Sun Printing

Photography is one of the best modes of expression. It incorporates the extreme level of expertise and evokes imagination of the viewers. Sun printing is the conventional mode of photography. Sun printing photography has two different processes that it follows. They are:

Lithographic printing processes

Printing-out of a negative

The Lithographic process of photography involves the production of the final print by the conventional mode of printing. In this process a firm and flat base is taken in which a film of Gelatin is spread. The film is covered by a diluted solution of dichromate and the whole thing is dried and developed in a studio that has low light. The whole process gives out a translucent print that is again kept in close contact with a processed Gelatin layer. The film is then exposed to sunlight for more than thirty minutes. This results in the exposure of the gelatin sheet to the sunlight and results in the reaction of the sunlight and the potassium dichromate. The exposed gelatin is then kept under water so that the gelatin that has not been exposed washes away. The plate on drying gives out the print. The additional facility of this mode of conventional sun printing photography is that any number of prints can be made out of a single plate.

The second process of sun printing photography involves the contact of black and white photographic plate that gives out an image after its reaction with the sunlight. The photographs vary according to the type of photographic paper used in the process. This process of sun printing usually gives out a brownish tinge but then can be developed into several other colors.

Sun printing being the conventional method of photography is gradually being replaced by other modern techniques but the appeal of this form still persists among classic photography lovers.