Toning Cyanotypes

I've discussed this topic before, but this morning I was doing some experimenting and thought I would share some insights.

First, I started off with a 4x5 Tri-X negative from my Speed Graphic. I scanned it and inverted it to a positive. Then I made a few adjustments and removed any dust spots. That image looks like this.

Nice, huh? I thought so. I needed some prints of this, but rather than sending the negative to a custom darkroom (expensive) or having it digitally printed on a nice ink printer (not the quality/look I want), I thought I would make some cyanotype contact prints right here at home. Of course, I could print using the original negative, but I can only print one at a time and the exposure times are quite long, even in bright sun (around 20min or so). So I decided to re-invert the scan and print it on regular printer paper, then make waxed paper negatives of the image duplicated. Like this.

Then I coated some Canson Aquarelle 140# Cold Press watercolor paper with the traditional 2-part cyanotype formula. UV light penetrates the waxed paper much better than it does the plastic film base of photographic film, so the exposures worked out to be about 4 min. Unfortunately, I over-estimated the time needed and started with 12min, then tried 10min and 8min before I settled on the 4min exposure. So now I had six prints that were quite over-exposed. I could just toss them, but that goes against my frugal nature. I decided I would see if bleaching and toning would recover some contrast. Bleaching is done with dilute washing soda (sodium carbonate). On my first attempt, I had the solution WAY too strong (~1/2Tbs in 2c water) and it completely bleached the print almost immediately. In this picture you can see the over-exposed, unbleached print next to the one I just bleached.

At that point, I diluted the washing soda about 100x and that was much more manageable. Next is the toning step. For this, I use wine tannin. I put about 1/2tsp in 2c water. Some people put these solutions in trays and dip the prints, but I like to just brush them on. It gives me a little more control, I think. So here is a picture of the same two prints. The second one was 'gently' bleached and then the tannin was applied to both.

The lower one isn't really coming back, so that is probably just a loss. This is how we learn. :) I continued on with this method of bleach for a minute or so, followed by a rinse followed by toning until it 'looked right' and I must say that the over-exposed prints actually look pretty good with improved contrast and a little interesting color. It's almost like a split-tone which is a look I like. Here are a couple of the 'correctly exposed' prints after toning.

This is tons of fun and really cheap. I plan to send these off to friends as postcards which is even more fun. I hope this is informative. Put a link to your toned cyanotype in the comments. I'd love to see them!

Addendum:
I decided to make a print out of the 'other side' of the postcard, so I did a quick something in Photoshop, printed it, waxed it and cyanotyped it. I think it looks pretty good and completes the package in an artistically coherent way.

A Cyanotype Miracle

I believe that miracles really happen. In spite of the title, this is not one of them, but the word is apt in a figurative sense to describe the improbability of what happened with these two prints. Allow me to start at the beginning.

I went downtown to the art supply store here in San Diego. I wanted to buy a pad of hot press watercolor paper to make some cyanotypes with. Well, either they don't make hot press in pads, or this store doesn't carry them, or both. So I ended up getting a small pad of Strathmore 400 cold press. It just says "heavy weight", but feels like 140#. One sheet (5.5x8.5 in) is just the right size for 2 4x5 negatives. So I cut it in half and coated it up with my traditional cyanotype solutions which are a year or more old, but still kicking. I left it in the dark over night to dry. The next day, I put everything in my contact printing frame and set it out for a good 7 minutes. That seemed like an adequate amount of time because I am used to using waxed paper negatives which transmit UV light much better than the plastic used in film. Needless to say, when I washed the prints (in dilute white vinegar) there was not much of an image there. The borders were dark, but the image area was very faint. I probably needed around 20 minutes. I set them aside until I could decide what to do. It was too bad I didn't have color separated negs for these photos, because this would be a great start for a tri-color gum print. But I just had the one negative for each image.

So I decided after they were dry, I would re-coat with the cyanotype solution, register the negatives over the existing image and try to print them again. This is where the miracles start happening. Usually, watercolor paper will shrink if you soak it in water then dry it. This paper didn't, at least not noticeably. In fact the negatives seemed to register perfectly over the previous image. I had to just register the edges since I couldn't really see any of the image through the negative. The next day it was completely overcast. I didn't even bother putting the printing frame outside. It was too dark by the time I got home. The next day, I knew I had to do something because the cyanotype was going to start fogging if I just left it unexposed in the printing frame. So when I saw the clouds start to clear at work, I called home and had my wonderful bride put the printing frame outside. It was still sort of cloudy, so I told her to leave it for an hour then bring it in. Then suddenly the clouds broke and the sun was out! We exchanged a couple of text messages and I figured the whole thing was a wash. There was no way to tell how much UV exposure it had, and I would just start over on the back sides of the prints. I came home and took a peek under one of the negatives and it wasn't completely dark, so I figured what the heck. I did the same vinegar wash as before and cleared it in fresh tap water. What came out was about the best cyanotypes I think I have ever made. The tonal scale is nice and long (for a cyanotype), the edges are clear, just the whole thing came out about as good as I could have wished. So through two printings of some unknowable exposure combined with sitting out for a couple of days in the air, I got a couple of beautiful prints. I can not explain how it happened, and I will never be able to reproduce the process. Anyway, here they are.

Toned Cyanotype

I have been wanting to try this for a while and this weekend I finally had some time to read up and give it a go. I had bought some wine tannin a while back since tannin is the primary component in tea that is responsible for toning cyanotypes. With the powdered tannin I can skip the brewing step and be a little more quantitative/reproducible about the process. So what did I do?

The image I used was from a while back. It is a 4x5 negative on x-ray film. For details of that image, look here. The cyanotype sensitizer I used was the traditional formula (not the Ware formula) and I have to admit it has been sitting in my photo box for probably a year or more. That is a testimony to the longevity of those solutions and the archival quality of the prints. The paper is Arches 90# hot press watercolor paper (love that stuff). The exposure was 6 minutes (probably should have done 8) in the waning autumnal sun (5:00pm in San Diego). The first bath was about 1:4 white vinegar:tap water. That was intended to extend the tonal range and I think it worked pretty well. Look at the bellows on the camera and you can see quite a few grays in there. Also, the blacks are 'just black' and not too blocky. This might be lost on the computer monitor, but the print is quite nice. The highlights are blown because I under-exposed the print, but that can be remedied next time. Then I washed in lots of plain water until the highlights cleared and were the same color as the borders of the paper. I then did another quick bath in dilute hydrogen peroxide to fully develop the iron. This can be done by drying the print and just waiting a few days, but I am impatient. Another plain water wash and it was time to tone.

I mixed ½ tsp washing soda in 500mL of distilled water.
I mixed 1 tsp wine tannin in 500mL of distilled water.

Starting with the soda bath, I alternated soda... water... tannin... water... for about 30 sec each until it started looking the way and the color I thought I wanted. Here is what I ended up with.

Another Cyano

If you scroll down to the Large Format Fun entry, you will see a photo of combination padlocks along a chain link fence. I like that image so much that I decided to make a cyanotype print of it. I made a couple of attempts. The first one was totally blank. The emulsion completely washed off of the paper because it was under-exposed. That was a 6 minute exposure. So I tried a 15 minute exposure. That one came out very light, but there was an image there. So I dried it and scanned it and threw it into Photoshop (yes, I still embrace digital technology). I cropped it, desaturated it and bumped the contrast and I ended up with a 'digital' image that I really like. This is an instance of technology stepping in and saving an image, but it isn't really a print that I would take out and show to anyone. But I'll put it here where digital is the only option.

A Tale of Two Prints

One of the reasons I got a large format camera was so that I could use the negatives for contact printing with 'alternative' printing techniques. Alt techniques aren't really 'alt' at all. They are just out-dated. They are the techniques used by the early photographers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These are wet plate collodion, daguerreotype, salted paper, ambrotype, kallitype, albumen, gum bichromate, etc. These techniques are definitely still in use and there is an entire photographic sub-culture that enjoys getting their hands dirty with paper and chemistry in order to create images that capture the imagination. I personally love the simplicity of the cyanotype. As you might infer from the name (cyano) this is a blueprint, only instead of printing architectural plans, I print photographs.
It is a very straightforward procedure. Two chemicals (potassium ferricyanide and ammonium citrate) are mixed separately and in this form they are quite stable and can be kept for a long time. Once mixed in a 1:1 ratio, they become (mildly) photo-sensitive. The solution is applied to a surface into which it will soak and/or stick. Generally people use watercolor paper, but cloth, wood or other substrates can be used. I use a brush and just paint it on, but many people use a glass or plastic rod to push the solution across the paper to achieve a very even coating. The paper is allowed to dry (I am impatient, so I take a hair dryer to it in a dark bathroom). Then a negative is laid (emulsion side down) on the coated paper and a piece of glass is placed on top of that to keep everything in contact and flat. I use a contact printing frame that is designed especially for doing just this. The cyanotype emulsion (and also many others) is sensitive to UV light, so either buy an expensive printing light, or if you live in a sunny climate, just use sunlight. I take my printing frame out into the sun and let it sit for anywhere between 5 and 30min depending on the density of the negative. Once the exposure is done, you have to 'develop' the print. Fortunately, the only chemical needed for development is good ol' water. I usually rinse the print under gently running water for a minute or so and then let it soak face down in the sink for another 10-20min. I end up with something like this.



You can see some specks and other artifacts indicating that I didn't blow the dust off of the paper and/or the negative before I made the print. It all adds to the imperfection and uniqueness so don't sweat it.

While I was waiting for some other cyanotypes to dry, I decided to get the Speed Graphic out and load up a couple of sheets of Harman Direct Positive paper. This is photographic paper that creates a regular photograph, sort of like a Polaroid except that you have to develop it in the darkroom. One of the photos I took was of my work area I was using to do the cyanotypes. This paper is very 'contrasty' and you can lose shadow details very quickly. The solution is to 'pre-flash' the paper. That just means to expose it to a little bit of light before you put it in the camera. That way the darkest parts of the image are brightened a little, thereby reducing the overall contrast. This is another fun way to make photos and what you end up with is 'one of a kind' since you are not going to make any more prints because you don't have a negative. Obviously, I scanned the photo, so it isn't really as unique as if I put it in a frame and it could only be viewed by coming to my house, but you get the point. (note: the daisy cyanotype is in this photo and you can see the brush marks where I applied the chemicals to the paper)



So there you go. Browse over to Photographer's Formulary and pick up a cyanotype kit. It is tons of fun!!