The Carbon Process

The "Carbon" in the term "Carbon process" is really a misnomer nowadays, since the colorant now used is a mixture of permanent watercolor pigments. However, Carbon Black was originally used and the name remains. The popularity of these beautiful prints has suffered in the past because many people think that Carbon granules are somehow incorporated into the final image. Another problem has been the designation "Carbon print" in comparison with the more glamorous term for the "Platinum" print, a process used to craft a different type of photographic print.

In fact, the range of appearances of these pigment (Carbon) prints is truly amazing. Many Carbon printers show images almost indistinguishable from Platinum prints or any one of many other alternative photographic printing processes, while while some images appear much like an ordinary Silver print. After many years of work, J Vee has developed a printing technique that results in an extension of the singular Carbon print attributes and harmonizes with his way of "seeing". The result is breathtaking, even for the experienced collector.

The use of gelatin and pigment (as opposed to dye) is actually one of the oldest methods of printing a photograph. It is possible to make an image this way only because once a layer of gelatin in soaked in a solution of dichromate and dried, it hardens to a depth which depends on how much exposure to light it receives. Hardened gelatin doesn't wash away in hot water. You can see that if the gelatin "holds" a mixture of pigments, areas exposed under a contact negative which receive a lot of light will end up thicker (darker, more pigment) than areas not receiving so much light. That is, after non hardened areas are washed away in the hot water.

Actually accomplishing all this is much more complicated than the above overview would suggest. One must have a negative which is the size of the desired print, since this is a contact printing process, as are many of the alternative photographic printing processes. This can be accomplished by using a large or ultra large camera. J Vee often utilizes a camera making an 11" by 14" negative which can be used without enlargement. Even a 4" by 5" negative can be enlarged by first contact printing to make a same size positive, then a larger negative can be made by projection from the film positive. Next  Back