Making a salted paper print: from setting up the shot to finished print

This video shows the entire process from capturing an image on 4x5" x-ray film, developing the negative, coating/sensitizing paper with salt and silver nitrate solutions, exposing the print using an UV exposure box, developing the print and finishing it. The final part shows the wet and dry print to demonstrate the effects of dry-down in salted paper prints.
Contents:
0:06 Setting up the shot and capturing the image on film
1:39 Developing the negative
3:44 Finished negative on the light table
4:07 Cutting the paper
4:37 Coating the paper with the salt solution
6:31 Coating the salted paper with silver nitrate solution/sensitizer
8:30 Exposing the negative onto the paper using a contact frame
9:55 Checking the exposure of the print
10:05 Developing the print
10:34 Checking print development progress under white light
11:45 Start of the was process and white light goes on again
12:33 Preparing the print for drying by blotting it and taping it to a glass mirror
13:20 Finished print; first shown wet and later compared to the dried print (13:41)
Materials used:
For the negative...
Carestream Ektascan B/RA x-ray film, 8x10" cut down to 4x5" for this image
Film developer: Instant Mytol, dilution 1+0 (i.e. undiluted stock); development time 9 minutes
Film fixer: Fuji Hunt Negacolor RA C41 fixer, diluted 1+3
For the print...
Schut 'Salland' 300 g/m2 printing paper
Non-iodated table salt, sodium citrate and silver nitrate
Citric acid for washing the print
Fixer for the print is the same fixer as for the film (see above)
Gummed tape to dry the print flat (used for taping water color paper to an easel, but also popular for drying fiber-based silver gelatin prints)
This video shows the entire process from capturing an image on 4x5" x-ray film, developing the negative, coating/sensitizing paper with salt and silver nitrate solutions, exposing the print using an UV exposure box, developing the print and finishing it. The final part shows the wet and dry print to demonstrate the effects of dry-down in salted paper prints.
Contents:
0:06 Setting up the shot and capturing the image on film
1:39 Developing the negative
3:44 Finished negative on the light table
4:07 Cutting the paper
4:37 Coating the paper with the salt solution
6:31 Coating the salted paper with silver nitrate solution/sensitizer
8:30 Exposing the negative onto the paper using a contact frame
9:55 Checking the exposure of the print
10:05 Developing the print
10:34 Checking print development progress under white light
11:45 Start of the was process and white light goes on again
12:33 Preparing the print for drying by blotting it and taping it to a glass mirror
13:20 Finished print; first shown wet and later compared to the dried print (13:41)
Materials used:
For the negative...
Carestream Ektascan B/RA x-ray film, 8x10" cut down to 4x5" for this image
Film developer: Instant Mytol, dilution 1+0 (i.e. undiluted stock); development time 9 minutes
Film fixer: Fuji Hunt Negacolor RA C41 fixer, diluted 1+3
For the print...
Schut 'Salland' 300 g/m2 printing paper
Non-iodated table salt, sodium citrate and silver nitrate
Citric acid for washing the print
Fixer for the print is the same fixer as for the film (see above)
Gummed tape to dry the print flat (used for taping water color paper to an easel, but also popular for drying fiber-based silver gelatin prints)
Some notes on the process:
* I used x-ray film for this image, but any regular photographic film works just as well - with the exception of Kodak TMAX100 as it contains a UV-blocking compound in the film base. X-ray film allowed me to show the film development process as it can be developed under deep red light.
* The studio strobes are an old set of Falcon Eyes 200Ws units; I set them at about 50-75% for this shot, which was at f/22 and accounted for half a stop of bellows correction. The strobes were triggered with a generic (eBay) 433MHz trigger set.
* I used a Sekonic L358 to measure flash exposure.
* The camera is a combination of Sinar F (rear) and Sinar Norma (front) parts with a Schneider Symmar 210/5.6 lens.
* The negative has a sufficiently long tonal scale (contrast) for the salt print process. This means that it virtually cannot be printed onto silver gelatin paper, as it would require less contrast than grade 00 can offer. This is the #1 problem I see with salt prints: use of an inadequate negative, resulting in short print exposure times and low contrast/low dmax in the print.
* The UV exposure box uses an array of quick-start Philips UV tubes hooked up to a cheap (eBay again) digital timer.
* The video was shot using a Canon EOS 7D and 15-85 EF/s lens. Its high-ISO performance is mediocre by today's standards. I'm not a videographer and I currently have very limited (absent) interest in digital photography, so no upgrades are planned...
Music credit: Zoltán Kodály - Dances of Galánta. Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (cond. Adrian Leaper). Naxos 8.550520

[@barrykirsten7517]

Loved this video Koraks, including the music, all done to a very high standard. I'm about to try salt printing myself. Thanks for taking the time to produce this helpful tutorial.

[@SilntObsvr]

Beautiful demonstration -- and a very nice final print, too. I've done salted paper, about fifteen years ago, for a total of about five prints, and I can verify the difficulty of getting a good print from a "normal" negative. I might have to order in some silver nitrate and try it again -- with some additional development to the negatives.

[@koraks9939]

Yes, it really works best with 'real' negatives, I find. Or at least that is in my experience the easiest way to get negatives that print well with this process. Just develop twice as long or so as you'd do for silver gelatin prints.

[@SilntObsvr]

@@koraks9939 of course, one option for an existing negative is to make a copy negative. Ortho lith film is cheap!

[@koraks9939]

@@SilntObsvr Certainly! I have on occasion tried to make a duplicate, enlarged negative from 35mm onto large format xray film. It takes some experimentation to get the right contrast, but it works. Ortho litho film is quite comparable (but slower than xray film).

[@JamesPearson]

Fantastic demonstration, really enjoyed your video.

[@koraks9939]

Many thanks!

[@RandyMoe]

Excellent high speed demo!

[@koraks9939]

Thank you Randy! I made sure to slow down the video in those moments that I deemed critical

[@marcogiai-coletti354]

Beautiful

[@koraks9939]

Thank you Marco!

[@itssaqibfact]

nice

[@koraks9939]

Thanks!

[@thekarmafarmer608]

Excellent! I`m very interested in learning the processing of x-ray film. Can anyone recommend where I might get more info please? I looked up Mytol etc and already hit a wall. Pee

[@sebastianprzybya5966]

Does the citric acid used in preparation rinse out of the paper particularly easy? Do you have any way of reintroducing base buffers into the paper?

[@andrewbroekhuijsen6770]

Really nice video and great print. Did you take the time to calibrate your exposure, negative density, etc?

[@koraks9939]

Thanks Andrew! No, I didn't do any calibrations other than that I know from experience how much exposure I need to get good dmax on the print. I just make sure to develop sufficiently to get enough contrast in the negative. I do this based on experience rather than measurement. It worked in the 1880s, it still works today :)

[@itssaqibfact]

pleased subscriber

[@sergesilberman6072]

I very much enjoyed watching the process unfold. Nice job with the steps & documenting the process. I would like to try it now:) Where can I get the chemistry needed for salt prints? Thanks again:)

[@koraks9939]

Thanks! Go ahead and give it a try. It's a rocky road trying to get to grips with it, but once you manage to make nice prints, it's very rewarding. Don't expect success on the first tries and it's going to take some commitment and experimentation, but it's very nice when you succeed in the end. The chemicals are fairly easy to get; I'd just look on eBay for the silver nitrate. Photographic fixer (neutral pH would be the best, but acetic fixer works as well) can also be found on eBay as well as at any online retailer for darkroom chemistry. The silver nitrate can also be bought from any vendor that sells stuff for wet plate collodion work (they also carry sodium thiosulfate which can be used as a fixer, but you need to fix for ~10 minutes if you use that instead of rapid fixer) and a few more specialist photographic materials retailers. The salt is just plain table salt, but make sure it is not iodised; in the US, kosher salt is generally a good choice I hear as it has no iodide in it.

[@sergesilberman6072]

@@koraks9939 Thank you taking the time to reply. It's definitely more involved than making a strait print, but the results look so beautiful! Thanks again! Will give it a shot!

[@simonmatthee3877]

Great video - I've got supplies on the way and I'm keen to try this out - initially directly from 120 film (small I know) and eventually larger format when I get the equipment/experience. Quick question - at about 12:30 you're applying what looks like masking tape and wetting it with a sponge - what is happening there and is that normal tape? Many thanks, Simon

[@koraks9939]

Simon, that sounds good! Actually you can make very nice little prints from 120 film negatives. I've done so multiple times myself. Matted and framed they're really nice. As to the tape: it's gummed paper tape, which is used by watercolorists to tape their paper to the easel/board. It works very well to dry prints (also fiber based gelatin prints) perfectly flat.

[@simonmatthee3877]

@@koraks9939 thanks! Appreciate the response 👍

[@jin9311]

Hello. I am a Korean subscriber. Nothing else, I'm using a Bristol watercolor and 240g of paper, but when exposed to UV rays, the image is partially invisible. I think it's a problem when brushing the paper. What paper do you print on?

[@koraks9939]

Thank you for your message! I'm sorry to hear about your troubles getting an even coating. I personally print mostly on etching papers because they have only modest sizing and therefore just the right degree of absorbance to liquids for good coating. Also, I found it impossible to get a perfectly even coating with brushes, at least for the step where the silver nitrate is applied on top of the already present salt coat. As soon as the silver nitrate solution comes into contact with the salt, insoluble silver chloride is created, and when brushes are used, this silver chloride is effectively brushed around the paper, making it end up in an uneven pattern across the paper. I know that some get good results when e.g. brushing with balls of cotton wool (e.g. Borut Peterlin seems to be doing this), but I prefer a puddle pusher/coating rod. This gives me the best/most even coating with good density. For best results, I pick a paper with a fine surface texture, but not too shiny. The paper needs to have a bit of 'tooth' to it, without being coarse in texture.

[@perryroach987]

DO YOU EVER USE REG B&W FILM? THIS WAS A VERY HELPFUL VIDEO FAST WHERE IT NEED TO BE?

[@koraks9939]

Many thanks! Yes, I do this with regular B&W film as well, but I did it with xray this time so I could also briefly show film development. Of course, regular (panchromatic) B&W film needs to be developed in complete darkness. But it works just as well as xray film - or actually a bit better due to the broader spectral sensitivity of normal film and overall higher image quality. But for the printing process, this doesn't make a difference.

[@hakfin]

hi nice demonstration. I have one question. I had good results making albumen and salt prints, but they were fading away during fixing. I was using Ilford rapid fixer. Any idea why? tnx

[@koraks9939]

Thank you; the problem of fading is usually either because of insufficient exposure of the print, or too strong fixer. Since you're using a rapid fixer, try diluting it 1+20 or so instead of the normal, stronger paper or film dilutions.

[@hakfin]

@@koraks9939 thanks, i tried diluted fixer, but 1:10... still in search of sodium thiosulfate, which is hard to find here, in Macedonia, or i need ton of paperwork to import it :) tnx keep up the good work

[@jin9311]

Hello. I am a South Korean subscriber. What are the disadvantages of not using toner?

[@koraks9939]

In a well-made andespecially properly washed and fixed print, there is no disadvantage to not toning. If washing or fixing are incomplete, the image will fade over time, which doesn't happen as easily if gold (or platinum or palladium) toning is applied. Personally I use a toner because I prefer the deeper blacks and more neutral tone that gold toner gives over the tones of a natural/untoned salt print.