Cyanotype Photography

Print with sunlight and iron salts, and let everything the subject didn't cover turn Prussian blue.

The chemistry makes the picture, so let it show. Keep the brushed edge, the uneven coating and the odd water mark; they are the proof it was printed, not filtered. One colour only: Prussian blue on paper white, or a tea-toned brown if the brief wants warmth. Choose subjects with a strong outline or real transparency, a leaf, lace, a hand, so they read as silhouettes. No digital blue tint on an ordinary photograph, no gradients, no glossy finish, and no second colour.

Director's note

Leave with every frame on this list.

Shot list

1. 01A modern house and pool above a desert valley, contact-printed from a large negative: shade under the overhang in deep blue, the pool and sky pale, the mountains fading into the paper, the brushed coating ragged at every edge
2. 02Botanical photogram of a single fern frond laid flat on cotton rag paper, the frond a crisp white silhouette on deep Prussian blue, brushed emulsion edges visible at the margins
3. 03Wildflowers laid loose across the sheet, petals printed as soft white shapes with a little translucency, stems crossing, the arrangement slightly off centre
4. 04A rocky shoreline and breaking surf printed from a negative, the rocks in deep Prussian blue, the sky pale, the waves a soft white texture
5. 05A brownstone street on a sunny afternoon, contact-printed: dappled shade in deep blue, sunlit pavement bleaching toward paper white
6. 06A single butterfly as a specimen photogram, the wings printed as pale translucent lattices with the veins showing

Direct sunlight or a UV exposure unit, and exposures measured in minutes, not fractions of a second. Midday sun gives the deepest blue; cloud stretches the exposure and softens the edges. Contact matters more than light: glass pressed flat gives crisp silhouettes, anything that lifts goes soft.

Light

Scout these before anything else.

Locations

1. 01A sunny garden table or balcony for the exposure
2. 02A herbarium or botanical garden for specimens
3. 03A shoreline, for prints exposed and washed in the tide
4. 04A deep sink or tray for the water wash
5. 05A studio with a UV unit for large negatives

Mostly no people. If a figure appears, think in silhouette: loose sheer fabric, lace, hair and hands print beautifully as white shapes, while dense dark clothing prints as a solid block.

Wardrobe