Albumen print
Encyclopedia
Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard
Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard was a French cloth merchant by trade, but in the 1840s became a student of photography. He studied the Calotype process, and in 1847 became the first person to publish the process in France...
, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative
Negative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
. It used the albumen found in egg white
Egg white
Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks...
s to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper and became the dominant form of photographic positives from 1855 to the turn of the 20th century, with a peak in the 1860-90 period. During the mid-19th century, the carte de visite
Carte de visite
The carte de visite was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero...
became one of the more popular uses of the albumen method. In the 19th century, E. & H. T. Anthony & Company
E. & H. T. Anthony & Company
E. & H. T. Anthony & Company was the largest supplier and distributors of photographic supplies in the United States during the 19th century. It was incorporated in 1877 with Edward Anthony as President, and with brother Henry T. Anthony and V. M. Wilcox as vice presidents. E. & H. T. Anthony &...
were the largest makers and distributors of the Albumen photographic prints and paper in the United States.
The process of making an albumen print
- A piece of paper, usually 100% cotton, is coated with an emulsion of egg whiteEgg whiteEgg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks...
(albumen) and salt (sodium chlorideSodium chlorideSodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
or ammonium chlorideAmmonium chlorideAmmonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
), then dried. The albumen seals the paper and creates a slightly glossy surface for the sensitizer to rest on. - The paper is then dipped in a solution of silver nitrateSilver nitrateSilver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . This compound is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides...
and water which renders the surface sensitive to UV light. - The paper is then dried in the absence of UV light.
- The dried, prepared paper is placed in a frame in direct contact under a negative. The negative is traditionally a glass negative with collodionCollodionCollodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol. There are two basic types; flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings in place. When painted on the skin, collodion dries to form a flexible cellulose film...
emulsion, but this step can be performed with a modern silver halide negative, too. The paper with negative is then exposed to light until the image achieves the desired level of darkness, which is typically a little lighter than the end product. Though direct sunlight was used long ago, a UV exposure unit is preferable because it is more predictable, as the paper is most sensitive to ultraviolet light. - A bath of sodium thiosulfateSodium thiosulfateSodium thiosulfate , also spelled sodium thiosulphate, is a colorless crystalline compound that is more familiar as the pentahydrate, Na2S2O3•5H2O, an efflorescent, monoclinic crystalline substance also called sodium hyposulfite or “hypo.”...
fixes the print’s exposure, preventing further darkening. - Optional gold or seleniumSeleniumSelenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
toningPhotographic print toningIn photography, toning is a method of changing the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, toning is a chemical process carried out on silver-based photographic prints. This darkroom process can not be done with a color photograph and although the black-and-white photograph is...
improves the photograph’s tone and stabilizes against fading. Depending on the toner, toning may be performed before or after fixing the print.
Because the image emerges as a direct result of exposure to light, without the aid of a developing solution, an albumen print may be said to be a printed rather than a developed photograph.
The table salt (sodium chloride) in the albumen emulsion forms silver chloride when in contact with silver nitrate. Silver chloride is unstable when exposed to light, which makes it decompose into silver and chlorine. The silver ion (Ag+) is reduced to silver (Ag) by addition of an electron during the development/printing process, and the remaining silver chloride is washed out during fixing. The black parts of the image are formed by metallic silver (Ag).