Diffferences between Salt Paper & Kaliltype prints

The first run at printing this image as a Kallitype was mostly successful, being I ended up with a print that wasn't ugly, yet not where it needs to be yet. As noted in yesterday's article the salt paper and Kallitype are cousins using an iron component for the silver to work with. Being the Kallitype printing method is still new to me I continue to learn new things about it each printing session. One of those new insights was seen today, printing the Stagecoach image. I had been working with that image using the salt paper method, as it one I have a feel for from the earlier years working with it.

The Kallitype is quickly becoming my new printing thrill. I like the methodology, perhaps because it is a mirror to the Pt/Pd process, and can be swapped with the Kallitype with a small tweaking of the ferric oxalate. Same process. What I learned from this print is that the same negative is much more contrasty in Kallitype form, The reason is the difference in silver content.

For now I am single coating the paper with the Kallitype process as it offers a good rich look and can handle the longer scale negatives. And there is where the contrast is showing up. In the salt paper print the silver is at 13% and the paper is coated twice. That's 1 ml each coat for 2 ml of 13% silver. The Kallitype uses 10% silver solution; and a single coat. That's a lot of difference in silver content in a print. The Kallitype is going to be more contrasty of an image than the salt paper print counterpart, using the same negative.

That showed up quickly today. That negative printed 18 minutes today, the salt paper print time was 26 minutes. That was the second lesson. The more contrasty the negative, the more print time can be given a Kallitype before it just turns dark. The Kallitype 18 minute print time difference is roughly 60% to the Salt Paper 26 minutes, and still the top highlights were not quite printed it. The print time will be adjusted to 21 minutes (a + 3 minute adjustment)

As with the other images the paper remains Revere Platinum

Palladium toned Kallitype
"Stagecoach on Main Street" 8x10"
Tombstone, Arizona
Kallitype ~ 18 minute print time ~ same negative both prints

Salt Paper Print ~ 26 minute print time

What also shows up is the print 'color'. The Kallitype is a cooler toned print, even though it was toned with the same palladium toner. Printing the image in tends to warm the print. Also the silver you are seeing in the salt paper is over four times richer than the Kallitype, well, originally, as the palladium replaces the silver in the paper and becomes a palladium print. What I will be looking for is any advantage to super soaking the paper with silver to make it very silver rich, if it is to become a palladium in the end. The question remains, does that structurally or aesthetically add to the image?