The Salt Print Manual

by Ellie Young

Learn how to make salt prints. A practical manual in clear and jargon-free language.

• 8.5″ x 11″
• Perfect binding, white interior paper (80# weight), full-color interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-color exterior ink
• 91 pages
• See the Table of Contents

About the book

The salt print is the foundation of photography. William Henry Fox Talbot, known as the father of photography, discovered the salt print process in 1834. The history of Talbot is quite remarkable. His early discoveries were the foundation of numerous photographic and print processes, many still practiced today. Due to the inherent masking ability the salt print can create a greater tonal range than other photographic print processes. The challenge is to create negatives that reach this extraordinary range. The salt print offers flexibility in controlling the colour, tones and hues. This manual covers every step of the process in detail, helping to avoid and/or solve the numerous problems that arise on the journey of mastering this beautiful photographic print process.

Review by Mike Ware

The salt print was first photographic process on paper. The apparent simplicity of Henry Talbot’s original invention is deceptive and conceals many pitfalls. Like all finely-crafted skills, a consistently successful practice only derives from a deep understanding and experience of the basic materials involved. The entire content of The Salt Printing Manual is underpinned by the author’s extensive research experience. In this practical manual, Ellie Young now explains in a systematic way everything that the artistic practitioner could wish to know, in clear and jargon-free language.  Her comprehensive and authoritative instructions can be relied on for hand-making monochrome silver photographic images on fine-art papers.  These photographs can display a richness in their tonality that has never been surpassed by any other process in the entire 175 years of photography. It is good to see it still alive and well today, being practised with great artistic effect.

About Ellie

Ellie Young offers a broad range of alternative print processes and photographic techniques in her studios and regards salt printing as a significant historic process. gold street studios  was established in 1999 to provide an inspirational resource for photographic image makers, offering workshops to inspire challenge and educate. She employs professional instructors, international and local with the same passion to share knowledge. This draws a wide range of local and international students wishing to participate in the art, craft and science of photographic processes.
BBus, BAppSc (Photography), MAppSc (Photography)