Lumen prints

Thought I'd post a couple of my lumen or sun prints - they're not film but this seemed the closest category (I've tried a couple making contact prints using film negatives).


Done on expired Kodak Velox paper.

These are really cool. Can you briefly explain to us the process of how these are made?

I found out about it from someone thru Etsy, she does a blog on it and I looked at her main page but can't find her info. on lumen prints... if I can find it I'll post it.

Basically it's a simple process, you arrange objects on old photo paper and put it in the sun til it gets to whatever color or level of contrast you want. The tricky part of using the sun is the time of day, the time of year even as to how low in the sky the sun is; how long you leave it - as the earth moves so does your image, which can add to the image giving it a bit of ghostliness or if you leave it too long you get distortion.

I like the paper from around the 60's, sometimes older is more fragile and crumbly where it may have been exposed to humidity or water in a darkroom. You get different colors with different papers - the Kodak Velox is purplish and Azo is orangey; Agfa Brovira is a pinkish blue.

The older paper is often 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"; I scanned them and printed them as 8x10's which gave me some interesting images, with them blown up they don't look like the original object. The chain link one is actually a bracelet and the camera is a doll-sized toy and a smallish Kodak filter that fits old box cameras.(Series III to IV maybe, there's no rhyme or reason that I can figure out for the numbering system).

If nothing else I found a use for old photo paper that got 'thrown in' w/some darkroom supplies I bought at a camera swap (the ol' 'we'll throw in this, and take it to your car...' etc., they weren't desperate to get rid of it or anything!).

A lumen print is a sort of photogram with the specifics that the light source is the sun, the paper is BW, and the paper is not developed using developer. In the past it would have done using printing out paper (POP), but today it is more common to see it done on regular BW papers. I don't know if anyone even sells pre-made POP papers anymore (other than cyanotype paper and such). Check out alternative processes sites for how to make your own.

If you want to keep the original print it at least needs to be fixed, and toning would be a good idea. Otherwise the whole thing will eventually turn orange or purple. Of course a digital file won't have this problem.

It is a great way to use old paper.

You could make large negs from digital files by ink jet printing onto transparencies. There are websites that discuss what inks block UV better. It's not necessarily black ink.

I played around with color photograms in my college color darkroom. My favorite source of stuff to lay on the paper was an Asian market. Lot's of odd looking, semi transparent objects there, like dried squids!

Very cool!

I've thought about making a digital negative sometime, thanks Matt for the info. about different color inks, I'll have to look into that. I think I have a package of POP in my stash, and I'm trying to remember but I think maybe Freestyle carries some. I did a triptych w/sun prints from negatives but wasn't completely satisfied with it, would like to try some 120 and work on the idea some more. (I know they make artificial UV lights but we'll be getting into longer days...)

I thought dried squid was just for throwing on the ice at Detroit Red Wings hockey games.

icepics wrote: I thought dried squid was just for throwing on the ice at Detroit Red Wings hockey games.

lol! That octopus not squid!!!!

It's squid impersonating an octopus!! I don't envy whoever's the scooper-upper.

I've always thought this sort of process (printing in a sun frame) was well suited for hand coated papers (or other materials). Below are some links with info:

www.alternativephotography.com/

unblinkingeye.com/

I like the Alternative Photography site, I feel like I've just scratched the surface with there being so many processes. I've run across the other link but haven't looked at it a lot yet, will check it out.

I'm intrigued by tintypes, but wet plate sounds like something that I'd maybe want to try as a workshop than at home. Kind of like pottery, it was fun to try but a messy way to find out I'm not good at throwing a pot (well not that kind of throwing). Did see a dry plate kit and I have the camera already that is used so might try that eventually. I just got a Polaroid emulsion kit so for the $16 it cost I'm going to give it a try and see if I come up with something interesting or just make a mess.

I've started trying cyanotypes but for whatever reason find those trickier. I like w/lumen prints experimenting with three dimensional objects which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.