Anthotype - Update

I removed the step tablet from an anthotype piece that was up in the window for a week. There is a visible rectangle from the strip but no real tonal distinction between the steps.

Photogenic Drawing - Process

Eight pieces of paper were coated with a salt solution (NaCl) with a sponge and dried.

Silver nitrate (AgNO3) was then applied over the NaCl. Four pieces got 5% AgNO3, and the other four got 12%.

 The paper was dried...

...and was exposed to the light with either keys or step tablets placed on top of them.

 Good job Al!

 The images were "fixed" or stabilized in salt water.

 The Strathmore cold press watercolor paper had the best tonal range out of the four pieces exposed with a step tablet. It was especially dark before being fixed in the salt water.

The top row was applied with 12% AgNO3 and the bottom row was applied with 5% AgNO3. The watercolor paper in the right column gave the clearest whites and definition out of all the papers.

 

Al sings a song.

Photogenic Drawing

William Henry Fox Talbot began experimenting with salt prints and gave the name "photogenic drawing" to his first photographic invention. The photogenic drawing was a piece of paper coated in salt and a solution of silver nitrate to form a silver chloride which was then darkened in the sun and applied with a second coat of salt to stabilize the image. Talbot's original images were simple photograms of botanical specimens. The area covered by the leaf or plant during exposure remained white while the area around it darkened. Talbot progressed to make photographs in a camera, although the exposures took hours, and he announced his photogenic drawings in response to Daguerre's announcement of his process on metal plates. Talbot continued experimenting with his photogenic drawings and eventually developed the calotype.

      

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tlbt/hd_tlbt.htm

http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/talbot.htm

http://notesonphotographs.org/index.php?title=Photogenic_Drawing

The materials we used in class to make our photogenic drawings were paper, salt (NaCl), and silver nitrate (AgNO3). We used four different types of paper:

• Strathmore cold press watercolor
• Canvas paper
• Bristol smooth
• Cotton rag 100% 

 

Each piece of paper was cut into 2 pieces for a total of 8 pieces, and each piece was taped to a board. The pieces got one layer of 2% NaCl that was applied with a sponge and dried with a hairdryer. Four pieces got two coats of 5% AgNO3 over the NaCl and the other four got two coats of 12% AgNO3 over the NaCl, with drying time between all of the coats. Once all of the papers were dry, we exposed them to light for about 5 minutes with either a step tablet or a key placed on them. We "fixed" or stabilized the images in salt water for about 5 minutes.

 

We found that the Strathmore cold press watercolor paper worked the best by providing a dynamic tonal range when exposed to light with the step tablet.

 

 

 

Photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has been collecting Talbot's earliest negatives and printing photographs that nobody, inlcuding Talbot, has ever seen.

http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/PhotoDrawing.html

 

Anthotype - Process

Blending spinach and alcohol.

 Straining the mixture to get the tincture.

Papers with spinach, tomato, raspberry, and beet extract being dried with a hairdryer.

Paper with dried cherry extract.

Papers with "step wedges" made of neutral density filters are hung up in the window to receive light.

Anthotypes

An anthotype is an image created with photosensitive materials from plants, vegetables, and fruit. It was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, but the photo sensitive properties of plant matter have been known long before then and are mentioned in the observations of Henri August Vogel in 1816. The plants, vegetables, or fruit are crushed and often combined with alcohol to form a tincture which then coats a sheet of paper. After the paper dries, it is exposed to direct sunlight to bleach out the image. Henry Hunt Snelling said that the juices of many plants "produce very good photographic effect." (The History and Practice of the Art of Photography. New York: G.P. Putnam) 

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/anthotypes/anthotype-process

http://lenscratch.blogspot.com/2009/11/carol-golemboski.html

http://www.make-a-print.com/section431011_150891.html

My group decided to test tonal range with 5 fruits and vegetables and three variations of exposure time. We used:

• spinach - it contains iron which has produced decent images in other photographic processes, 
• beets - they have a strong color and are concentrated
• tomato paste - it is highly concentrated, easy to extract, has no seeds, and other forms of tomatoes have too much water 
• raspberries - they have strong color and are concentrated 
• dried cherries - they are a different consistency than the others fruits and vegetables and were suggested by Peter

We combined each fruit and vegetable with about ¼ cup of alcohol in a food processor and put the blend into a strainer or coffee filter to get a tincture.

Two coats of each vegetable and fruit extract were then put on 5 pieces of paper, each cut into 4 pieces; after the paper dried, we each took a fruit or vegetable paper home.

Step wedges made of neutral density filters were taped to 3 of the pieces, which will be exposed for 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month. The fourth piece will be used when we determine the exposure time that results in the best tonal range, and we will each try to make an anthotype with an object or positive image.

The blending of the food and alcohol was easy but we had to use different approaches when trying to get the extract. The raspberries were the thickest and went right through the strainer so we needed to use a coffee filter. More alcohol needed to be added to the tomato paste because it was too thick, and we had to use two coffee filters to prevent them from tearing while getting the extract

Both Snelling and Levi L. Hill mention juices changing color between when they are first applied to the paper and after the exposure is done so it will be interesting to see if any of the vegetable and fruit colors we used will change.

Anthotypes made with positives:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansbazar/800291191/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photo_de_nuit/5040165299/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonyp/2080519842/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonyp/2079732803/