From: Sandy King (sanking@hubcap.clemson.edu)
Date: 02/21/01-04:57:31 AM Z
Lukas wrote:
>Hello,
>
>having come across what seems to me a quite cheap source of silver nitrate,
>I am thinking of trying some salt prints.
>
>I have a question which I did not find clearly addressed in the literature:
>
>What are the tonal values of the process? I know long-scale negativs are
>needed, but what about the mid-tones? How does the process fare in relation
>to, say, platinum?
>What I really mean is probably: is the process really worth the effort, or
>is the main attraction its antiquity? I would be grateful for any input.
>
>Second, is sodium chloride okay for salting (as said in "spirits of salts")?
>
>Lukas
I am far from being an expert on salted paper printing but I have made a
few nice prints. I think it is definitley worth the effort because of its
exquisite purplish-black-brown color, though its antiquity, which put you
in touch with the very beginnings of the negative/postive way of print
making, is also attractive.
Salted paper is a POP, or printing out process. This means that you can get
a rough idea of exposure by taking an occasional peek at the image as it is
exposed. The process has a very long tonal range and needs a negative with
a high density range, up to and even beyond 2.0. You can make prints with
negatives of lower density range but the shadows will probably look washed
out. This is because as the shadows develop density they block the light
resulting in progressively less density build-up in these areas.
Sandy King
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