what is salt print photograph (photography)? And is this method still in use . which other methods are used?

Answer 1

Salt prints were the earliest positive prints and were invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840, as a direct development from his earlier photogenic drawing process. A salt print was made by soaking a sheet of paper in salt solution and then coating one side with silver nitrate. This produced light sensitive silver chloride in the paper. After drying, the paper was put directly beneath a negative, under a sheet of glass, and exposed to sunlight for up to two hours. Salt prints were made until about 1860 having been gradually replaced by the albumen print which gave a clearer image although the process was sometimes revised later.

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The salted paper print was the first type of paper print used in photography, when used by W H F Talbot to print his calotype negatives (he had earlier used the same method in his photogenic drawing.) It continued in use occasionally until the end of the 19th Century, although for most purposes it was replaced by the albumen print in the early 1850s. Like most old processes it enjoyed a revival starting in the 1970s. It is difficult if not impossible to tell a good salt print from a matt albumen print, and most descriptions are probably based on the date of the print.

Good quality paper - preferably-hand made or mould-made watercolor paper - is soaked in a salt solution (this can be sodium chlodide, but is often sodium citrate and ammonium chloride, usually around 4% by weight) and dried. In subdued light, it is brushed with a generous coating of silver nitrate solution (around 12% by weight - sometimes containing a little citric acid) and dried in darkness or very subdued light. The paper is then exposed under a negative using a UV light source - perhaps 10 minutes in bright sun, until the image is darker than required. The paper is then washed in several rinses of water to remove excess silver nitrate, toned if required, usually in gold toner, fixed in 5% sodium thiosulphate or diluted print fixer and then washed for an hour.

Negatives for this process need to be developed to a much higher contrast than for printing on modern materials. As a printing out process it has a self-masking effect that tends to reduce shadow detail.

Answer 2

I think the guy above me copy and pasted a pretty good answer about salt prints. There are a lot of processes still used today but the older processes are used more for artistic creation than anything else. Personally I make cyanotypes or a combination of cyanotype and gum bichromate printing. It is a fun mixture between painting and photography. Also I sometimes do Platinum and/or Palladium printing but it is very expensive. There are some other processes like Albumen, Daguerrotype, Collotype and Tintypes to name a few. These processes are rarely used but are still very cool to experiment with. And of course Silver Gelatin printing is still common- black and white printing. C41 and E6 are used for color negatives and positives. R3 and RA4 printing is still used for color printing on paper from color negatives and positives.

Answer 3

I know cyanotypes and silver gelatan prints are still used, I'm sorry but I don't know that much about salt prints.