Lesson plan
Alternative process
In photography, an alternative process is any chemical process that is considered primarily historical. Because of how dominant the silver gelatin process has become, "alternative" is largely understood as processes other than silver gelatin film or photo paper. Examples include processes still based on silver salts—like collodion processes or salt prints—as well as completely alien chemistries based on iron salts—like the cyanotype or platinum print—or dichromate salts—gum and carbon printing. Silver gelatin is preferred in large part for its relatively high sensitivity to light. Although some alternative processes like the Daguerreotype or the calotype require just a little more lighting, or a longer exposure to form an image, many other processes are unable to form images quickly enough with visible light to be useful for photography, and are instead used as printing processes. These processes may require either a silver gelatin negative or a "digital negative" (a transparency printed on a digital printer) to be used to make contact prints from.
Article summary
In photography, an alternative process is any chemical process that is considered primarily historical. Because of how dominant the silver gelatin process has become, "alternative" is largely understood as processes other than silver gelatin film or photo paper. Examples include processes still based on silver salts—like collodion processes or salt prints—as well as completely alien chemistries based on iron salts—like the cyanotype or platinum print—or dichromate salts—gum and carbon printing. Silver gelatin is preferred in large part for its relatively high sensitivity to light. Although some alternative processes like the Daguerreotype or the calotype require just a little more lighting, or a longer exposure to form an image, many other processes are unable to form images quickly enough with visible light to be useful for photography, and are instead used as printing processes. These processes may require either a silver gelatin negative or a "digital negative" (a transparency printed on a digital printer) to be used to make contact prints from.
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.