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