Alternative Photographic Processes

An iron-silver printing-out process producing warm brown tones reminiscent of Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. Relatively simple chemistry with moderate archival permanence when toned.

Sometimes called "the poor man's platinum," kallitype is an iron-silver process capable of producing tonal qualities similar to platinum prints at lower cost. A develop-out process offering excellent tonal control.

A modern iron-silver process developed by Dr. Mike Ware as a refined alternative to Van Dyke Brown. Produces warm brown tones with improved stability and archival permanence.

Dr. Mike Ware's reformulation of traditional cyanotype, offering faster exposure, higher Dmax, better highlight detail, and improved consistency. The modern standard for cyanotype printing.

Changing the colour of a cyanotype by bleaching the blue with sodium carbonate and re-colouring the image with tea, coffee or tannic acid.

Printing the cyanotype on cotton, linen or silk: choosing and preparing natural fibres, coating, drying, washing and aftercare.

The pinnacle of photographic printing processes, producing exceptionally permanent images with unmatched tonal range. The Malde-Ware method modernises this classic process for contemporary practitioners.

A gold-based printing process invented by Sir John Herschel, producing permanent purple-black images. Recently revived and refined by Dr. Mike Ware with modern formulations.

A palladium-based printing process developed by Richard Sullivan, combining the ease of kallitype with the permanence of palladium. Named after the Zia Pueblo sun symbol.

The contemporary Malde-Ware printing-out platinum and palladium process: ammonium salts, humidity control and EDTA clearing, distinguished from develop-out platinum-palladium.

The first paper-based photographic process, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot. Produces soft, matte images with warm brown tones and delicate highlight rendering.

The dominant photographic printing process from 1855 to 1895, using egg white as a binder. Produces rich purple-brown tones with exceptional detail and a characteristic glossy surface.

A destructive alternative process where silver gelatin prints are bleached, causing shadows to lift and veil. Creates surreal, dreamlike images with distinctive texture.

Light-sensitive silver gelatin sold as a gel that you melt and brush, pour or dip onto paper, wood, glass, ceramics, fabric or stone, then expose, develop and fix with ordinary darkroom chemistry.

A darkroom technique in which a suitable chloro-bromide paper is heavily overexposed, developed in a dilute lith developer by infectious development, and pulled early for warm, coloured highlights and deep grainy shadows.

Hand-made silver gelatin dry plates: Terry Holsinger's neutral iodobromide emulsion formula, coating, exposure and development, with silver nitrate hazards.

Among the most permanent photographs possible, using pigmented gelatin rather than metallic silver. Rich blacks, visible relief in shadows, and any colour possible through pigment choice.

A favourite of pictorialist photographers for its painterly qualities and ease of manipulation. Any colour possible through watercolour pigments, with buildable density through multiple layers.

The dominant photographic process from the 1850s through 1880s. Produces negatives or direct positives (ambrotypes, tintypes) with extraordinary detail and a distinctive aesthetic.

A pigment-based process where conventional silver gelatin prints are bleached and inked by hand. Allows painterly control and manipulation impossible with straight photography.

A pigment process using dichromated gelatin sensitised on paper, then inked with lithographic ink. The precursor to bromoil, offering similar painterly control.

A direct positive made by the wet collodion process on a thin sheet of lacquered iron or black-coated aluminium; quick, tough and one of a kind.

A collodion positive on glass: an underexposed wet plate negative that reads as a positive when backed with something dark.

Combination printing: pigmented gum layers coated and exposed over a cyanotype or platinum/palladium base print, with the registration and paper preparation that requires.

Photographic intaglio printing: copper plate photogravure with dichromated gelatin tissue and ferric chloride, and photopolymer gravure with water-developed plates.

Camera-less images created using plant pigments that bleach under light exposure. Completely non-toxic and suitable for all ages, though images are not permanent.

A contemporary camera-less process using conventional photographic paper exposed to direct sunlight without development. Creates unexpected colours and unique, ethereal results.

Abstract images created through the interaction of photographic chemistry and various resists, without camera or enlarger, in full room light. The intersection of photography and painting.

A camera-less print made by laying objects on black-and-white enlarging paper and exposing it to light, then processing it in the darkroom. The simplest way to learn paper handling.

Emulsion lifts and image transfers from Polaroid instant film, with a plain account of which techniques work with current integral film and which needed discontinued peel-apart packs.

Hand-drawn negatives on glass or film, scratched through soot, ink or paint and contact printed onto light-sensitive paper.

The first commercially successful photographic process, producing unique mirror-like images on silver-plated copper. The Becquerel variant eliminates the extremely hazardous mercury development.

Lensless photography through a tiny hole, from the ancient camera obscura to a paper-negative pinhole camera you can build at home.