IR Cyanotype Photo Mosaic, #3 of 6
Let's see what happens in Round 3!
So, for this round, I mostly focused on shortening the exposure time and tweaking the bleaching and toning times to keep as many midtones and highlights as possible without blowing the whole thing out.
Round 3: Getting There!
I like the pop of the infrared much better in this one. I think the midtones are much better. Less gloomy and more dreamy. Progress!
- I shortened the exposure time from 7min to 2 min. Not all are evenly exposed. That's okay. I'm using the sun instead of UV lights, so I don't expect to keep it consistent. I think the inconsistency is part of the character of this technique anyway. This one was made over the span of about 35-45min from 11:45am to 12:30. The sun got a tad stronger and then a tad weaker in that time frame. It's like having a visual conversation with a star. I like it.
- The bleaching went a tad longer this time, right at 3min for each print rather than the 2-2:30 I did before. I used 2 Tbsp soda ash in a big tub of water (one of those large tubs used to mix concrete). I think stretching the time helped keep as much of the tonal range as possible given the various exposures, though I did have to retain some blue in the sky to do it.
- The toning was tricky. Toner loses strength as you work with images. You have to incrementally increase the time they steep to get consistency, but there's no hard rule, so you pull based on how the image looks. When you've looked at a pile of wet cyanotypes over the past week, super subtle shades of purplish-brown become harder to differentiate. Has it toned long enough? 20 sec more? 1 min? Is it the right color now? Is it going to dry the right color? You can tell the top right and bottom left and right were the last three to be toned. Everything was starting to look alike and I went a little long, which is why they have that pink cast. Gotta keep training the eye.
Okay! I'm going to take a break from mosaics for a bit and do some homework on how to tweak the negatives. Rounds 4-6 will likely use different curves, so we'll see which one works the best. We'll give it another go in a week or two!