Now Free and Released to the Public
Our newest update includes a chapter on Dr. Mike Ware’s newest addition to the Siderotype process toolkit: Simple Cyanotype. This new formulation surpasses the abilities of the classic A/B formulation in the richness of deep tonality, lack of image bleeding into highlights, and the superb fine grain within the resultant image.
This guide is used in our group facility as a reference to assist practitioners in the art of historic alternative printmaking. Having proved helpful over the past months, it is now time to release this working reference out to the world.
The guide is available in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and eBook/ePub format. Viewing the eBook/ePub versions are best with either Apple Books for iOS & Macintosh systems or Google Play Books for Android systems.
If you have any questions this guide or how it is applied, please contact us!
Photographic Processes User Guide
The Special Edition Art Project was created to afford photographers and artists practical access to the creation of wet processed photographic prints. This photographic processes user guide focusses instruction on classic B&W sliver gelatin print making as well as the historic light sensitive iron based Siderotype processes of Cyanotype (iron), Vandyke Brownprint, aka VDB, (silver / gold), Argyrotype (silver / gold), and Ziatype (palladium / gold / tungsten / platinum). These processes, wedded with modern chemistries for ecological wisdom and low Earth impact, allow for creative latitude in texture, tonality, and image presentation to keep the world safe, clean, and filled with beautiful works of self expression. This guide is a working instructional reference and by no means a treatise on the covered processes; ‘Principal References’ can be found in the appendices. The procedures and quantities documented in this guide are not set in stone, but rather provide guidance to a known working baseline when creating with the processes described herein.
As an added assist, our User Guide documented Photoshop exposure response correction curve files can all be downloaded here: SEAP_Curves
As as added additional assist, this is the H&D curves swatch we use for testing exposure time and H&D expsoure correction curve efficacy on new papers & chemistry for Siderotype processes: H&D-Curves-Swatch.tif
This curves swatch is described in detail in our Siderotype Paper Survey.
As an additional assist, we have put together a guide to help in preparing a digital image negative for contact printing with these photographic processes, available here in PDF format: Preparing Digital Negative
Table of Contents of the Guide:
Photographic Processes User Guide – Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Photographic Processes
2.1. Overview
2.2. Definitions, Capacities, Extras, and Negatives
2.2.1. Definitions, Notational and Other
2.2.2. General Capacities
2.2.3. Process Extras
2.2.4. Processing Flow Commonalities
2.2.5. Siderotype Lessons Learned
2.2.6. A Word About Negatives
2.3. Cyanotype
2.4. Simple Cyanotype
2.5. New Cyanotype
2.6. Vandyke Brownprint (VDB)
2.7. Argyrotype
2.8. Ziatype
2.9. B&W Silver Gelatin
2.10. B&W Film Development
3. Chemistry of Light Sensitive Emulsions
3.1. Siderotype and Silver Gelatin Comparisons
3.2 Cyanotype
3.3. Simple Cyanotype
3.4. New Cyanotype
3.5. Vandyke Brownprint
3.6. Argyrotype
3.7. Ziatype
3.8. B&W Silver Gelatin
Appendix A: Emulsion Care & Feeding
Appendix B: Process References
Appendix C: Photography References
Appendix D: Coffee Cyanotype Toning Example
Appendix E: Exposure Response Correction Curves
Appendix F: Spill Response Procedures