Cyanotypes & Van Dyke Brown Prints

A Cyanotype is a photographic process that results in a cyan blue print.

Lavender Heart Cyanotype - Matt Shapoff

The process for creating the lavender print above has been done by after chemically treating the paper, placing the plant directly on top and leaving it to expose under light for a certain period of time. This process can be used with digital images, but before they can be exposed onto the paper, they have to be transformed into a negative.

Creating a digital negative in Photoshop.

Begin with creating a duplicate layer.

Select 'Gradient Map' from the adjustment layers option.

Ensure that the foreground and background colours are black to white (boxes on the bottom left hand side) before applying the gradient map.

Adjust the levels accordingly. I have used the preset mid tones lighter in this instance.

To transform image into a negative - Image/adjustments/invert.

The result.  This negative can be used to produce a Cyanotype or Van Dyke Brown print.

To enhance the Cyanotype, create a new layer, select the foreground colour and change the following colours:

Red: 243
Green: 110
Blue:  81

Use the paint bucket, this will create an orange mask over the image. Go to the 'normal' tab and select overlay.

The final result.
The negative can be printed onto Transparency film ready to create the cyanotype.








Other examples;

A negative with an orange overlay created in Photoshop from a scanned image of Lilly's.