Printing with Salt and Silver Nitrate

The Idea

For a few months I’ve been attending a local photo club, Photo Fusion in Brixton, which brings together photographers who are making beautiful art from cameras. Once a month on a Saturday some of us get together and discuss projects that are in flow. A few of these have mentioned salt printing, and I was interested to find out more.

I was planning to do a course, but Corona Kicked In. So instead I did a bit of research on the Internet. This article got me started. As a side note, I am finding a lot of great material on Lomography.com when I Google random photographic techniques. It’s either got a great SEO team or great content (or, conceivably, both).

Things You Need

Based on the article, I acquired the list of things needed. As usual, eBay fared better than Amazon for sourcing random chemicals. The big ticket items are really silver nitrate, citric acid and sodium thiosulphate.. The latter are quite cheap and you get quite a lot for your money; my silver nitrate however was £20 for 20g, so a more considered purchase. You might also want some clean decorating paintbrushes, a shallow plastic tray (I had one I had previously used for marbling inks) and some glass jars for storing the solution in. You could also do with a piece of glass big enough to put over your prints while developing, though I found that this did inhibit the colour somewhat. You might also want some plastic gloves, as my hands have been covered in black stains for over a week, and plenty of kitchen roll for wiping down the glass, digital negatives, etc.

That’s for the actual printing process. You need to make digital negatives as well (unless you happen to have some large format negatives lying around that you want to use). For the first batch I used this digital transfer film in my inkjet printer, but you can also buy OHP transparency sheets that are around half the price. They are pretty simple to make, and I used this guide: https://parallaxphotographic.coop/how-to-make-digital-negatives/

Choosing the Right Images

It’s important for this process to choose the right sort of images, with the correct amount of contrast. I had a digital negative of a picture of my son, an agapanthus flower and of a shot I took in the Tate Modern last year. These were sample images that I wanted to try out and that I thought would look quite good in the medium.

Choosing the Right Day

You need light and sun for this process. And because it’s messy as Hell, really you want to be outside with that tub of black-staining evil silver nitrate solution. Which means, in the UK, picking the right kind of day for it (ie no rain). And too sunny can be a bad thing too. My first Tate contact print I left for far too long in the sun (with this technique less - exposure - is definitely more).

The Basic Process

Mix up your chemicals as instructed in the article. Soak your cardboard or thick paper in the saline solution and let it dry. Then paint on the silver nitrate solution and let it dry in a dark place (I used the shed). Pop on top your digital negative, cover with glass and expose in the light for the relevant time. You then need to wash the paper and soak in sodium thiosulphate solution for around 5 minutes, to fix the chemicals. Missing this step means a black picture, in time. So the process is actually pretty simple and easy once the prep has been set up.

Things I Still Need to Work Out

• Exposure time. Especially on more delicate prints like the one I took at the Tate Modern, less exposure is better and especially in strong sunlight. The prints get darker as well the older they are, so underexposing at first is not a bad idea

• Card stock. There is a lot of liquid involved in this process and normal paper isn’t going to work (I did try on some.) For my test prints I used a stack of white card from the Pound Shop, but if you are getting wise to this process it would obviously be better to use higher grade materials

• I soaked my card in saline as per the instructions, but actually I found it left a few air bubbles. So next time I will try painting on the saline with a thick paintbrush

• I found I got “splots” on my prints - and later found these were acquired in the fix bath. So I need to do some trials to work out how to eliminate these. I’m not sure whether it’s a solution issue, a paper issue or what - but I might try painting on the fixer rather than soaking the card in it.

• My prints are very “brown”. I know that’s kind of the point, but they seem browner than others I have seen. So I may also try diluting the silver nitrate solution a little more with some more citric acid solution, or using a smaller paintbrush to apply it more sparingly to the card

• I may also try this technique on cheap canvases from the likes of The Works (or indeed the Pound Shop)

So there’s lots to learn about this old technique, as with any new skill, but it’s fun to go back to the beginnings of photography and merge them with the technology that we have now.

Adventures in film

Travel photography is wonderful and gives rise to so many photo opportunities with people, cultures, streets and other more established tourist sights - but it is often quite reactive to situational events that you just so happen to capture. I’ve a yearning to get more creative with the photography that I’m doing.

Film lives
This has triggered something of a return to film. I’ve dug out my analog SLR from the drawer and replaced the batteries - the original Canon is back - complete with unfinished black and white film from I Don’t Know When. I had to Google film processing locations and was quite surprised to find that there is a place not far from where I work. Using the camera that I once cherished and cut my SLR teeth on now seems so simple, like a toy. The clunk and whir of the film winding on is pure nostalgia. And, actually, I loved that lens.

To add extra creativity to this burst of film activity, I have tracked down a couple of specialist retailers that sell “doctored” camera film. On its way are several rolls of redscale film, and another couple of special effects film. I can’t wait to get them loaded up and out onto the streets of London for some trial shots - I remember from my red lens filter before that you have to shoot a couple of stops up to get the exposure right so it will be a case of trial and error to get everything Just So - can’t wait to show how the shots pan out.

Here are some examples of redscale photography. And if you really get into it, it’s possible to make your own redscale film at a much cheaper price than the pre-packaged stuff - by just flipping a standard 35mm colour film around in its canister. If anyone has done this and has some tips, do let me know.

Medium format
The next adventure in film is taking it to the next level. I have acquired an ancient Yashica-44 twin lens reflex medium format camera from eBay. Possibly I was slightly impulsive when acquiring it and got over-excited by the prospect of this very cool-looking beast. It was only after investigation of its film format that I realised it doesn’t take the standard 120mm film that normal medium format cameras take, and instead takes 127mm.

Boll*cks.

Turns out that only two specialist retailers appear to sell this format in the whole of the UK, and it ain’t cheap. Nik & Trick sell it for around £12 a roll (plus specialist processing), and Analogue Wonderland offer it for a slightly higher price. So once again one is going to have to get creative and play around with the options:

1. Pay the price of the film

2. Try and load 120mm film on the spool with the help of a tactically placed elastic band on one end

3. Try and load 35mm film with the help of two tactically placed hairbands on either end of the spool

If anyone has tried this, please shout - I am going to need all of the help I can get… Watch out for the “creative” results…