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1

Level 1 — Foundation

3 parts · 29 pages · 24 h

Part 1: Before Photography: When Chemistry Discovered LightPart 2: The Photographic Chemistry LaboratoryPart 3: Chemistry Foundations for Photographers

0 of 3 parts started

1. Before Photography: When Chemistry Discovered Light2. The Photographic Chemistry Laboratory3. Chemistry Foundations for Photographers

2

Level 2 — Practitioner

10 parts · 79 pages · 135 h

Part 4: Silver and LightPart 6: Build a Pinhole CameraPart 7: The Art of Pinhole PhotographyPart 8: Film Developer ChemistryPart 10: Stop BathsPart 11: Fixing ChemistryPart 12: Washing, Permanence and Silver RecoveryPart 13: Sensitometry: Measuring the Response of Silver to LightPart 18: Printing ChemistryPart 19: Fine Printing

0 of 10 parts started

4. Silver and Light6. Build a Pinhole Camera7. The Art of Pinhole Photography8. Film Developer Chemistry10. Stop Baths11. Fixing Chemistry12. Washing, Permanence and Silver Recovery13. Sensitometry: Measuring the Response of Silver to Light18. Printing Chemistry19. Fine Printing

3

Level 3 — Advanced

13 parts · 98 pages · 199 h

Part 5: Photographic EmulsionsPart 9: The Developer LaboratoryPart 14: Build a SensitometerPart 15: Build a DensitometerPart 16: Build the DarkroomPart 17: Build the Pure Silver TimerPart 20: Toning ChemistryPart 21: Cyanotype: Photography in Prussian BluePart 22: Salted Paper: The First Silver PrintPart 23: Albumen PrintingPart 24: Iron-Silver Processes: Van Dyke Brown and KallitypePart 26: Historical Processes We Study But Do Not Casually ReproducePart 28: Failure Analysis

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5. Photographic Emulsions9. The Developer Laboratory14. Build a Sensitometer15. Build a Densitometer16. Build the Darkroom17. Build the Pure Silver Timer20. Toning Chemistry21. Cyanotype: Photography in Prussian Blue22. Salted Paper: The First Silver Print23. Albumen Printing24. Iron-Silver Processes: Van Dyke Brown and Kallitype26. Historical Processes We Study But Do Not Casually Reproduce28. Failure Analysis

4

Level 4 — Specialist

3 parts · 24 pages · 76 h

Part 25: Platinum and PalladiumPart 27: Experimental Photographic ChemistryPart Capstone: The Pure Silver Portfolio

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25. Platinum and Palladium27. Experimental Photographic ChemistryThe Pure Silver Portfolio

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Part 1Before Photography: When Chemistry Discovered Light

0 / 10 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Camera Obscura: An Image Without Chemistry
• ○Silver Salts and Light: Schulze to Ritter
• ○Wedgwood, Davy and the Problem of Permanence
• ○Experiment: The Image That Would Not Stay
• ○Niepce and Heliography: Light That Hardens
• ○Daguerre and the Daguerreotype: A Mirror With a Memory
• ○Talbot: Photogenic Drawing, the Calotype and the Negative-Positive Principle
• ○Herschel: Hypo, Prussian Blue and the Words of Photography
• ○Assignment 1: A Botanical Cyanotype Photogram, After Atkins
• ○1839 and the Many Inventors of Photography

Part 2The Photographic Chemistry Laboratory

0 / 9 lessons in this part completed

• ○Laying Out the Laboratory: Wet Areas, Dry Areas and Contamination Control
• ○Protecting Yourself: Hazard, Risk, PPE and What To Do When It Goes Wrong
• ○Reading a Safety Data Sheet: GHS, CAS Numbers and Your Own Labels
• ○Storage, Incompatibilities and Secondary Containment
• ○Silver Nitrate: The Reagent That Sets the Rules
• ○Measuring Mass, Volume, Temperature and Density, and Knowing How Wrong You Are
• ○Concentration and Dilution: The Arithmetic Every Formula Assumes
• ○Waste: Streams, Silver, and the Drain You Must Not Use
• ○Lab: Commissioning Your Laboratory

Part 3Chemistry Foundations for Photographers

0 / 10 lessons in this part completed

• ○Atoms, Ions and Bonds: Reading a Photographic Formula
• ○Solutions, Solubility and Precipitation
• ○Acids, Bases and pH
• ○Buffers and Buffer Capacity
• ○Lab: Measuring pH and Trusting the Number
• ○Oxidation, Reduction and the Electron That Makes the Picture
• ○Aerial Oxidation: Why Chemistry Dies in a Half-Empty Bottle
• ○Rates, Temperature and Catalysts
• ○Complexes: How an Insoluble Salt Is Persuaded to Dissolve
• ○Diffusion, Swelling and the Journey Into the Emulsion

Part 4Silver and Light

0 / 9 lessons in this part completed

• ○Silver and the Silver Ion
• ○The Silver Halides
• ○Experiment: Precipitating the Silver Halides
• ○The Latent Image
• ○Reciprocity Failure and the Life of the Latent Image
• ○Development as Amplification
• ○Grain, Speed and Resolution
• ○Spectral Sensitivity and Colour Response
• ○Darkroom Session: The Latent Image Made Visible

Part 5Photographic Emulsions

0 / 13 lessons in this part completed

• ○Gelatin, the Photographic Binder
• ○Precipitation, Nucleation and Crystal Growth
• ○Washing, Digestion and Sensitisation
• ○Coating, Drying and Hardening
• ○Build an Emulsion Coating Station
• ○Lab: Coating Your First Emulsion
• ○Project 1: A Silver Chloride Contact Printing Emulsion
• ○Project 2: A Chlorobromide Paper Emulsion
• ○Project 3: A Bromide Enlarging Emulsion
• ○Project 4: Coating Glass Dry Plates and a Lantern Slide
• ○Project 5: Designing an Emulsion, and Making the One We Can Source
• ○Break/Fix: Emulsion Coating Defects
• ○Assignment: The Hand-Coated Print

Part 6Build a Pinhole Camera

0 / 10 lessons in this part completed

• ○Pinhole Geometry: Blur, Focal Distance, Field of View and Falloff
• ○Diffraction and the Optimum Pinhole
• ○Making and Measuring Pinholes
• ○Designing the Modular Camera
• ○Build the Modular Pinhole Camera
• ○Pinhole Exposure and Reciprocity Correction
• ○Commissioning the Camera: Light-Tightness, Flare and the First Negatives
• ○Lab: Processing Your First Film
• ○Curved Film Plane and Multiple-Pinhole Experiments
• ○Break/Fix: Unexpectedly Soft Images and Wrong Reciprocity Corrections

Part 7The Art of Pinhole Photography

0 / 9 lessons in this part completed

• ○Seeing Like a Pinhole: The Image, Its Makers and Previsualisation
• ○Assignment: Still Life and Controlled Light
• ○Assignment: Architecture, Low Viewpoint and the Flat Plane
• ○Assignment: Time in the Frame, Moving Water, Clouds, People and Traffic
• ○Assignment: Portrait, Environmental Portrait and Self-Portrait
• ○Assignment: Landscape, Sky, Foreground and Filters
• ○Assignment: Night, the Very Long Exposure and Solargraphy
• ○Assignment: Panorama, Curved Plane and Multiple Pinholes
• ○Pinhole Portfolio Review and the Exposure Record as Data

Part 8Film Developer Chemistry

0 / 14 lessons in this part completed

• ○How Development Works
• ○The Classical Developing Agents: Metol, Hydroquinone, Phenidone
• ○Alternative Developing Agents: p-Aminophenol, Ascorbate, Glycin, Catechol, Pyrogallol
• ○Sulfite: Preservative, Buffer, Silver Solvent
• ○Alkalis, Buffers and pH
• ○Restrainers and Antifoggants
• ○Superadditivity: Why Two Agents Beat One
• ○Development Kinetics: Time, Temperature, Agitation and Exhaustion
• ○Solvent Action, Physical Development and Grain
• ○Acutance, Adjacency Effects and Compensating Development
• ○Staining and Tanning Developers
• ○Experiment: Watching a Developer Oxidise
• ○Assignment: Reading a Developer Formula
• ○Lab: Mixing D-23 and D-76 from Raw Chemicals

Part 9The Developer Laboratory

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○Experimental Design for the Darkroom
• ○Lab: Preparing Standard Test Negatives
• ○Experiment: The Activity Series - Alkali and Restrainer
• ○Experiment: The Solvent Series - Sulfite, Dilution and Agitation
• ○Experiment: Comparing Developing Agents
• ○Break/Fix: The Developer That Went Wrong
• ○Assignment: The Developer Laboratory Report

Part 10Stop Baths

0 / 3 lessons in this part completed

• ○Why Stopping Works
• ○Stop Bath Formulations and the Fixer Interaction
• ○Experiment: Measuring Stop Bath Capacity

Part 11Fixing Chemistry

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○How Fixer Works
• ○Fixer Formulations: Plain, Acid, Hardening, Rapid, Neutral, Alkaline
• ○Fixer Capacity, Exhaustion and Residual Silver
• ○Lab: Mixing Fixers from Scratch
• ○Experiment: Clearing Time and Fixer Capacity
• ○Break/Fix: The Exhausted Fixer

Part 12Washing, Permanence and Silver Recovery

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Physics of Washing
• ○Permanence and Image Deterioration
• ○Lab: Testing for Residual Thiosulfate and Residual Silver
• ○Silver Recovery and the Responsible Darkroom
• ○Experiment: Small-Scale Metallic Replacement
• ○Assignment: Your Archival Processing Sequence

Part 13Sensitometry: Measuring the Response of Silver to Light

0 / 8 lessons in this part completed

• ○Exposure, Density and the Logarithm
• ○The Characteristic Curve
• ○Gamma, Contrast Index and Average Gradient
• ○Film Speed and Exposure Index
• ○Assignment: Interpreting Density Data
• ○Lab: A Step-Wedge Exposure Series
• ○Paper Sensitometry: Reflection Density, Grades and ISO(R)
• ○Tone Reproduction: From Subject to Print

Part 14Build a Sensitometer

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○Low-Voltage Electronics for the Darkroom Builder
• ○Sensitometer Design Principles
• ○Build: The LED Light Source and Exposure Timer
• ○Build: The Enclosure and Exposure Stage
• ○Experiment: Calibrating the Sensitometer
• ○Experiment: Process Control with Control Strips

Part 15Build a Densitometer

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○Density Depends on How You Look: Geometry and Spectral Response
• ○Photodiodes, ADCs and Measuring Light Over Three Decades
• ○Build: The Densitometer Optical Head (Transmission and Reflection)
• ○Build: The Densitometer Electronics and Firmware
• ○Experiment: Calibrating the Densitometer in Both Modes
• ○Break-Fix: Diagnosing a Misbehaving Densitometer
• ○Assignment: Characterising a Film and Developer with Your Own Instruments

Part 16Build the Darkroom

0 / 11 lessons in this part completed

• ○Build: Making a Room Dark and Proving It
• ○Safelight: Spectra, Distance, Duration and the Fog Limit
• ○Build: An LED Safelight
• ○Experiment: The Safelight Fog Test
• ○Build: The Contact Printing Frame and Its Light Source
• ○Ultraviolet for the Alternative Processes: Sources, Dose, Uniformity and Hazard
• ○Build: The UVA Exposure Unit
• ○Enlarger Optics: Condenser, Diffusion, Lens, Alignment and Falloff
• ○Build: An LED Enlarger Head
• ○Experiment: Commissioning the Enlarger
• ○Break/Fix: The Room That Fogs and the Light That Is Not Even

Part 17Build the Pure Silver Timer

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○F-Stop Timing and the Mathematics of Print Exposure
• ○Switching Lamps Safely: Isolation, Certified Modules and the Mains Boundary
• ○Build: The Timer Hardware
• ○Build: The Timer Firmware
• ○Build: The Switched Output
• ○Experiment: Calibrating the Timer
• ○Break/Fix: The Timer That Lies

Part 18Printing Chemistry

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Structure of a Printing Paper: Base, Baryta, Emulsion and Supercoat
• ○Paper Emulsions: Halide, Grain, Image Tone and Speed
• ○Variable-Contrast Papers: Three Emulsions, One Sheet
• ○Print Developer Chemistry and the Developer-Paper Pair
• ○Lab: Mixing and Comparing Print Developers
• ○Experiment: Maximum Black, Base White and Dry-Down
• ○Break/Fix: The Print That Will Not Go Black

Part 19Fine Printing

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○Reading the Negative and Making the Work Print
• ○Lab: Test Strips, Base Exposure and the Print's Black Point
• ○Contrast Filtration and Split-Grade Printing
• ○Lab: Dodging, Burning, Edge Work and Local Contrast
• ○Developing the Print Consistently and Running a Printing Session
• ○Lab: Washing, Drying, Flattening and Mounting the Print
• ○Assignment: The Exhibition Print and Its Critique

Part 20Toning Chemistry

0 / 9 lessons in this part completed

• ○What a Toner Actually Does to a Silver Image
• ○Sulfide and Sepia Toning: Bleach, Redevelop, Convert
• ○Lab: Bleaching and Redeveloping a Sepia Print
• ○Selenium Toning: Selenosulfate, Silver Selenide and the Protection Claim
• ○Experiment: Selenium Toning and the Print Curve
• ○Gold, Iron-Blue and the Other Metal Toners
• ○The Toners We Study and Do Not Use
• ○Toning, Permanence and What the Evidence Actually Supports
• ○Assignment: The Toned Print

Part 21Cyanotype: Photography in Prussian Blue

0 / 8 lessons in this part completed

• ○Iron, Light and Prussian Blue
• ○What These Processes Need: The Negative, the Paper and the Light
• ○Lab: Mixing, Coating and Printing a Classic Cyanotype
• ○Experiment: The Exposure Scale, Maximum Density and Contrast of a Cyanotype
• ○The New Cyanotype and the Other Ways to Make a Blue Print
• ○Lab: Toning the Prussian Blue Image
• ○Assignment: Cyanotype at Scale, on Fabric, and the Botanical Sequence
• ○Break/Fix: The Cyanotype That Went Wrong

Part 22Salted Paper: The First Silver Print

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○Printing Out: Silver Chloride Made and Darkened in the Paper
• ○Lab: Salting and Sensitising a Sheet of Paper
• ○Gold Toning and the Permanence of a Printed-Out Silver Image
• ○Lab: Printing, Toning, Fixing and Washing a Salt Print
• ○The Variants of the Salt Print and How a Conservator Identifies One
• ○Break/Fix: The Printed-Out Image That Faded

Part 23Albumen Printing

0 / 4 lessons in this part completed

• ○Egg Albumen: A Protein Binder and What It Does to Silver
• ○Lab: Preparing and Coating Albumen Paper
• ○Lab: Sensitising, Printing and Toning an Albumen Print
• ○The Albumen Print as an Object, and How It Decays

Part 24Iron-Silver Processes: Van Dyke Brown and Kallitype

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Siderotype Principle: Iron Reduces Silver
• ○Lab: Printing a Van Dyke Brown
• ○Lab: Printing a Kallitype
• ○Contrast Control in Iron-Based Printing
• ○Lab: Clearing, Toning and Making an Iron-Silver Print Last
• ○Break/Fix: The Iron-Silver Print That Would Not Clear

Part 25Platinum and Palladium

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○Noble Metal Chemistry and the Platinotype
• ○Lab: Preparing the Sensitiser and Coating for Palladium
• ○Lab: Exposing, Developing and Clearing a Palladium Print
• ○Experiment: Tonal Scale, Contrast and Image Colour in Palladium
• ○Cost, Permanence and When a Platinum Print Earns Its Price
• ○The Additives We Study and Do Not Reproduce
• ○Assignment: The Process Comparison Atlas

Part 26Historical Processes We Study But Do Not Casually Reproduce

0 / 6 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Mercury Daguerreotype: Iodine, Amalgam and a Mirror With a Memory
• ○Cyanide in the Historical Darkroom, and the Ferricyanide That Is Not Cyanide
• ○Wet-Plate Collodion: The Process That Made the Nineteenth Century Look Like That
• ○Uranium, Mercury and the Heavy-Metal Treatments
• ○Light-Hardened Colloids: Bitumen, Dichromate and the Pigment Processes
• ○Assignment: Assessing a Historical Process for Hazard

Part 27Experimental Photographic Chemistry

0 / 7 lessons in this part completed

• ○Designing an Experiment That Yields a Number
• ○Experiment: Four Curve Families, Measured
• ○Experiment: The Development Time and Temperature Series
• ○Experiment: Agitation, Stand and Semi-Stand Development
• ○Experiment: Exhaustion, Capacity and What a Used Developer Actually Does
• ○Push and Pull Processing: What Extended Development Can and Cannot Buy
• ○Assignment: The Developer Comparison, Measured and Printed

Part 28Failure Analysis

0 / 8 lessons in this part completed

• ○Reading the Negative as Evidence: Thin, Dense, Flat and Contrasty
• ○Fog and Where It Comes From
• ○Uneven Development, Bromide Drag and Surge Marks
• ○The Emulsion Under Stress: Reticulation, Scratches, Pinholes and Drying Marks
• ○Fixer Faults, Washing Faults and the Stains They Leave
• ○Chemistry in the Bottle: Oxidation, Exhaustion, Precipitation and Contamination
• ○Print Faults: Weak Blacks, Mottle, Bronzing and the Rest
• ○Break/Fix: The Film That Came Back Wrong

CapstoneThe Pure Silver Portfolio

0 / 10 lessons in this part completed

• ○The Assignment Path: Fourteen Pictures That Build One Photographer
• ○The Pure Silver Portfolio: The Specification
• ○Planning the Capstone: The Project Plan and Its Hazard Assessment
• ○Capstone Stage 1: The Instrument, Its Calculation and Its Commissioning
• ○Capstone Stage 2: Formulating and Documenting Your Chemistry
• ○Capstone Stage 3: Exposing, Processing and Measuring
• ○Capstone Stage 4: The Silver Prints
• ○Capstone Stage 5: The Toned Print and the Alternative-Process Print
• ○Capstone Stage 6: Permanence, Presentation and the Finished Portfolio
• ○The Capstone Chemistry Report: From Photon Capture to Finished Print