Another View

[earlj]

Davenport-Rock Island bridge again. Salt prints need negatives with lots of contrast. I developed the pictures from wwpd with extra time, but the gray conditions just didn't produce enough contrast. The salt prints look like mud. This negative is not dense, as a matter of fact it is a bit thin, but it has the necessary contrast range to work well on a salt print.

I think that my scanner does not know what to do with the matte finish of the watercolor paper. I just can't seem to get a scan that looks like the print.

Fabriano Artistico hp 90
salted with 2% sodium chloride + 2% sodium citrate
sensitized with 12% silver nitrate with a drop of 40% citric acid
3 minute exposure in full sun
5 minutes in gold thiocarbamide toner Attached files

[gneissgirl]

... I just can't seem to get a scan that looks like the print.

Sometimes that's a problem even with regular prints and negatives, but it does seem to be exaggerated with alt. process prints. I've noticed a lack of "depth" in some of my cyanotype scans. Maybe it's the matte, slightly textured paper, as you say. The subtle colors also must be tricky to capture. This is so lovely, though. Hearing that you're frustrated with the scans *really* makes me want to see the print(s) themselves.

3 min! Wow, fast! compared to my recent times for cyanotype (4-6 min). Are salt prints generally faster than c-types?

I haven't been able to find any Fabriano papers locally. Is Artistico a hot-pressed or cold-pressed paper?

[earlj]

Salt prints are quite a bit faster than cyanotypes. After all, it is a silver-based process, and cyanotype is iron-based.

I am re-evaluating my choice of Fabriano Artistico. I love the color of the natural white and the smoothness of the hot press finish, and it seems to be the right absorbency for smooth coating with a glass rod on both cyanotype and salt prints. However, it seems to contain some chemicals in either the sizing or the buffering that are a concern to me. You can't see it on this scan, but this print has a stain in the plain paper area out side the image that is a chemical fog. I decided to try masking all of the area outside of the negative with photographic tape. I coated up six sheets - the first one (exposed as soon as it was dry enough) cleared completely with no stain, and each subsequent print showed a little more color in the masked area of the print. Traditional cyanotypes work very well, but the new cyanotype formula fogs to a dark green in a few hours.

[buggy]

Very nice image with alot of sky detail that I like. I also like the tone or colorization of the print.