Salt Print.

[Keith Tapscott.]

This is my first salt print and the best of three attempts, so I will need to practice some more.
I found it very enjoyable, so I will try some more soon.
Comments from experienced salt printers welcome as I want to improve.

[Vaughn]

Nice...it is a fun process! Is the contrast where you want it?

I have a three-print project I would like to do (of my triplets -- each one photographed with an 8x10 on X-ray film -- I have the negs, I have the gelatin and salt treated paper...just need to do it!)

My only Salt print, 5x7 (it has some problems in the upper right -- some sort of staining in the paper -- not on the paper). One can see it when backlit.

Vaughn

[Keith Tapscott.]

Nice...it is fun, I need to do more!

My only Salt print:

Thanks Vaughn, that`s a nice image you have there, so I will need to practice a bit more after seeing that. May be I will try doing a cyanotype soon as well.
This alternative-processing malarkey could become addictive.

[Keith Tapscott.]

Nice...it is a fun process! Is the contrast where you want it?

Vaughn

Not quite, it could do with a bit more contrast, but it`s a start.

[Lenny Eiger]

Not quite, it could do with a bit more contrast, but it`s a start.

I wouldn't change a thing. I think it's beautiful... nice job.

Lenny

[Keith Tapscott.]

I wouldn't change a thing. I think it's beautiful... nice job.

Lenny

Thanks Lenny. I did this shot with Sue Janes, a photographer who lives near by who studied salt printing and lith printing at college.
It was a lot of fun to do, so I will probably order some chemicals and papers to have another go soon. It was easier than I thought it would be.

[JR Steel]

Thanks Lenny. I did this shot with Sue Janes, a photographer who lives near by who studied salt printing and lith printing at college.
It was a lot of fun to do, so I will probably order some chemicals and papers to have another go soon. It was easier than I thought it would be.

Wonderful tonal rendition Keith. What paper is this printed on?

[Vick Vickery]

Gotta show my ignorance...been playing with cameras for over 50 years and I've never run into the term "salt print" before! What is this lovely process???

[Vaughn]

Very basic description:

"Salt" some paper with salt (by coating or soaking it with solution of gelatin and salt). Allow to dry. Coat paper with diluted solution (10 to 20%) of silver nitrate. Dry, and then contact print with neg under UV light. "Develop" in a 3% salt solution, fix in plain hypo, clear in HCA, wash.

This was one of the very first photo processes.

[Robert Hughes]

William Henry Fox Talbot was an Englishman, a friend of the great scientist Herschel, and one of the first photograpers. He printed using a salt - silver nitrate combination on paper: "...he found that a sheet of fine writing paper, coated with salt and brushed with a solution of silver nitrate, darkened in the sun, and that a second coating of salt impeded further darkening or fading." Later on, after consulting with Herschel, he substituted sodium hyposulfite for the second salting, and improved the longevity of his prints.