The bright sun this May bank holiday has been perfect for making lumen prints. 

You don’t need a darkroom to make these, but you do need some old black and white photographic paper. It’s not expensive if you buy it on Ebay or Vinted. It is a lovely introduction to playing with alternative photography techniques. You can’t realy go wrong with these so lumen prints are perfect for beginners. There is no precise timing. I recommend 3 hours to all day. You can put your pieces outside and go out for the day. In act this can be good because it will stop you fiddling with them!

 

I have spent so much time weedin

g the garden, and I have pulled up some beautiful grasses and weeds that were perfect for making shapes. These poppies survived one of my hens who has found a way into the garden and  likes to eat them. I still can’t work out how she gets in

Preserving the prints The originals will last for months if you keep them in the dark but they will gradually fade over time with exposure to light. You can scan the prints or photograph them or if you have darkroom fixative you can preserve them permanently. I rinse in water for 30 seconds, then rinse in a weak,1:9 fix solution for about 30 seconds then rinse in water again for about a minute. I hang mine to dry using clip clothes hangers on my clothes dryer. It keeps them out of the way while I’m doing other things.

I have included some of my lumen print results here