Month: October 2020

Getting more details

I had this cyanotype print which didn’t have enough details, the head of the subject did not pop out from the background. So I tried to apply what was experienced before. So I used Carbonate potassium to get more light to the picture, and then toned with coffee. I end up with a less contrasty image which I think is a fit for this kind of picture. The two pictures below are scans of the same sheet of paper and both raw from the scanner.

Carbonate potassium and cyanotype

I have found a formula using carbonate potassium on a FB group which gave very nice results. It is a process that I still have to apply. In the mean time I wanted to understand the effect of this compound. One of the effect is bleaching. So I used a very diluted solution in order to brighten a bit a print which was exposed for too long. The first one is exposed for 5 minutes and not modified. The second one is exposed for 6 minutes and then went into the Carbonate potassium bath. There is a bit of contrast loss, but clearly we can get back some details in the shadows. I don’t have the overexposed print for comparison though.

Testing a new paper

I got some Hahnemühle Sumi E paper some time ago. This is quite interesting to make cyanotype with it. The paper absorb a lot of the solution and is acid free, so this is probably not the best for that. Nevertheless, I got some good result with the first try. I dipped it in coffee for toning, and it basically take ages to get some taint. I will try to bleach it first and see what happen.