides during Tuesday's developing lab two weeks ago. Will update next week when I find it. Update: easy fix. When viewing the scan preview, go to "normal" rather than "thumbnail" view. Then, use the marquee to define the desired boundaries. For the nicest scan, use 48 bit color, 4800 dpi rather than 16 bit grayscale. Will take up more space, but using RGB gets a richer range of black and white tonality.
Another problem that may admit a solution is that the scanner automatically turns the scanned negatives into positives. Which means I cannot avoid Photoshop. Is there anyway to keep the images as negatives? It just seems so inefficient to scan a negative, have it converted to a positive, and then have to reconvert it back to a negative using Photoshop. Update: in the epson scanner setup screen, there is an option to scan as a positive.
For both pragmatic and artistic reasons, I stuck to lith printing this week. One, I enjoy being in the darkroom. Two, as I only have one decent negative transparency and plenty of good old-fashioned negatives shot this spring in my black and white darkroom photography class, a process that uses the enlarger instead of contact printing enables me to efficiently print images other than mopey Coco of cyanotype and VDB fame. Three, I relish the personal control inherent in lith developing, choosing the precise moment when to stop the image from developing based on instantaneous visual input. Finally, I love the warm, brownish-black tones, creamy whites and the overall softness of the image. My classmate Fred said the prints reminded him of his albumen photos.
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
Did not work with any other process this week. However, I was not idle on the photography front....
Last weekend, I visited my husband, Eric, in Berkeley, CA. We went to Looking Glass Photo and Camera to purchase a roll of 120 film for my new old Tourist II, and to peruse their camera collection, which includes this whopper:
Back in Ann Arbor, and with an unexpected windfall of time due to the cancellation (sniff) of Wednesday's darkroom class, I visited the Argus factory museum. On display is an extensive collection of cameras spanning the life of this local company. Highlights for me were the case of twin lens reflex cameras and a photo montage tool called the "Jig-o-mat".
After visiting the Argus museum, I stopped at Camera Mall to check out their selection of old school photography supplies, and found out that they develop film every Tuesday evening! I have one roll of color film that I brought back from Berkeley from a found camera. The last 4 exposures are of Eric and Runty, our other dog, but the first twenty are a mystery. Until next Wednesday, that is...
Finally, when I got home, there was a package on my porch, containing a gift from my husband.
For the weekend, I have two rolls of 120, this lovely Minolta Autocord, and a Holga checked out from the lab. Loaded them up Friday night and took a few test shots on both cameras. On Thursday during class, we could not get the Autocord shutter to fire. It turns out that the shutter is cocked only when the film is advanced, and hence would not fire without any film in the camera.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Week 4 Report
Processes I learned this week: Image transfer (5.30.17), gum bi-chromate printing (6.1.17)
1. On Tuesday, Tim gave a demo on three different ways to transfer images, with variations. These image transfer methods are alternatives to contact printing using image negatives or positives. Two main reasons for these alternatives: one, they all produce different effects on the final transferred images, and thus can contributed to a more "artistic" output; and two, one might not always have access to lovely printers such as those found at wcc, and hence, making digital negatives on transparencies may not be feasible outside of class. These image transfer methods can all be performed with the original image printed or photocopied onto simple copy paper, or a more durable sort of paper, so long as it has a matte (not glossy) surface, and will not ruin the printer or photocopier. There is more flexibility in the surface that receives the image. In class, Tim used paper and wood, but we can get more adventurous on our own.
a. transfer method #1: gel medium. Gel medium is a clear paint-like substance, and serves as the transfer agent between an image and the desired surface. Golden brand gel medium was used in the demo. To transfer, coat either the origin or destination surface, then place both surfaces face to face and smooth using a brayer, then let them sit together for a while, and then carefully peel away the origination surface from the destination surface to reveal the transferred image. Times may vary, will update as I have actual experience with this process.
b. Transfer method #2: packing tape. Use high grade clear packing tape for this process (consensus is that Duck brand trumps all others, including Scot.) The main idea is to use the stickiness of the packing tape to lift the original image off the original surface, and then make contact prints using the packing tape image.
In the demo, Tim first affixed strips of three inch wide clear Duck brand packing tape over the original image on copy paper, with a bit of overlap between the strips so that they untie as one for the image transfer. Next, he soaked the taped paper in a tray of warm water (for less than five minutes, but we should do this step for longer, was it an hour?). Then, remove it from the water and gently but thoroughly peel away the paper to reveal the image transferred onto the packing tape. It will be distorted by the crinkles and creases of the packing tape. The final step is to make a contact print using the packing tape image as a negative or positive. Tim did this in the darkroom as a traditional black and white print, but I see no reason why we couldn't use some of the other printing processes (cyanotype, VDB, gum) to make the final print.
c. Transfer method #3: beeswax. A coat of beeswax increases the translucency of copy and other matte-finished papers, rendering them better suited for contact prints. This is useful if you don't have access to high quality printers to make digital negative or positive transparencies. Tim brought in a rectangular skillet picked up for $2 at a local reuse center and preheated it to 200 degrees (this temperature is a sweet spot, you need it hot enough to melt the beeswax, but not so hot that the paper is burned, unless of course this is the effect you are going for....) Then, he placed the paper image side up, and rubbed a cake of high grade beeswax over the image until reaching the desired state of translucency. After drying and cooling, the beeswaxed image is ready for making contact prints.
I did not try any of these image-transferring methods this week.
2. On Thursday, we were introduced to gum-bichromate printmaking. Tim first showed us how to coat paper. He used three types of paper: Lanaquerrelle, Rives BFK and Canson watercolor. Making the solution to coat the papers is complicated. The inputs are two solutions: potassium and gum bichromate, plus the pigment source, which in our case is high-grade watercolor paints. To mix, one needs a small mortar and pestle, and to apply, a high-grade paintbrush. [Note: Will finish writing up the instructions when I get home and have access to my notes. ]
After coating the papers and letting them dry, Tim offered them to folks who had medium format negatives. I took him up on this offer, and made a solar-powered contact print of four negatives from my first roll shot on the Hasselblad (3 minutes, high noon sun.)
The images that looked overexposed in my traditional black and white contact sheet turned out best in gums.
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips, tricks, and failures.
1. I made two more cyanotype prints (both 5 minutes of high noon sun exposure + 1 minute of rest + 5 minutes of high noon sun exposure). First was a contact sheet of images that I think might work well in cyan.
And the second was another attempt at the mopey portrait of Coco.
My cyanotype technique needs work! I have been canvassing my more successful classmates for tips, and will report on these in the final section of this blog entry.
2. I shot my first roll of 120 medium format film in the Hasselblad camera over the holiday weekend, developed it in lab on Tuesday and made a contact print at the end of my traditional black and white darkroom photography class on Wednesday. First image shot is in bottom left, last is upper right. By end of shot, much more comfortable with quirks of camera, such as the reversed image in the viewfinder. Also, ready to learn how to use a light meter!
3. One more VDB print of Coco over prior cyanotype image (4 minutes, high noon sun). I did not try for the blue eye this time.
Other information I learned from other students in class:
Cyanotype advice: coat without premoistening, use better quality negatives (denser?), don't let coated paper rest for days, try using fancier Lana paper, use sun rather than uv lamp, don't rinse to the point of washing out image....
Friday, May 26, 2017
Week 3 Report
Image: Cyanotype of Coco
Dates:
May 23 & 25, 2017
Processes I learned this week: Hand coloring photos (5.23.17),
historical cameras, including a selection
of medium-format cameras (5.25.17)
Notes on what I learned for each process, including tips,
tricks, recipes, materials, failures, etc:
1. Hand coloring- we
have a treasure trove of paints, colored pencils, pastels, and… easter egg dye
on hand at the lab in case we need to embellish our photos and prints by hand. At home, I have quite a bit of dry and some
wet art materials. Have not tried this
process yet, but have a print that needs some detailed attention that I suspect
will call for some color pencil work. Excited to put my drawing training to
work!
Aside: Easter egg dye, while not appealing as a hand
coloring agent, did inspire me to want to make cyanotype eggs. My
current batch of eggs are naturally tinted, most a light to medium terra cotta,
and a few have a lovely pale green cast.
In preparation I blew out my first successful egg today. Then I destroyed one of the lovely green ones.
2. Historical camera collection- Tim brought in some of his
cameras, plus we looked at selections from the WCC collection. Highlights were
Tim’s quirky moving image camera, and the beautiful old medium -format cameras. I
checked out one of the fancier medium-format cameras, the Hasselblad and will have more to report
on this front after the long weekend.
Other processes I worked with this week and notes, tips,
tricks, and failures.
This week, I had a chance to make cyanotype and van dyke
brown (VDB) prints. On Tuesday, using the UV machine in Room 17, I made my first cyanotype test strip (90 sec
baseline and increment) and print (5 minutes) of the digital negative I created
on May 16 of my dog, Coco. The print turned out too light. Pam suggested
that I re-coat it in VDB solution and re-expose the image.
On Thursday, I did this, leaving a small window around Coco’s
left eye with just the cyanotype (as she is brown and white, except for that one blue eye.) During lab on Thursday night, I re-exposed the print, and it came out with a
nice rich brown tone (4 minutes, demo room uv box.) Only problem is the area around
the eye that I did not cover with VDB. Looks like a gash of white and light
blue, not the subtle effect of a blue eye on a brown dog I was hoping for. My solution to this problem is to go back
with colored pencils, and draw in the fur and eye in this gash. Am I up to this
task? Yes, thanks to my two wonderful drawing instructors and the five drawing classes I have taking
with them at WCC!!
Also, on Thursday during class, I exposed a VDB test strip (120
sec base and 30 sec increment) and contact print (3.5 minutes) of the same image of
Coco, using the UV machine in Room 17.
The test strip came out with a nice deep brown, whereas the brown of the
print had an orange-yellow cast. Need to
work on consistency in coating the paper.
I like the little images, and might want to do a micro-photo album. Saw a few of these at the Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair last Sunday, May 21. Also, dreaming of which images will look best in cyanotype, which in vdb. And, would like to transfer a few of the 35mm negatives to larger digital negatives. Planning to do this during lab time on Tuesday afternoon. Plans did not work out, as scanners were monopolized by an advanced student doing her own film-to-digital negative transfers. Scans of this nature take longer than the image scans that I have been making for this blog. Also, there is a procedure for scanning film negatives, so I will need some guidance at first.
Other information I learned from other students in class:
Pam brought in one of her hand made accordion books, and a
set of three little books nestled in a box. What beautiful ways to display her work! I love the intimate scale of the photographs, and how the
book format invites the viewer to peruse and linger. The smaller books each featured the same
photograph, only printed using different process. Open each book to
find notes on the process. She did not use any glue in the construction of these books, preferring intricate folds and cuts to hold them together.
She also made a box to house the three little books. What an inspiration!
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Alternative Processes 2018 Project
During the winter semester of 2018, I took a photography projects course with Tim Householder. I spent the semester making cyanotypes, van d...
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