Carbon print

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A carbon print is a photographic print produced by soaking a carbon tissue in a dilute sensitizing solution of potassium bichromate. The solution also consists of carbon, gelatin, and a colouring agent. The process was created as a result of print fading in early photographic processes, and was patented in 1864 by Joseph Wilson Swan.

[edit] More on Carbon Prints

An Overview and History of Carbon (Pigment) Printing

The carbon process, initially a black and white process using lamp black (carbon black), was invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855. The process was later adapted to color, through the use of pigments, by Louis Ducos du Hauron in 1868. Carbon printing remained commercially popular through the first half of the 20th century. It was replaced over time by the dye-transfer, chromogenic, dye-bleach (Cibachrome) and, now, digital printing processes. The efficiencies gained through the more modern automated processes relegated carbon printing to the commercial backwaters of the latter half of the 20th century. It is now only found in the darkrooms of the rare enthusiast and a few exotic labs.

Carbon printing relies upon the ability of gelatin, when sensitized to light by a dichromate, to become insoluble in water after exposure to sunlight, or its modern equivalent (UV). Three successive layers of gelatin, containing first yellow, then magenta and finally cyan pigment, are, one at a time, exposed, aligned (registered) and then transferred onto a white opaque support (substrate, base or carrier) and processed in warm water (≈100 °F to 105 °F). A fourth layer of black was added later on to improve density and mask any spurious color cast in the shadows. The unexposed areas, which remain soluble in warm water, are washed away, revealing, according to the inverse of the exposure, the underlying white support. This creates a bas-relief effect of varying texture and finish on the surface of the print that is the unique signature of the carbon process. Each color carbon print requires three, or four, round trips in the darkroom to create a finished color print. An individual, using existing pigmented sheets and separations, can prepare, print and process enough material, 60 sheets including the support, to produce about 12 - 20" x 24" four color prints in a 40 hour week.

It should be noted here that the carbon process is typically used to produce;

-Mono-chrome prints, usually B&W, but often sepia, cyan or any other preferred color.

-Duo-chrome (duo-tone) prints, an effect many printers are familiar with, using complementary or associated colors to their best effect.

-Tri-chrome prints, a traditional full color print made by layering Y, M & C pigment sheets.

-Quadra-chrome prints, basically the same full color print as the tri-chrome with the added finishing layer of black (K) to add density and mask spurious color in the shadows.
That noted, any combination of layers, in any color, are possible to achieve whatever ends the printer desires.
Its also important to mention here that there are two primary techniques used in carbon printing, single transfer and double transfer. This has to do with the negatives (separations) being right or wrong reading and the image "flopping" during the transfer process.

Because the carbon printing process uses pigments instead of dyes, it is capable of producing a far more archivally stable (permanent) print than any of the other color processes. Good examples of the color stability of pigments can be found in the paintings of the great masters, the true colors of which, in many cases, have survived all these centuries. A more contemporary example of the color stability of pigments is found in the paints used on automobiles today, which must survive intense daily exposure to very harsh lighting, under extreme conditions. The useful life of many (but not all) pigment formulations has been projected out to be several centuries and beyond (perhaps millennia, look at the tombs of the Pharaohs, the frescoes of Pompeii and the cave paintings of Lascaux), often being limited only to the useful life of the particular support used. Additionally, the use of pigment also produces a wider color gamut than any of the other color processes, allowing for a greater range and subtlety of color reproduction.

Though carbon printing always has been, and remains, a labor intensive, time consuming and technologically demanding process, there are still those that prefer the high aesthetic of its remarkable beauty and longevity over all other processes.

Chronological History of Carbon (Pigment) Printing

Date	Name	Nationality	Remarks
1798	Vauquelin	French	Influence of the light on the silver chromate
1826	Nicéphore Niepce	French	First picture in April 1826
1832	Suckow	French	Chromic acid salts are light sensitive, even without silver
1836	William Herschel	English	Invention of the word "photography"
1839	Manges Ponton	English	Action of the light on paper coated with potassium dichromate + washing = fixed image
1840	Henri Becquerel	French	Action of the light on paper coated with potassium dichromate + iodine fumes = fixed image
1852	Fox Talbot	English	Insolubility of gelatin by potassium dichromate under influence of the light
1855	Louis Alphonse Poitevin	French	Inventor of photographic printing with dichromated pigment process
1858	L'abbé Laborde	French	Principle of exposure through the base then transfer from one base to the other (see Fargier)
1860	Fargier	French	Principle of exposure through the base then transfer from one base to the other (see Laborde) but the imaged is reversed
1860	Blaise	French	Double transfer to get a non-reversed image
1861	James Clarck Maxwell	English	Principle of the trichrome separation influenced Louis Ducos du Hauron
1862	Louis Ducos du Hauron	French	Tricolor carbon process in 1868 (see Charles Cros)
1863	Pouncy	English	Uses sensitized inks
1863	Poitevin	French	Modification of his process: insolubility of the pigmented gelatin then solubility by exposure through a positive film
1864	Swan	English	Swan process: uses rubber for the transfer
1867	Charles Cros	French	Tricolor carbon process. See Ducos du Hauron
1868	Marion	French	Procédé Marion: Uses an albuminated paper for the transfer
1869	Jeanrenaud	French	Procédé Jeanrenaud: Improvement of the transfer
1869	Jeanrenaud	French	Double transfer with an opal glass
1870	Gobert	French	1870-1873 printing on metal plates
1873	Marion	French	Mariotype
1874	Vogel	French	Principle of chromatic sensitization of the AgBr for the tricolor separation during the shot
1878	Louis Ducos du Hauron	French	Description of the heliochromie process
1878	Fredéric Artigues	French	Charbon velours
1881	Charles Cros	French	Tricolor process presented to the "Academie des Sciences"
1882	Charles Cros	French	Tricolor process. Bulletin de la Société des Photographie
1889	Artigues	French	Papiers charbon velours
1893	Victor Artigues	French	Carbon velours à tons continus de 1893 à 1910
1894	Ladeveze Rouille	French	Papier gomme-chrome
1899	T Manly	French	Ozotype derived from mariotype
1899	Henri Theodore Fresson	French	Procédé Fresson: sold in USA between 1927 and 1939 by Edward Alenias. Bought by Luis Nadeau, Canada, 1979
1900	Fresson	French	Papier charbon Satin then papier Arvel to be processed with chlorine
1902	Robert Krayn	American	N.P.G. Process: tricolor carbon process distributed in France by La Société Industrielle de Photographie
1906	T Manly	French	Ozobromie
1910	Arbuthnot	English	Dichromated watercolor or dichromated lavish
1911	Dovertype	English	Sold in England by the Dover Street Studio, London, 1911-1914
1913	S. Manners	American	Early form of three color carbro 1913-1922
1919	H.F. Farmer	English	Carbro process based on Manly's ozobromie, Sold by Autotype in London
1920	H.F. Farmer	English	Carbro Tricolor 1920 to 1960 by Autotype
1923	H.J.C. Deeks	American	Raylo: three color carbon
1950	KoloroÏd	American	Dichromated colloid: carbon transfer process
1951	Pierre Fresson	French	Quadrichromie Fresson
1965	3M	American	3M Electrocolor Print 1965 to 1978
1977	Kwik-Print	American	Light Impressions Corp , Rochester
1982	Archival Color Co.	American	San Francisco: quad-color carbon process
1985	Polaroid	American	Laser separation + transfer of pigment on a base. Stopped in 1986: Polaroid Permanent Pigment Print
1986	Jerry Kuska	American	Four color carbon prints, Limited Edition, Santa Cruz, California, until 1991
1993	Charles Berger	American	Ultrastable Color System. Pigmented quadrichromy
1998	Racey Gilbert	American	Ataraxia Pigment Prints, until 2004
2006	Tod Gangler	American	Art & Soul Photo, Seattle, WA. Four color carbon prints and metallic quadtone black & white carbons