Photogenic Drawings #2

                                                        Single Coat Albumen Print: It should first be noted that each of these prints had the same coating of 12% silver nitrate to obtain the photosensitive properties. All of the following prints have been made on Canson watercolor paper. All prints where then taken to a fix bath and then rinsed thoroughly to removed excess silver. This single albumen coated print used a digital negative with a hue of green over the negative image. This particular print was taken on an on/off sunny day so the true darks and lights never really came through creating a strong contrast and range of values. However the image its self is clear and this was the first successful digital negative to positive print that I had made. I gave the print about 10 minutes exposure time and I believe this is where there was room for improvement. My conclusion was to bump up the exposure time to anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes that day.

                                                    Gelatin Print: This Gelatin print was my next successful print and as stated before, It has a double coat of 12% silver nitrate and an adjusted exposure time of 20 minutes. The coating process was a bit shaky so unfortunately that was my main down fall in the print. However, I found that the increased exposure time gave me a better range of tones and over all more contrast. The image is relatively clear, however it is lacking true light tones.

                                                    Double Coat Albumen Print: This print was a shame because I believe from looking at it that it had all the capabilities of acheiving a tremendous print with a wide tonal range, sharp and crisp contrast and great details. Unfortunately it was under exposed as I only left it out on an over cast day for 10 minutes. While the print and negative were in the frame, It was especially diffacult to decide if the image is properly exposed. At first I was judging from looking at the part of the print that was purely exposed and had no negative over it. I found after several tries that it was better to trust the clock than it was the exposure of the excess print on the edges.

                                                            Arrow Root Print: I would mark this print as the best of the bunch. Good contrast, decent exposure, good tonal range, and the sharpness could be better but that may have been because of the negative.A solid 20 minute exposure on a fairly sunny day.

                                                          Untreated paper negative Gelatin Print: I wanted to experiment with a paper negative because historically, this would have been more true to the process. Unfortunately what went wrong here was that I had underestimated the exposure time by alot. This print was left in mild sunlight for about 20 minutes when it should have been easily a 30 minute exposure. Also, I could have waxed the paper negative to give it a translucent property which would have been even more true to historic process. I suppose thats what experimentation is for.

Digital Negatives: The negatives used for these prints were created digitally on photoshop. First you take your image and invert it. Change to grey scale, and tweak the brightness and contrast with a curve that is loaded into the program. Then we layed a low opacity green hue over the image to change the color spectrum coming in contact with the prints. 
Paper Coatings:
-Albumen is a egg white based coating including vinegar and salt that is applied to the paper, dried and then the silver nitrate can be added to the surface to create the photosensitivity. The ratio is 500ml. of egg white to 3 ml. of vinegar to 7.5 g. of salt. This mixture must then be shaken vigorously, sit, and eventually become rotten before it can be used as a coating.
-Arrowroot is is a naturally derrived plant root. 4 g. of arrowroot to 119 ml. water, 4g. salt, .5 g. citric acid is the ratio used on these prints.
-Gelatin requires 125ml of water, 1 g. gelatin, 2.5 g citric acid and 2.5 g of salt. The gelatin and water must be warmed and mixed together, then follows the remainder of the ingredients. This must be applied when the mixture is warm.

History:
-Historically, Albumen was the coating of choice. Partially due to the asthetic of finished piece which was the glossy finish to the photograph, which in some cases, brings out lights and excetuates darks. The albumen prints were most readily available on a mass production scale to fit the demand of photos being printed at the time (1860's - 1890's). At one point in time, albumen prints where so popular that people were urged to ration their consumption, as shown on the posters we saw in class.
- Gelatin was also commercially a viable option and saw its hay day around the end of the 19th century, however found use all the way in the 1960's. This was an important coating for developing gloss and semi-gloss prints.
- Arrowroot as a coating was used throught out the years as a reliable coating, especially because it's ingredients could all be found naturally. How ever it was not commercially viable and there for did not stand the test of time for continious use.
Closing thoughts:
The experiment certainly had a learning curve as seen in the progression of prints. I had fun tweaking the approach and trouble shooting the diffaculties. It was such a delicate approach of exposure, making sure your negatives had the proper amount of contrast and getting the exposure times just right. I would have thought I had the coating down by the time I did these but that was just as big a part of it as any.