|
Sequence viewing > Index - Alternative Photo Emulsions - Resource - ©
Lloyd Godman
Alternative
Photographic Processes - (Hand
made photographic -emulsions and processes)
Processes
- Palladium
In the 1920s Platinum
became very expensive in the 1920s, causing photographers to change
from using platinum to palladium salts. The two processes were very
similar and produced similar results. Result © Please click here
to see more examples of Platinotype photos. Platinotype photos were
highly regarded. They often had a good range of grey tones from silver
to black, but could also be produced in warm brown tones. The platinum
was embedded in the fibres of the paper and did not fade. 1870s The
British Journal of Photography [4 Jun 187, p.265] said: "The tones
of the pictures thus produced are most excellent, and the latter possess
a charm and brilliancy we have never seen in a silver print upon plain
paper, added to which they are so permanent as to resist all the usual
destructive tests." 1880s WK Burton, in his 1884 book described
the colour of Platinotype prints as being: "not brown or purple,
but a feint greyish-brown colour." [ABC of Modern Photography]
1890s A Horsley Hinton, in his book Platinotype Printing, published
in 1898 wrote: "Whilst amongst most persons of more or less cultivated
tastes the effects secured by platinotype and by carbon printing are
preferred, one still meets many who will unhesitatingly proclaim their
preference for the more old-fashioned silver print ... ..." "Thus,
for example, if I have prints on platinotype paper and on a fine glossy-surfaced
gelatine or albumen paper, and lay them before a child of twelve years,
I expect him to show preference for the latter (the mere brightness
and glossiness are a sufficiently superior attraction); or if I show
them to my servant or a person of less cultivation, I shall be surprised
if he does not show preference for the print of high surface, and which
appears to him to possess properties which the other lacks; ... ...
... ... ..." "But when later on we grow to value such prints
and pictures for the sake of the thoughts they suggest, for the pleasure
they give as suggestions of nature in her more beautiful phases, or
for the faithful reminiscence of a familiar face, then it is that the
qualities of platinotype are appreciated, quite apart from the question
of permanence, which is the proverbial character of the platinotype."
[Platinotype Printing: A Horsley Hinton, p.7]
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1/1_early_photography_-_processes.htm
Want to learn more? - do a workshop or one on one with Lloyd Godman
|