![]() All of the prints in the Morning Glories Series were created with very old silver gelatin papers: a package of Kodak F-2 Kodabromide with an expiration date of Dec 1, 1947, a package of Oriental Seagull G2 bromide paper, and a package of Ilford Ilfobrom Velvet Lustre, both from the 1980s. Lumen prints work well with old or fogged silver gelatin papers. The lumen printmaking process uses developing out papers as printing out papers to achieve wholly unpredictable results. Lumen prints, a rarely used printing process, relies upon the principle that any photographic paper if exposed to enough sunlight, will produce an image without a developer. These papers require a very short exposure time and require the addition of a developing agent such as Kodak’s Dektol print developer to bring forth the latent image in the developing solution. With developing out papers, such as silver gelatin papers, upon exposure, photosensitive materials capture a latent, invisible image that must be developed-out in a chemical bath to be viewed. Printing out papers were used extensively in the 19th century and prior to the widespread use of silver gelatin papers. No developer is needed with printing out papers. Once the image reaches the desired density and tone, the paper is fixed to halt further development. The photographer monitors the slow conversion of the silver halide to metallic silver. With printing out papers (POP) a photographer places a negative over a sheet of photographic paper and exposed the negative and print to sunlight. ![]() Photographic papers are divided into two types: developing out papers and printing out papers. Lumen Print Set-ups: silver gelatin paper exposed to full sunlight. Scissors, tape, and clear plastic wrap to hold objects onto the paper.Film changing bag or large thick black plastic bags to protect exposed prints from further exposure to sunlight.Bright sunlight or strong UV source light.Contact print frame, contact proofer, picture frame, or sheets of plexiglass.Objects and materials to place on top of the silver gelatin papers (translucent and organic materials add depth and visual interest to a lumen print).Any black and white or color photographic paper.To make a lumen print you will need the following materials: Being able to move from the darkroom and into the bright sunlight is the most exciting aspect of lumen printmaking. Instead of using an enlarger, the lumen printmaking process takes silver gelatin paper out of the darkroom and into the bright sunlight to produce camera-less photographic images. Lumen prints are made by taking sheets of unexposed black-and-white or color photographic paper and placing objects or negatives on top of the paper in the same manner as making a camera-less photogram. Silver gelatin photographic papers are conventionally used in a darkroom under safelight conditions. Lumen prints begin with silver gelatin photographic papers, the traditional photographic paper used in the making of black and white prints since the late 1870s. Urine fixer seemed a much gentler method but less stable.Lumen printmaking is one of the most fascinating camera-less photographic processes. ![]() With lumen prints I discovered that normal chemical darkroom fixer is not just an environmental problem but also an aesthetic one, aggressively altering the original image. This was quite a challenge since bottles are obviously not flat and it was difficult to incorporate them along a flat plane with plants. ![]() For example, I tried to incorporate images of bottles found buried near my house - a former WW2 site. I also found that the condensation created by the humidity caused by damp foliage under glass was an uncontrollable factor producing both surprise but also equal degrees of success and failure. Exposure time, not unexpectedly, depended on the strength of sunlight at a particular time. I pressed these plants under glass onto these papers exposing them to the sun. For these, I used out-of-date photographic paper quickly finding that different papers produced different colour results. I began making Lumen prints using garden plants and weeds. Spring 2020 was a period of fine weather with many sunny days and I therefore decided to try sunlight-based, nineteenth-century photographic techniques known as lumen prints and chemigrams. Confined to my garden I was able to try things out ideas without the pressure of commissions and deadlines. During Lockdown I opened up my studio and began experimenting with photographic techniques requiring minimal resources, even doing without a camera.
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