The salt print is the foundation of photography. William Henry Fox Talbot, known as the of photography, discovered the salt print process in 1834. The history of Talbot is quite remarkable. His early discoveries were the foundation of numerous photographic and print processes, many still practiced today. Due to the inherent masking ability the salt print can create a greater tonal range than other photographic print processes. The challenge is to create negatives that reach this extraordinary range. The salt print offers flexibility in controlling the colour, tones and hues.

Photography emerged in 1839 in two forms simultaneously. In France, Louis Daguerre produced photographs on silvered sheets of copper, while in Great Britain, William Henry Fox Talbot put forward a method of capturing an image on ordinary writing paper treated with chemicals. Talbot’s invention, a paper negative from which any number of positive prints could be made, became the progenitor of virtually all photography carried out before the digital age. Talbot named his perfected invention "calotype," a term based on the Greek word for beauty. Calotypes were characterized by a capacity for subtle tonal distinctions, massing of light and shadow, and softness of detail. In the 1840s, amateur photographers in Britain responded with enthusiasm to the challenges posed by the new medium. Their subjects were wide-ranging, including landscapes and nature studies, architecture, and portraits. Glass-negative photography, which appeared in 1851, was based on the same principles as the paper negative but yielded a sharper picture, and quickly gained popularity. Despite the rise of glass negatives in commercial photography, many gentlemen of leisure and learning continued to use paper negatives into the 1850s and 1860s. These amateurs did not seek the widespread distribution and international reputation pursued by their commercial counterparts, nearly all of whom favored glass negatives. As a result, many of these calotype works were produced in a small number of prints for friends and fellow photographers or for a family album. This richly illustrated, landmark publication tells the first full history of the calotype, embedding it in the context of Britain’s changing fortunes, intricate class structure, ever-growing industrialization, and the new spirit under Queen Victoria. Of the 118 early photographs presented here in meticulously printed plates, many have never before been published or exhibited.

"The definitive textbook for students and professionals studying the art of handmade photographic prints, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, 3e brings students, hobbyists, and professionals up to date with the latest techniques and artists." -- Provided by publisher.

History of 19th-century printing, plus how to identify types of prints, deterioration, collection management, storage, handling and display.

The book Salt print is the third book in a series of books about historical and alternative photography. In it, the reader will learn the basic techniques of salted, albumenized, arrowroot, and matte paper. The author presents not only basic knowledge, as in all of his books, but further extends it with descriptions of other old, wonderful processes that are hard to find in other contemporary texts on this topic. Thus, he takes us into the forgotten world of printing on glass, where the reader will learn through very understandable descriptions the manufacturing process of once extremely popular opalotypes (printing on translucent white glass), and as a finale, the author explains one of the most beautiful of these almost forgotten techniques, the art of manufacturing orotones (photos printed on gilded glass), which, at the time of publication of this book, is mastered by only a few people in the world. The author also describes other salt print techniques, such as how to produce photos with the once very popular technique of printing on colored paper; how to manually color photos; or even how to develop salted prints with the help of both the earliest and most modern developers. Toning of salted prints is, of course, quite extensively described in this Salt print book, with descriptions of the once most commonly used toners. The author has also not forgotten to include a short description of the use of modern digital negatives. After the whole process of making the many kinds of salt prints has been described, the book closes with a description of the last step: the production and use of varnishes and waxes, which are used to preserve a photograph in time and to give to it a final, refined appearance.