DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

I finally used my DIY UV box for making Van Dyke wet prints – Here’s my complete process

May 23, 2022 by Luigi Barbano Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

It’s been a little while since I built my UV Box but sometimes, life gets in the middle of our fun projects! Now, I’ve finally tested the UV Box and I can say that it works great. I made a test with two different negatives: a very soft flower subject lighted with painted light and a very sharp subject lighted with a very contrasty light. I wanted to see how this printing process deals with different subjects.

I proceeded with some step tests to find the corrected exposure for my negatives. I did 2 seconds steps and as you can see in the video, I was a little optimistic with my first strip of 2,4,6,8 seconds of exposure. In the end, the correct exposure resulted in 11 minutes.

Van Dyke brown is a printing process named after Anthony van Dyck. It involves coating a canvas with ferric ammonium citrate, tartaric acid, and silver nitrate, then exposing it to ultraviolet light. The canvas can be washed with water, and hypo to keep the solutions in place. [1] The image created has a Van Dyke brown color when it’s completed, and unlike other printing methods, does not require a darkroom.

– Source: Wikipedia

I was expecting shorter exposure times because I’d seen some other boxes made with the same LED lights giving short exposure times with other alternative processes. Still, I like the slow times when I work with film and so I kinda like to have time to think while I wait for the paper to be exposed. The Arduino timer is working great and it’s a pleasure to use this box!

I have to learn to pose the emulsion better on the paper. The thickness came out not uniform and there are spots where the emulsion did not spread at all on the paper. Still, I have a lot to learn but as a first try, I’m quite satisfied with the results. The LabOldTech2000 kit is very easy to use and complete. You can see how I made the UV box here in my previous article.

See you next time with new projects!

About the Author

Italian born Luigi Barbano is a professional photographer since 1994, artist and author. He has written and published numerous photographic books, the most recent “Photography: The f Manual“. You can find out more about Luigi and all of his books on his website. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to build your own DIY UV exposure box for when the sun won’t shine The entire start to finish process to make ultra large format wet plate photographs Photographer takes you through his wet plate collodion process Watch this ultra macro video of the collodion wet plate process

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: analog photography, DIY, light box, Luigi Barbano, ultraviolet, UV

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« A group of baby foxes found recording GoPro and decided to have a play with it
Motorola is launching a smartphone with a 200-megapixel camera in just two months »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Ace your next portrait shoot with these composition tips
  • This is how to get photography clients on Instagram – even with few followers
  • “I prefer using smaller cameras” – an unorthodox take on size
  • A pigeon scares a meteorologist as it photobombs a live camera
  • Photographer files lawsuit against NFL receiver and teams after shoving incident

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy