Last week I wasn’t really happy with last week’s Black and White image. I agreed with alot of the commenters that Black and white was the way to go with this image. There is a strange synergy between the tall ships and the black and white. As I was reading the comments I realised that I wanted the picture to have a strong vintage style. I decided that a could a faux salt print.
The salt print was the dominant paper-based photographic process for producing positive prints during the period from 1839 through approximately 1860.
The salted paper technique was created in the mid-1830s by English scientist and inventor Henry Fox Talbot. He made what he called “sensitive paper” for “photogenic drawing” by wetting a sheet of writing paper with a weak solution of ordinary table salt (sodium chloride), blotting and drying it, then brushing one side with a strong solution of silver nitrate. This produced a tenacious coating of silver chloride in an especially light-sensitive chemical condition. The paper darkened where it was exposed to light. When the darkening was judged to be sufficient, the exposure was ended and the result was stabilized by applying a strong solution of salt, which altered the chemical balance and made the paper only slightly sensitive to additional exposure. In 1839, washing with a solution of sodium thiosulfate (“hypo”) was found to be the most effective way to make the results truly light-fast.
Source Wikipedia
There is a method of creating salt prints of digital images but I didn’t really have the time to source all the chemicals, although it sounds like a fun project for the future.
I created my pictures in Photoshop. The main steps are to create a fuzziness of the print and add grain. First I duplicated my layer and applied the filters Find edges and dry brush, then set the blending to multiply. I added a hue and saturation layer set to colourize and chose a suitable sepia tone for the picture. Next I created a grain layer; new layer filled with 50% grey add grain and then apply a glass filter set to frosted, I set the blending of this layer to overlay. I then added another grain layer this time setting the grain filter to Vertical to get a streaked effect and also set the blending to overlay. To make the light a little patch I added a new layer with the filter Render – Clouds set the blending to vivid light and reduced the opacity to 3. To bring the image together I added a vintage border.
In response to a comment on week one’s post I did also remove the car and black bin from the picture. the removal was not precise as I knew the following process would remove a lot of detail.
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- Week1
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- Week2
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- Week 3
So what do you think of the vintage image? Let me know in the comment box below.
Also remember to check out Robyn’s post for this week.
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I like this one a lot also. Really like the tones and the old style feel.
So interesting reading the original salt print process and also how you achieved your digital process. A very successful edition 😃😃
I am glad you like this rendition Robyn. The salt printing method does sound interesting, having read some methods I might give it a go myself.
Very cool. I must try this. Thanks.
Thanks Mary, I would give it a go as the result is quite interesting. I want to experiment more with the process as I think there could be a way to reduce the contrast and have a softer image.
I like the old style feeling too. Wonderful transformation!
I am glad the old style has translated well.
I am glad the old style feel has translated well.
Wonderful conversion, Ben.
Thank you Lynne.
I quite like this transformation, Ben. Beautiful old style. Makes me think of Jamestown here in Virginia, a destination of early English travelers.
Although no Pilgrims traveled from this harbour that I know of I can imagine the similarity of the 17th century harbours of america. I am glad you like this old style i think it is quite fresh when compared to a simple sepia tone.
By far, this one is my favorite. Removing the car and bin give it a true vintage look.
The removal was rushed and I am not sure how well it will look without all the grain to cover it up. I will agree that looking back at the picture, it has a good vintage style.
Since, I can’t see it without the grain it looks great with this vintage look in place.
This looks great. What a coincidence, I just wrote an article about Henry Fox Talbot and the beginnings of the photography.
That is great. I love Talbots early experiments, and I am a believer that he beat Daguerre to making the first photographic process. it just happens that America was banning british imports at the time and the French had a better relationship so Daguerre’s process become more popular in America than Talbot’s.
I agree, Talbot was first. It was an exciting time, the rivalry between inventors.
For me he was first because he spent a long time refining his process until it was perfect .
This week is better, more balanced than last week. Nice and gritty.
I agree, it does have a better feeling than last weeks. Gritty is a great description.
Ben, that’s quite a sophisticated series of processing choices and very effective!
It was quite a few steps but most of them, except the texture, I could write into an action to make it more streamlined. I am glad you like the overall effect.
I really like the moody, grainy feel you have in this picture. Full of atmosphere
The old-fashioned salt print is particularly effective on this image – it looks like something you might see in a box of old photos in an antique store.
That is exactly what I was going for, it seems as if I have got this image spot on.