Carbon print
A carbon print is a
In the original version of the printing process,
The process can produce images of very high quality which are exceptionally resistant to fading and other deterioration. It was developed in the mid-19th century in response to concerns about the fading of early types of silver-based black-and-white prints, which was already becoming apparent within a relatively few years of their introduction.
The most recent development in the process was made by the American photographer Charles Berger in 1993 with the introduction of a non-toxic sensitizer that presented none of the health and safety hazards of the toxic (now EU-restricted) dichromate sensitizer.
Carbon tissue
Carbon tissue, a layer of unsensitized pigmented gelatin on a thin paper support sheet,[1] was introduced by British physicist and chemist Joseph Swan[2][3] in 1864.[4] Marketing began in 1866. Initially, his ready-made tissues were sold in only three colors: black, sepia and purple-brown.[1][3] Eventually, a wide array of hues became available. Carbon tissue was a stock item in Europe and the US well into the 20th century,[1] but by the 1950s carbon printing was very rare and supplies for it became an exotic specialty item. Some companies produced small quantities of carbon tissue and transfer papers for monochrome and three-color work until around 1990.[1][3]
Overview and history of carbon printing
The carbon process, initially a black-and-white process using lampblack (
Carbon printing is based on the fact that
The resulting finished print, whether composed of several layers and in full color or having only a single monochrome layer, exhibits a very slight
The carbon process can be used to produce:
- Monochrome prints, usually black-and-white, but they may be sepia, cyan or any other preferred color.
- Duochrome (duotone) prints, an effect many printers are familiar with, using complementary or associated colors to their best effect.
- Trichrome prints, traditional full-color prints made by layering YMC (yellow, magenta and cyan) pigment sheets.
- Quadrachrome prints, essentially full-color trichrome prints with an added black K (key) layer to increase density and mask any spurious color in dark areas.
Any combination of layers, in any color, is possible to achieve whatever ends the printer desires. There are two primary techniques used in carbon printing: single transfer and double transfer. This has to do with the negatives (separations) being right- or wrong-reading and the image "flopping" during the transfer process.
Because the carbon printing process uses
Though carbon printing always has been, and remains, a labor-intensive, time-consuming and technologically demanding process, there are still those that prefer the high aesthetic of its remarkable beauty and longevity over all other processes.
Chronological History of Carbon (Pigment) Printing
Date | Name | Nationality | Remarks |
1798 | Louis Nicolas Vauquelin | French | Influence of light on silver chromate |
1827 | Joseph Nicéphore Niépce |
French | First permanent photograph of the image formed by a camera lens |
1832 | Gustav Suckow | French | Chromic acid salts are light sensitive, even without silver |
1839 | Sir John Herschel |
English | Introduction of the word "photography", early experiments with creating prints in various colors |
1839 | Mungo Ponton | Scottish | Action of light on paper coated with potassium dichromate + washing = fixed image |
1840 | Edmond Becquerel | French | Action of light on paper coated with potassium dichromate + iodine fumes = fixed image |
1852 | William Henry Fox Talbot |
English | Dichromated gelatin rendered insoluble by exposure to light |
1855 | Alphonse Poitevin |
French | Invents photographic printing by dichromated pigment process |
1855 | James Clerk Maxwell | Scottish | Color photography by three-color analysis and synthesis, proposed in passing in a paper on color vision |
1858 | L'abbé Laborde | French | Principle of exposure through the base then transfer from one base to another (see Fargier) |
1860 | Fargier | French | Principle of exposure through the base then transfer from one base to another (see Laborde) but the image is reversed |
1860 | Blaise | French | Double transfer to get a non-reversed image |
1861 | James Clerk Maxwell | Scottish | Demonstration of photographic color reproduction by synthesis (additive method, three images superimposed by projection through filters) |
1862 | Louis Ducos du Hauron | French | Photographic color printing by the three-color subtractive method proposed in an unpublished paper |
1863 | Pouncy | English | Uses sensitized inks |
1863 | Poitevin | French | Modification of his process: insolubility of the pigmented gelatin then solubility by exposure through a positive film |
1864 | Joseph Wilson Swan |
English | Swan process: uses rubber for the transfer |
1867 | Charles Cros | French | Unaware of work being done by Louis Ducos du Hauron (see 1862) invents similar methods for photographic color reproduction |
1868 | Marion | French | Procédé Marion: Uses an albuminated paper for the transfer |
1868 | Louis Ducos du Hauron | French | Patents the basic principles of most of the practical color photography processes subsequently developed |
1869 | Charles Cros | French | Publishes Solution générale du problème de la photographie des couleurs |
1869 | Louis Ducos du Hauron | French | Publishes Les couleurs en photographie, solution du problème |
1869 | Jeanrenaud | French | Double transfer with an opal glass |
1870 | Gobert | French | 1870-1873 printing on metal plates |
1873 | Marion | French | Mariotype |
1873 | Hermann Vogel |
German | Discovers dye sensitization of silver halides, making creation of three-color separation negatives practical |
1878 | Louis Ducos du Hauron | French | Publishes improved methods of color photography and printing by the carbon process |
1878 | Fredéric Artigues | French | Charbon velours |
1881 | Charles Cros | French | Tricolor process prints presented to the Académie des Sciences (French Academy of Sciences) |
1889 | Artigues | French | Papiers charbon velours |
1893 | Victor Artigues | French | Carbon velours à tons continus de 1893 à 1910 |
1894 | Ladeveze Rouille | French | Papier gomme-chrome |
1899 | Thomas Manly | English | Ozotype[5] derived from mariotype |
1899 | Henri Theodore Fresson | French | Procédé Fresson: sold in USA between 1927 and 1939 by Edward Alenias. |
1900 | Fresson | French | Papier charbon Satin then papier Arvel to be processed with chlorine |
1902 | Robert Krayn | American | N.P.G. Process: tricolor carbon process distributed in France by La Société Industrielle de Photographie |
1905 | Thomas Manly | English | Ozobrome process: instead of exposure to light, contact with a silver bromide print selectively hardens the dichromated gelatin |
1913 | S. Manners | English | Ozobrome |
1919 | Autotype | English | Carbro process based on Manly's ozobromie, Sold by Autotype in London from 1920 to 1960 |
1923 | H.J.C. Deeks | American | Raylo: three color carbon |
1951 | Pierre Fresson | French | Quadrichromie Fresson |
1982 | Archival Color Co. | American | TriColor Carbon Pigment Prints/Materials developed by Charles Berger manufactured by Polaroid |
1993 | UltraStable Color | American | Ultrastable Color System; Four-Color Carbon Pigment Films developed by Charles Berger. |
Artists known for carbon prints
- Julia Margaret Cameron
- Rudolf Koppitz
- Nickolas Muray (carbro process)
- Rene Pauli
- Franck RONDOT Diazidostilbene (DAS) Carbon prints
See also
- Laser printing, which uses carbon pigment fused with styrene binder, imaged with optical and digital technology
- Oil print process, another process based on hardened gelatin
- Woodburytype, a variation of the carbon process
References
- ^ a b c d "The Carbon Transfer Process".
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- ^ a b c "Carbon Transfer: Contemporary Printers". Sandy King.
- ^ "DEFINITIONS OF PRINT PROCESSES". www.photoeye.com. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
- ^ Wall, E. J. (Edward John) (1899). Carbon printing : with a chapter on Mr. Thos. Manly's "ozotype" process. Getty Research Institute. London : Hazell, Watson, & Viney.
External links
- Carbon. Report on the carbon process from the Getty Conservation Institute
- Description of the carbon process
- Carbon process methods and materials
- Description of the charcoal process
- Theory of the carbon process, including discussion of the carbro (carbon-bromine) process
- Making a Carbon Transfer Print, a video showing a modern workflow
- Diazidostilbene (DAS) Carbon transfer printing from pigment to printing