So here it is, my photogenic drawing after 10 weeks of exposure to the bipolar Rochester sunlight. The background is still lightly shaded with pink from the raspberries but there is definitely a noticeable difference between the beginning color and the exposed areas.
Introduction:
The Van Dyke print dates back to the 17th Century. Also known as the Van Dyke Brown print or Sepiaprint, its method is based off of the first iron-silver photo process called the argenotype. The Van Dyke process gets its name because of its similarity in color that this deep brown pigment used by the painter, Van Dyck. These prints are very simple to achieve and very economical to make. It utilizes three easily available chemicals; Ferric Ammonium Citrate, Tartaric Acid, and Silver Nitrate. Fixing is done with running water and a weak solution of hypo.
This process is based off of the sensitivity of ferrous salts to sunlight. With UV radiation iron(III) ions (Fe3+) are reduced to iron(II) ions (Fe2+), which in turn reduce silver ions (Ag+) to metallic silver (Ag) forming the picture.
Van Dyke printing was very popular because it is simple, cheap, easy, and there aren’t nearly as many problems that could occur as there are in other printing processes. Its greatest advantage is the low operation cost.
The paper or surface that the print will be made on reflects the appearance of the picture so it is important to use a clean and crisp photo surface for printing to achieve the best possible results.
Exposure time is around 30-50% shorter then regular salted paper processes. Exposure talks place outside in the open air with natural sunlight. Don’t expose through a window because the ultraviolet radiation will be contained within the glass. If your negative does not include high contrasted regions then its better to expose under shade or during overcast.
A great advantage to these brown prints is that there is no special developing bath required, just water. Water will wash off the ferrous salts from the sensitizer and will make shadow areas intensified. After developing the image it will need to be fixed to stop all further exposure. Sodium thiosulphate will do the trick. This removes the access silver salts that were unused. When immerged in the fixing solution, the redish hue of the print will turn to a brown that will intensify the appearance of the image overall. Final washing includes running water over the print for a good chunk of time and finally dried by being hung on a laundry line.
Links:
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Vandyke/vandyke.html
http://www.sciencecompany.com/photo/vandykeformulas.htm
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/kallitypes/vandyke-notes
http://www2.ntm.cz/projekty/fototechniky/en/index.php?text=six
The Process:
Need 90 grams Ferric Ammonium Citrate, 15 grams Tartaric Acid, 37.5 grams of Silver Nitrate, and 1000mL Distilled Water all mixed separately each in 250mL of distilled water. Combine the Ferric Ammonium Citrate with the Tartaric Acid solutions together. Slowly add the silver nitrate solution to make 100 mL of distilled water. Store in an amber bottle away from light. Use gloves when dealing with silver nitrate because it can couse potential burns, skin irritation and will dye your skin.
Take a paper surface or cotton cloth and brush this solution onto the surface as evenly as possible. Either hang to dry in a dark room or dry with a hair dryer. Make a contact print in the sun from the ultraviolet light for 10-15 minutes.
After exposure wash the print in running water for 5 minutues. To fix the prints, immerse them in regular photo paper fixer (1 part to 20 parts water). The image will then be changed to a dark brown.
Finally, wash the images in 15 minutes of running water. Let sit to dry for as long as it needs and the image will continue to get darker.
My Experience:
As much as I liked the cyanotype prints, these Van Dyke prints turned out better then I would have ever expected them too. Simple, easy, and very fine detailed prints were created.
The Solution-
Heres what we did in lab-
1. Take 100% rag paper, cut it down so it fits inside the frames, and tape the to a cutting board
2. Get a foam brush and brush a light coat of the light sensitive solution over the paper. Work light and gently, the paper will go from gloss to matte and this is when you know your coat is done.
3. Let air dry for 2 minutes, then use a hair dryer till absolutely bone dry.
4. Place green albumen transparency negative inside a picture frame them place the photosensitive paper on top of that. Close the frame.
5. Expose outside to ultraviolet light for 15-10 minutes. The color will change from yellow to orange to brown to dark brown.
6. Place exposed prints in a fix of water + citric acid for 5 minutes
7. Place prints in fresh running water for 1-2 minutes
8. Place prints in 3% hypo for 1 minute
9. Place prints in 3% hypo for 1 minute
10. Place prints in running water again for 40 minutes
11. Let dry and enjoy
The Van Dyke Brown printing process was very effective and easy to complete. A lot of fine detail was present, including the clouds in the sky. This was the first time they had been visible in my prints as well as the ripples in the ocean water. I loved the blue from the cyanotype prints, but the contrast and detail from the Van Dyke prints won me over.
Miscellaneous:
This process has a bunch of toners just as the cyanotype process has.
First is the Van Dyke reducer. Solution is made out of 0.25 g of Potassium Ferricyanide, 0.2 g of Potassium Bromide, 5 g hypo, and 1000mL water. The Van Dyke print needs to be immersed in water immediately after exposure and then transferred into the reducer. The print should stay in until the desired image is developed. The lighter areas will be reduced in color and the overall contrast will be increased. After print looks the way you want it, immerse it in a hypo clearing agent for 3 minutes then in running water for 30 minutes. For this process, its better to expose dark and then reduce it back.
Second is the selenium toner. Take 2 mL of selenium toner with 500 mL of water. Reduction appears to take place in the darkest areas of the print and is mainly used to reduce prints that lack contrast in the darkest shadows. The color of the print will change from a reddish/brown to a chocolate/brown. If kept in the toner too long the image will turn a yellowish/brown that is pretty ugly.
Third is a gold toner. The formula of this toner includes 12.5 mL of gold chloride, 12.5 mL of thiourea, 0.12 g tartaric acid, 250 mL distilled water, and 5 g sodium chloride. This solution is ready for use immediately after mixed together. It tones shadows and highlights at the same rate.
Introduction:
A cyanotype is a printing process that results in a cyan (blue) print. This process became popular in the mid 20th century because of its very low cost. The prints were referred to as blue prints.
Two chemicals were used in the photosensitive solution; Ferric Ammonium Iron (III) Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide.
John Herschel discovered this chemistry breakthrough in 1842. He was an astronomer and wanted a way of copying his notes. His writings revealed that his process was developed mainly as a way to reproduce diagrams and notes, also known as blueprints. It was simple and easy; creating a solution of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide and then have the solution spread over paper or cloth with a paintbrush or sponge, left to dry in a dark room, exposed to sunlight, then finally washed with plain water. Done. Apart from the cyanotype process he also coined the words; photography, negative, positive, and snapshot.
Then Anna Atkins then took this process and brought it to the photography world. She mainly documented plant life forms by placing the actual specimen directly onto photosensitive paper, allowing the object to block the light from certain areas and produce a blue photo print. Atkins is regarded as the first female photographer as well as producing the first book to use photographic illustrations. She referred to these prints as ‘shadowgraphs’ and he book called, British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, which included 424 shadowgraph images. This was big because women were not expectant let alone pushed to get into the science world. The beauty of her blueprints were catching the eye of society and attracting their attention to her work
Here are two examples of her work:
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotype
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/history/cyanotype-history-john-herschels-invention
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/herschel.htm
https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=334489&tId=1750686
https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=334489&tId=1750686
The Process:
A solution of 8.1% Potassium Ferricyanide and a solution of 20% Ferric Ammonium Citrate are created separately and then mixed together. This Photosensitive solution is mildly sensitive to light in a dimly lit room and can be used for up to 30 minutes before a new solution should be made. A piece of paper or cloth is then applied with this solution and left out to dry in a darkish room. This paper can then be exposed with the UV light (ultraviolet light or sunlight) with a negative print to create a positive print. The sunlight reduces the iron in the paper and therefore the paper will then turn a steal blue/grey color and will get darker depending on how long it is exposed to the sunlight. Best results occur with a 10-20 minute exposure time in bright sunlight. The image should appear over exposed because the wash will reduce the color slightly. Wash is simply a clean running water wash. The water will rise off the unreached iron.
The cyanotype process is used for the blue tint of a print, but this blue can be altered with the use of toning. There are three different methods; reducing, intensifying, and toning.
1. Reducing deals with reducing the color of the blue, to pull out the color of the blue with a weak solution of bleach and then stopping that with water immediately after.
2. Intensifying deals with strengthening the color of the blue.
3. Toning changes the color of the iron, giving the print a pigmentation change to the color of the blue iron.
Cyanotype prints don’t keep very well in the long run, they fade over time but their initially simplicity in its process produces a beautiful image unique to the usual balack and white prints or even color prints.
My Experience:
Through this lab, I was able to produce my favorite print yet this quarter. This process was so simple and easy, and it even produced a find detailed image!
Heres the process we did in lab:
1. Pick an image of choice
2. Open image in photoshop:
a. change to grayscale, 16 bit
b. turn up the brightness and contrast
c. upload the cyanotype curve, apply it to image and adjust to RGB
d. invert image
e. change color picker to hue 15, saturation 100, and lightness 30
3. Get print on transparency paper
4. Make solution A:
-100mL of room temperature distilled water + 25 g of ferric ammonium citrate
5. Make solution B:
-100mL of room temperature distilled water + 10 g of potassium ferricyanide
6. Mix solutions A and B together. This creates Prussian Blue, a brown/green/yellow color solution that will last 30 minutes sitting out before it goes bad.
7. Get 100% rag paper and cut them until the fit into picture frames that will be used for exposure
8. Tap papers down onto a cutting board
9. Apply one even coat of Prussian Blue solution with sponge brushes, then let dry
10. Repeat step 9
11. Put transparency print in picture frame, followed by this photosensitive paper and seal frame.
12. Expose image to sunlight for 25 minutes (the yellow color will turn green, then blue, then dark blue, then brownish blue)
13. Take image inside to wash images in plain water for 5 minutes
14. Use three different toners to see differing results:
a. Tea + H20: leave image in a watered down tea bucket for a few minutes. Image should turn navy blue image
b. Reverse: place image in tea for a few minutes then place image immediately into the bleach (strong ammonia). Image should turn brown.
c. Redevelopment: Place in bleach (the weak ammonia) then immediately into the tea solution. Image should be a blue yellow color.
15. Wash all images in water for 10-15 minutes.
16. Leave out to dry.
My final images:
Tea-
Reverse and Redevelopment –
Plain Cynaotype –
Miscellaneous:
Prussian Blue has never been found in nature. The substance had no place in the world before the 18th century but still manages to qualify as one of the earliest synthetic pigments. The blue hug from this pigment was so spectacular that it could attract anyone’s attention, but prior knowledge towards other blue pigments made Prussian Blue suffer the consequences. Ultramarine was a very expensive pigment and had to be ground from lapis lazuli, a precious mineral mined only in Afganistan. Smalt was a cobalt blue glass material but was very weak. Indigo could only be found in organic dyestuff taken from a native plant in India. All of these blue were nearly impossible to attain and their summoning factors steered artists away from their use. It was a man named Diesbach who identified Prussian Blue accidentally in 1710. He needed potash so went to an alchemist by the name of Dippel for it. Dippel’s potash had been contaminated with malodorous distillate, or animal residue. This unwanted substance actual brought in a wanted ingredient, nitrogen. There it was, the first account of Prussian Blue.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a picture up from my anthotype. Finally, i can see some fading in the pink color. Not too much but enough of a difference that is noticable!
Introduction:
Albumen comes from the Latin name Album Ovi meaning white of egg. Freshmen hen eggs are best when fresh (no more then 5 days old).
Albumen prints became an ultimate success for photographers because the paper was light and easy to travel with as well as it having a luxurious surface print.
In France during 1839, the Daguerreotype was amongst the photo world but this required the use of a metal plate to lug around and fine detail could only be seen through the use of a magnify glass. The Daguerreotype was small and very fragile and the photosensitive plate inside couldn’t be touched buy anything or else the silver would tarnish.
As the Daguerreotype was being shown around, William Henry Fox Talbot published his process in 1841 first called the Calotype and later referred to as the Talbotype. This process was a negative/positive technique and the source for the print was paper. A paper negative was made inside the camera, that negative image was then developed and fixed. Then that fix negative image was placed in direct contact with another piece of light sensitive paper that was cover with glass and set out in the sunlight. A reverse image of the negative was then produced on the second sheet of paper, creating the positive print.
The good part about this device was the use of paper that was inexpensive, but at the same time the image was not nearly as clear or perfect as that from a Daugerreotype. This salted paper yielded a soft and subtle image. This device became a new alternative but its results were stil not satisfactory enough.
The major problem people faced with inventing a process that entailed clear and crisp images on light sensitive paper. The solution became finding a transparent support for a negative and have printing paper that could support silver salts on an emulsion rather then the paper itself.
Glass is a flat material and perfectly clear. Now how to adhere the materials to the glass?
In 1848, Niepce de Saint Victor published a method of using albumen on a glass plate in the same year Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard published a similar process. During this time, albumen was too hard to handle so other substances were generated for use such as, gelatin, collodion, or serum.
But albumen soon was on the rise. In the 1850’s albumens use advance for paper printing emulsions. It beat out collodion prints because albumen was cheaper and a lot more convenient for industrial manufacturing. Its print was rich and elegant compared to former prints.
Philip Henry Delamotte stated in 1855, that
“Positive proofs taken upon paper coated with a film of albumen attain a brilliancy of effect by a softening of the glaring white of the lights, with a transparency in the shadows, which cannot be arrived at by any other means. Delamotte was not alone in his faith in albumen prints. Some years earlier, the French photographer, Gustave LeGray, one of the earliest, if not the first, to propose albumen-prepared printing paper, succinctly claimed, “One of the best services rendered by the albumen to photography is, without doubt, its application to the preparation of the positive paper, to which it gives a brilliancy and vigour difficult to obtain by any other method.”
There were countless processes recorded by different photographers, but LeGray’s was very clear:
“Take white of eggs, to which add the fifth part, by volume, of saturated solution of chloride of sodium, or what is still better, hydrochlorate of ammonia; then beat it into a froth, and decant the clear liquid after it has settled for one night.
Pour out the liquid into a basin, and prepare your positive paper on one side only. Dry it and pass the hot iron over it. The paper thus prepared is very highly varnished. If you desire to obtain less gloss, add, before beating the eggs, the half or more of distilled water containing equally a fifth of water saturated with hydrochlorate ammonia. You may thus modify at pleasure the degree of brilliancy of the proof. The mixture of half albumen and half water is excellent, it gives much fineness and firmness without giving the proof a varnished appearance little artistic. You may keep this paper some time before you apply the nitrate of silver to it, as it does not spoil.
When you desire to use it, put the albumen side on a bath of nitrate of silver, containing one part of nitrate by weight, to four of distilled water, and let it imbibe four or five minutes; then hang it by the corner to dry, and finish it as I have already described.
This paper gives much depth to the blacks, and great brilliancy to the whites. In leaving it a shorter time on the nitrate bath (about a minute), and using Whatman’s paper, you may obtain a reddish purple tint very harmonious. Canson’s papers, and usually all those which contain much amidine, give black tints.”
Albumen copies the finer details, gives the paper a glass, shadows are more apparent, and there is a range of tones. This paper was excellent for the general use and happily suited many photographers of its time.
Links:
https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=334489&tId=1754757
https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=334489&tId=1759080
http://albumen.conservation-us.org/library/monographs/masters/the_albumen_print.html
http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/albumen/albumen-printing
The Process:
1. Get two-dozen eggs and separate the egg white from the yoke. Collect the egg whites in a big bowl with a sealable lid.
2. Add a dash of salt and vinegar then seal the lid and shake excessively for 5 minutes.
3. Put in fridge and let sit for at least 24 hours
4. In the mean time pick an image of your choice that you would like to print
5. Load image into Photoshop:
a. turn image into grey scale and tweak brightness/contrast
b. load correction curve (as provided by professor) and apply it to image
c. turn image into a negative and flip it laterally
d. apply a color screen layer to image with a dark greenish hue value
6. Get final image from Photoshop printed onto transparency paper and print out same image on regular printer paper
7. in class make three solutions:
a. Arrowroot: 119 mL water, 4 g NaCl, 0.5 g cirtic acid
b. Gelatin: 125mL water, 1 g gelatin, 2.5 g citric acid, 2.5 g NaCl
c. Albumen: 500mL of egg white, 3mL vinegar, 7.5 g NaCl
8. Coat two watercolor papers with gelatin (two coats, dry inbetween), two canson papers with arrowroot (two coats, dry inbetween), and four papers with albumen (two papers one coat, two papers two coats finished with a dip in rubbing alcohol mixed with salt).
9. Expose imaged in picture frames for around 10-15 minutes.
10. Fix in four different buckets of was, 3 minutes in each tub.
11. Rinse with running water for an hour
My Experience:
To be brutally honest, this lab was frustrating.
First, figuring out how to make all the picture adjustments on Photoshop was a pain so I had to ask one of my friends for help. Then the lab I went to on the third floor of building took way longer then expected to print transparency paper and the cost was expensive.
Second, during lab time when the professor left the TA in charge the directions were a mess. We were able to make all of the solutions after frantically gathering all the materials (papers and contents of the solutions) and following the sheet of paper we were given the class before on how to cook them up.
The biggest problem we had was how to double coat the albumen because directions kept on getting all switched around. We got the first coats done right but going to the second coat we were told the order wrong for a few of our groups papers. Allison and myself had our papers dipped in alcohol and then immediately the albumen which completely ruined these papers and results showing this in my print.
My prints were not the best and I wasn’t completely happy with my results. The weather was also very cloudy during our lab days, which may have had an impact on how they had been produced. I only used transparency prints because the weather would have made my exposure tine over 30 minutes for paper prints.
The worst results I got where actually from the albumen prints, where more people liked their albumen prints the best. The single coat of albumen turned out all fussy, flat and bland looking with no sharp detail whatsoever. The waterline is only a tad bit visible and cannot see any detail of further water. This is ugly:
The two coats of albumen was the paper we completely messed up, this was when we coated the paper with albumen, dried it, then dipped it in alcohol then immediately dipped in the albumen for the second coat. No detail, completely flattened image, totally washed out and discolored. Waterline is almost invisible. Blah:
My gel prints are only one step up from the albumen prints. These images are a little darker, but still the image is very flat, no detail or highlights, and there’s only a water line slightly visible. The second print was obviously distorted from being wrapped in a paper towel, which makes it look absolutely disgusting. Again, ew:
The arrowroot prints turned out the best out of the three but I’m only slightly happy with the results. The images are dark and there is detail visible in the palms of the trees and the waves within the water. Half thumbs up for these prints:
If I could do this lab over again I would need it to be very sunny outside, I would not cover my prints with paper towels while transporting them from place to place, and I would have chosen a picture with more apparent detail and highlights.
Miscellaneous:
Because my major is in film and animation, I searched for videos relating to albumen. I came across an awesome animation done with the whole process of making an albumen print. This video shows everything from taking a photograph in a camera obscura to creating the albumen and placing the final fixed image in a frame to display. Check it out!
Introduction:
Camera- Latin for “room”
Obscura- Latin for “dark”
Camera Obscura = Dark Room
“A darkened enclosure having an aperture usually provided with a lens through which light from external objects enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface.”
The camera obscura is a dark room or box that has a hole at one side of the structure that can let light inside of the box. The hole is sized so that the light rays from the sun can go through and bend to project a clear, inverted image on the opposite wall of the box. A photosensitized paper could then be placed in the wall of the camera and expose a perfect image.
“An apparatus in which the images of external objects, formed by a convex lens or a concave mirror, are thrown on a paper or other white surface placed in the focus of the lens or mirror within a darkened chamber, or box, so that the outlines may be traced.”
This type of camera was originally the size of a room, where people could be inside of this dark box and see the image being projected. The hole was also just a punctured in the wall but eventually a glass lens was placed inside this whole to make the image clearer. Over the years they became smaller and smaller until the finally reached portability.
“An apparatus in which the image of an external object or objects is, by means of lenses, thrown upon a sensitized plate or surface placed at the back of an extensible darkened box or chamber variously modified; – commonly called simply the camera.”
Camera obscuras’ can be made out of anything that can be enclosed and is able to be punctured. With an enclosed camera, photosensitive paper is able to be safely kept in the dark until the hole is opened to light, allowing an image to form. Pringles containers, shoe boxes, or a classroom will do just fine as a camera obscura.
Other Processes/Materials:
Mo-Ti, a Chinese Philosopher from the 5th Century BC, has the earliest mention thoughts about a device that could project an image from a small hole inside a completely darkened room. He recorded the fact that light rays traveled through a pinhole and the image outside of the room appeared inverted within the room. Mo-Ti named this type of room a “collecting place.”
Aristotle, 384-322 BC, was another important figure who began to uncover the principles of the camera obscura. He took a strainer and looked at the shape of the sun projected onto the ground from within the holes of this item.
Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham, an Islamic scholar and scientist, gave a full account of experiments he did with five lanterns outside a room with a small hole poked into it during the years C. 965-1039.
Leonardo Di Vinci exposed two clear explanations of a camera obscura in his notebooks found in 1490.
“Close all shutters and doors until no light enters the camera except through the lens, and opposite hold a piece of paper, which you move forward and backward until the scene appears in the sharpest detail. There on the paper you will see the whole view as it really is, with its distances, its colours and shadows and motion, the clouds, the water twinkling, the birds flying. By holding the paper steady you can trace the whole perspective with a pen, shade it and delicately colour it from nature” (Leggat).
Giovanni Battista, during the time 1538- 1615, had said to have published the first account of the possibilities of having an aid to drawing. He had said to have made a huge camera that many people could be inside as a group of actors could perform outside of and their performance could be visible to the people inside the camera. The image of these people being projected upside down was said to be too much for the people viewing it and fled the camera in panic. Battiata was later taken to court and charged with sorcery.
After this account of unethical magic, people later wanted and invented a way of to aid them in the process of drawing. This device was called the camera lucida designed in 1807.
In the 16th Century the convex lens was introduced into the aperture and not much later the mirror was used to reflect the image into a viewing surface within the camera.
Johannes Kepler, was a German astronomer who first used the term ‘camera obscura’ in the early 17th century. Kepler used a camera obscura originally for astronomical applications in a tent he had set up when he surveyed in Upper Austria.
Finally in 1833, while on his honeymoon (as described in the post prior to this one) William Henry Fox Talbot wanted a device that could peminently and perfectly capture on image that could be shown off t his friends. He was tired of tracing the images with his Camera Lucida so he invented the process of Photogenic Drawings which were then placed within a camera obscure and there marks the beginning of Photography in 1834!
Links:
http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/cameraob.htm
http://www.photography.com/articles/history/camera-obscura/
http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/CAMERA_OBSCURA.html
http://photography.lovetoknow.com/Camera_Obscura_History
http://www.merriam-webstercollegiate.com/dictionary/camera%20obscura
My Experience:
Now in the year 2011, it was my turn to make my own personal camera obscura. We were given very cheap magnify glass and were told to use this as our lens. Looking at this piece of plastic I thought to myself, “how is this suppose to work?” As I went home later that day, I took this lens and put it up against a wall in my apartment (directly across from a window in broad daylight) to see what kind of image it could produce. To my amazement, it worked remarkably well! Pulling the lens about 3.30 inches away form the wall, there was an image about the size of a cell phone screen that became in focus! I was so amazed by putting this magnifying glass against the wall I could get such a clear picture that I called my roommates to come check it out. They were 120 times more amazed then I was. We laughed and laughed at the excitement brought amongst the room for a long time.
Then I needed to figure out how I wanted to construct a device that could host the lens and produce a crisp image. I took a quick glance around my room and saw a bright orange show box… perfect. After a few hours using an exact-o knife and a roll of duct tape later, I built my second camera obscura! (My first camera obscura I had built in my sophomore year of high school out of a tin can and without a lens but just a small pinhole punctured through the can).
Heres My Camera Obscura:
With shutter closed:
With shutter open:
Inside the camera with a black back wall:
Inside the camera with a cardboard backplate (image was easier to see):
Close up of the image outside my window:
Miscellaneous:
While researching this topic, I found it interesting how many different people went into this final creation of how the camera developed into what it is today. What especially caught my attention where the different devices that ended up influencing the way the camera came to be. For starters, figuring out that light can go through a small hole and be projected directly behind that opening simply amazes me.
The camera lucida was interesting as I read about camera obscuras. William Hyde Wollason coined the term ‘Camera Lucida’ in 1807. The device is a variation of the camera obscura that predated the ‘dark room’. This device was portable and used anywhere with a light source. It took natural light, bended it through a pinhole, projected that image on a mirror (makes the image face the correct direction) which then projected that same image on a flat surface that could be traced by hand. This would have been a great aid for artists back in the day. Not long after these devices were built is when William Henry Fox Talbot (use used the camera lucida himself) wanted that image that he had be formally tracing, to be permanent and able to be on a piece of paper without the need to hand trace everything. Therefore, he birthed the camera obscura.
Still no visible results =[
Looks like diluting the 20 mL of pure raspberry juice in 40 mL of alcohol has a very loooooong exposure time, especially with the lake of sun in Rochester.
Introduction: Salted Paper Prints
Created by William Henry Fox Talbot. Process named calotype printing, but today is commonly referred to as salted paper prints.
A piece of paper was coated in salt that had been dissolved in water. This paper was then sensitized with a solution. Talbot liked to use silver nitrate but other experimenters of the time used different chemicals to achieve similar results.
Most types of paper have a matte surface so the print therefore has a low contrast image. They tend to have a good range of tonal value in highlights but lack tonal range in shadow areas. The texture of the paper appeared on the image, which also causes a loss of definition.
These types of images can only be contact printed, meaning the image is IN the paper rather then ON it. The best kind of salted paper prints are slightly overexposed. The thin areas of the negative quickly darken and block the light from deep emulsion, which prevents detail from developing.
As the story goes, Fox Talbot was on his honeymoon with his wife, Constance, in 1833 amongst Lake Como, Italy when his imagination skyrocketed. He attempted to make a drawing of the lake with his “Camera Lucida.” This is an optical device that collects the light and produces that image on a flat surface that an artist can trace.
At this moment of tracing the image of this lake, he pondered at the idea of permanently and perfectly capturing an image that he would be able to take home and show off to his friends without having to hand draw the image. After his vacation, Talbot, Constance, and his camera lucida returned to England where Talbot sought out to develop such a device.
He had knowledge of prior silver salt experiments as done by Humphrey Davy, Thomas Wedgewood, and Carl Wilhelm Scheele. This is when Talbot began making prints of leaves, feathers, flowers, and lace with paper coated with salted and silver nitrate sensitized solutions. This discovery was therefore named “The Art of Photogenic Drawing.”
Links:
https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=334489&tId=1754705
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_print
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/salted_p.htm
http://www.christopherjames-studio.com/build/ALTsaltedpaper.html
Other Processes and Materials:
William Henry Fox Talbot 
Talbot prepares the paper with salts and silver nitrate solutions then fixes the image with another salt solution.
1) Fine writing paper is dipped into a fine solution of sodium chloride.
2) Wipe the paper dry in order to ensure and even layer of solution spread amongst the paper.
3) When the paper has completely dried, then a layer of silver nitrate solution that is six or eight times diluted by water is brushed over top of the surface.
4) Let dry and the paper is then photosensitive.
“He has found by experiment that there is a certain proportion between the quantity of salt and that of the solution of silver which answers best, and gives the maximum effect. If the strength of the salt is augmented beyond this point, the effect diminishes, and in certain cases becomes exceedingly small” (Goins).
Louis Daguerre 
1) A piece of paper is dipped into a solution of acidic hydrolchoric
3) Hung to dry
2) That paper is then dipped into a solution of silver nitrate (amount is unspecified)
4) Hung to dry
5) After use, the paper was washed with ordinary water
*It had been reported that these papers were extremely sensitive to light and for a short time only.
Golding Bird 
1) Immerse a sheet of thin blue wove post paper in 200 grains of common salt dissolved into a pint of water
2) Dry paper in between the pressure of folded linen
3) Take a sponge and apply a think layer of 240 grains of fused nitrate of silver dissolved in 12 fluid ounces of water over the surface of the paper
4) Hang up paper on a line in a dark room
Mr. Cooper
1) Have water marked paper dipped in a solution of boiling potassium chloride for a couple minutes
2) Dry paper
3) Brush a solution of 60 grains of silver nitrate to one ounce of water on the paper (made highly light sensitive to the point where paper can start to expose in the darkness)
4) Fixed with ordinary water
My Experience: Second Attempt
After making photogenic images with very little knowledge of what we were actually doing, we were able to have a second chance to succeed. This time I rendered better results!
Materials:
-Salt (2%) + distilled water solution
-Silver Nitrate (12%) + distilled water solution
-Disposable sponge brushes
-Pipettes
-Board to apply substances on
-Bristol Board Paper
-Water cup for silver nitrate (substance cannot go down drain!)
-key chains to get imprints from
-Sunlight
Process:
1) Take a piece of Bristol board paper and tape it down on top of a board
2) Apply a very thin layer of 2% salt solution water over top of papers surface
3) Dry with blow drier
4) Apply a very thin layer of 12% silver nitrate solution to the surface
5) Dry with blow drier
6) Repeat steps 4 and 5
7) Take outside into direct sunlight with key chains on top of paper to expose these images for around 1 minute (the exposure can be seen after a few seconds but needs to be outside longer to make the colors darker)
*Image took around 12 seconds to turn purplish-brown and create images.
*After image has been exposed to direct sunlight, the paper needs to under go fixation.
The Wash: 10% Hypo, 100g Na Thiosulphate, 3g baking soda, 1 litter H20
1st Wash- 3 minutes
2nd Wash- 3 minutes
3rd Wash- 3 minutes
4th Wash- Dip
5th Wash- Place in bucket of cold water for one hour
Final Image:
We then repeated this sequence of events as a group using colored filters of blue, yellow, and red to see what kind of effect they would have on the paper.
Blue Filter– let too much light through it to expose a clean image
Yellow Filter– Didn’t let any light through!
Red Filter– Only blocked a small amount of light.
Miscellaneous:
Fun fact!- First man ever photographed was getting his shoes shined. Unintentionally, this man was in the bottom left portion of the image when it was taken.
There are still no visible changes after two weeks of exposure to the sun.
Introduction:
William Henry Fox Talbot: The Inventor of Photography!
Talbot began investigating the properties of silver salt around the year 1834. He began to produce photosensitive paper from coating paper with sodium chloride solution followed by the application of silver nitrate. These substances mixed together and formed silver chloride that infused the paper, making it ready to expose to a light source and capture an image!
He described his process as soaking ‘good quality writing paper’ in a weak mixture of sodium chloride, also known as table salt. This paper was wiped dry then coated with a ratio of 1:6 or 1:8 of silver nitrate to distilled water in a room filled with very dim light. After this coating of the silver nitrate, the paper became photosensitive. Any print he made would be immediately soaked amongst a salt solution to prevent further exposure.
Talbot used only the application of light to draw an image onto a piece of paper instead of using a lens. He used the term ‘photogenic drawings’ for these creations but this was later replaced with the word ‘photogram.’ Personally, Talbot liked to use translucent objects to lay over top of this paper when exposed to sunlight until a reddish image emerged. .He preferred to use flowers, leaves, and translucent specimens or opaque objects because you could capture not only the shape of the object but also project the internal parts of the objects.
These images he called ‘calotypes,’ meaning ‘beautiful’ in Greek. Talbot devised a process to achieve a negative image on paper coated with silver salts and became one of the two major founders of Photography!
Links:
http://www.photograms.org/chapter02.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/features/ephotos/pdtypes.htm
http://www.madehow.com/inventorbios/40/William-Henry-Fox-Talbot.html
The Process: Making Photogenic Images!
Lab Experiment
Purpose:
To create photo paper with the best consistency of salt and silver nitrate solutions.
Safety:
1) Green goggles
2) Latex “high five” gloves
3) Sexy lab coats
Materials:
-Salt (2%) + distilled water solution
-Salt (10%) + distilled water solution
-Silver Nitrate (5%) + distilled water solution
-Silver Nitrate (12%) + distilled water solution
-Disposable sponge brushes
-Pipettes
-Board to apply substances on
-Five types of paper to test:- Bristol Board, Water Paper, Canvas Paper, 100% Rag Weed Paper, Sketch Paper
-Water cup for silver nitrate (substance cannot go down drain!)
-Five small objects to place over paper to check exposure
-Florescent lights
-Timer
Process:
Our group consists of five people. There were five different types of paper to choose from so we each choose a kind and paid specific attention to this material when coated in the different consistencies. We made our consent exposure time at 7 minutes and used one coat of salt then one coat of silver nitrate for each set of strips. We cut our original paper into four strips, therefore creating four different solution combinations to test:
1) Low salt (2%) then low silver nitrate (5%)
2) Low salt (2%) then high silver nitrate (12%)
3) High salt (10%) then low silver nitrate (5%)
4) High salt (10%) then high silver nitrate (12%)
First, we put on all of our safety equipment to protect us from any chemical reactions to our skin, especially being careful about our eyes. Our group members distributed our papers so that we each specifically paid attention to one type of paper and its reactions to the different photo layers. My choice of paper was Bristol Paper. We then cut these papers into four strips, one for each test. Then each of placed one of our own strips on a board and taped the papers down on all sides so that once in contact with liquid, the paper would not crinkle too much.
Salt was always applied as the first coat on each paper, dried with a hair dryer. Then the silver nitrate was applied as the second coat over top of the salt and then dried with a hair dryer.
The four different substances of high/low consistencies were applied to the appropriate boards in the appropriate orders. Once both salt and silver nitrate had been applied and dried, we took different objects, such as a coin, a ring, and keys, and placed them on top of each paper .
We then placed these boards underneath fluorescent light contraption for 7 minutes exactly.
Once removed from the light source, we moved the object over to see if there had been any imprints left. For our high salt and high silver nitrate there were no images present.
Our low salt and high silver did show images!
In this image, the bristol board paper is the key on the right most side of the board. This consistency of solutions worked the best out of our four solution combinations. Take a closer look…
W then untapped the images from the boards and fixed them in a salt and water solution. This is done so that the image will stop being exposed to the light. Salt makes the exposure process take longer when applied to paper while it also fixes the images onto paper to stop the process completely.
These images were then taken out of the fixing bath and dried. The original colors from these paper were significantly lightened.
Results for my Bristol Board Paper:
1) Low Salt / Low Silver: Paper turned purple-ish brown and a key was exposed!
2) High Salt / High Silver: Paper did not turn much of a different color but there was exposure and an image present.
3) Low Salt / High Silver: WORKED BEST! Picture clearly exposed and paper had turned a darker brown/tan color.
4) High Salt / Low Silver: Nothing happened to the paper color and no image was present.
If I Could Do This Again:
If I could do this experiment all over again I would use low amount of salt, only use one coat, then wipe away the excess rather then using a blow dryer. Then I would use a high amount of silver nitrate on the thickest paper available, probably stick with Bristol Board because this seemed to have one of the best results overall within our groups experiments. I would use two or three thin layers of silver nitrate and take the time to let it dry and carefully apply it evenly. Then I would expose the paper under the fluorescent lights until I found the precise time when results were clearly present in front of me instead of taking the boards out at a specific time when there were no images present. It was apparent that our solutions were present on our paper but were not spread out evenly nor consistently. This is why splotchy marks were shown instead of a full color. Overall, I’m amazed at how easy it is to be able to create paper that is capable of capturing an original image.
azlein14 