Different types of photographic paper have varying degrees of susceptibility to fading over time. The main cause of this is exposure to UV (ultra violet) light, although humidity, temperature, pollution and acidity are all contributing factors. Exposure to direct sunlight should be avoided, and UV-resistant glass can be used when framing.
Chloro-bromides share the features of all silver gelatin prints, giving deep rich blacks and crisp whites on a high gloss paper, as well as having good archival properties. Compared with silver bromides or silver chlorides, they have a warmer brownish-black tone.
C-type printing involves printing colour paper enlargements from small, colour negatives. This is the most common type of colour printing found in the high street and mini-labs.
Resin-based paper Plastic-based paper type. The most common paper type for printing colour images as it gives greater gloss potential than fibre-based papers (e.g. supergloss on Fujiflex). R-type paper R-type papers work in the opposite way to traditional papers. A transparency (positive) is projected onto reversal paper which thus develops a positive image.
A positive is, obviously, the opposite of a negative – that is, it is an image which is not reversed. Positive images are made through a double negative: silver salts react to light producing a negative which, when projected onto photographic paper (more silver salts), produces a positive.
Digital colour coupler Colour coupler prints, or chromogene prints, are very similar to standard C-type prints, but the silver salts ‘couple’ with coloured dyes, rather than being replaced by them. The end result is very similar to standard C-type prints. Colour coupler prints have the benefit of using the same extremely light-sensitive silver salts as…
Silver salts Silver salts are light sensitive chemical compounds. When exposed to light – either in a camera (in the case of film and negatives) or in the dark room (photographic papers) – the silver salts react by darkening in proportion to the amount of light reflected from the subject. Silver bromide Print Silver bromides…
