FERGUSON PHOTOGRAPHY
AND DESIGN

ALTERNATIVE PROCESS TUTORIALS
& PDF DOWNLOADS

Not that long ago gum bichromate, print-out paper, platinum, palladium, cyanotype, kallitype, carbo, albumen, and many other monochromatic mediums were available to the photographer. Today only silver gelatin is easily available. One needs only to experience the color of an Atget albumen, the depth of an Evans platinum, the feeling of night in Steichen's cyanotype "Flat Iron Building", or the warm purple glow of a Linda Connor's POP print to realize that these images would not be as effective on a modern RC silver gelatin paper!

These instructions introduce you to a number of these processes, and present my low-tech approach to alternative processes and the "zone system". It is my belief that the vast majority of failures in alt process are due to using "incorrect" negatives. I will give you a ballpark starting point for a few processes, allowing you to "try them out". I will also explain how to measure and fine-tune these processes for your own style and working methods.

Illustration #1: Platinum Print on handmade paper Copyright © 1993 by Tom Ferguson Click on image for larger view	Illustration #2: Gum Print Copyright  © 1994 by Tom Ferguson Click on image for larger view

Series Introduction:

"Alternative Process Printing" is a surprisingly undefined phrase. In this series we will use it to mean photographic printing processes not commonly available ready made.

This series will deal primarily with three historic processes. These are Cyanotype, Platinum (palladium), and Gum Bichromate. The knowledge and basic principals presented here can easily be applied to other alt processes (Salt Prints, Van Dykes, Albumens, etc).

Cyanotype is a moderate definition "blue and white" iron based system that can be coated on a wide variety of papers and other base materials. Platinum and Palladium are a classic high definition warm toned black and white system that needs to be printed on high quality selected papers. Prior to 1920 many photographs were printed in platinum. Gum Bichromate is a moderate to low definition watercolor paint based system that allows almost any color (or mix of colors). Definition can be varied from reasonably sharp to painterly abstract by the number of coats, surface texture and registration. It can be printed on a wide variety of papers (although many papers will need pre-treatment).

It is my belief that so many people fail in their attempt to learn alt process printing for three reasons:

1) Mismatched negatives. You must know how to match a negative and its development to a process. Without this knowledge, getting a good print is a "crap shoot" regardless of how well you follow printing instructions.

3) Most alt processes can produce wonderful prints by a number of different methods. This has been know to cause confusion and arguments amongst the "experts". It is easy for a beginner to become so confused by the slight difference in techniques, that they never get past the confusion and actually print.

3) There is far too much misinformation floating around. Not just variations, as discussed above, but truly incorrect info. I can only assume that people have only read or "heard" the incorrect info (not actually tried it!), and then pass it on to others as "gospel truths".