Alternative process
Encyclopedia
The term alternative process refers to any non-traditional, or non-commercial photographic printing process. Currently the standard analog photographic printing process is the gelatin-silver process
, and standard digital processes
include the pigment print, and digital laser exposures on traditional color photographic paper.
Alternative processes are often called historical, or non-silver processes. Most of these processes were invented over 100 years ago and were used by early photographers.
Many contemporary photographers are revisiting alternative processes and applying new technologies (the digital negative
) and practices to these techniques.
See also: Photographic processes
Gelatin-silver process
The gelatin silver process is the photographic process used with currently available black-and-white films and printing papers. A suspension of silver salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, baryta paper, or resin-coated paper...
, and standard digital processes
Digital printing
Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large format and/or high volume laser or inkjet printers...
include the pigment print, and digital laser exposures on traditional color photographic paper.
Alternative processes are often called historical, or non-silver processes. Most of these processes were invented over 100 years ago and were used by early photographers.
Many contemporary photographers are revisiting alternative processes and applying new technologies (the digital negative
Digital negative (transparency)
The digital negative is a new technology which allows photographers to use digital files to create negatives on transparency film. These negatives can be used to contact print, or in some cases if the negative is made large enough they can be enlarged...
) and practices to these techniques.
See also: Photographic processes
Examples
- DaguerreotypeDaguerreotypeThe daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
- Gum bichromateGum bichromateGum bichromate is a 19th century photographic printing process based on the light sensitivity of dichromates. It is capable of rendering painterly images from photographic negatives. Gum printing is traditionally a multi-layered printing process, but satisfactory results may be obtained from a...
and other Pigmented Dichromated Colloids which are used to directly generate a photographic print - Platinum ProcessPlatinum printPlatinum prints, also called platinotypes, are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development....
and Palladium Process - Carbon printCarbon printA carbon print is a photographic print with an image consisting of pigmented gelatin, rather than of silver or other metallic particles suspended in a uniform layer of gelatin, as in typical black-and-white prints, or of chromogenic dyes, as in typical photographic color prints.In the original...
and various similar processes which use a non-sensitive intermediate layer to generate a photographic image - Van Dyke BrownVan dyke brownVan Dyke Brown is an early photographic printing process. The process was so named due to the similarity of the print color to that of a brown oil paint named for Flemish painter Van Dyck.-Printing:...
, CyanotypeCyanotypeCyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints...
and various other iron-based processes - Wet and Dry Plate processesCollodion processThe collodion process is an early photographic process. It was introduced in the 1850s and by the end of that decade it had almost entirely replaced the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype. During the 1880s the collodion process, in turn, was largely replaced by gelatin dry...
based in silver using a hand coated emulsion on a tin or aluminum (tintype) or glass (ambrotype) base - Resinotype and several similar processes which rely upon unexposed dichromated colloids to accept an insoluble pigment
- Oil Pigment processes, such as Bromoil
- Other processes which use silver halide but in various different ways other than the typical silver-gelatin formula, such as Salt PrintSalt printThe salt print was the dominant paper-based photographic process for producing positive prints during the period from 1839 through approximately 1860....
- Any number of processes which use more exotic materials, such as Uranium Chloride, Gold Chloride, and any number of other salts to directly or indirectly generate a photographic print
- Non standardDigital printingDigital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large format and/or high volume laser or inkjet printers...
digital manipulation or printing.