ABSTRACT
Thus far this book has primarily dealt with applications of traditional silver-based photography. There are numerous alternative processes that can be used to create a photographic image. Most of the processes discussed in this chapter are now considered to be commercially obsolete. Once regarded as technical breakthroughs, they have been discarded in favor of new processes that are more convenient, faster, and cheaper to use. Some of these processes come from other visual mediums, like drawing, painting, and printmaking. Other methods, such as the use of a copy machine, derive from commercial communications. These processes are often combined, blurring the boundary between the various visual arts media (see Chapter 11). Some can deliver a longer tonal scale while others produce synthetic colors. If French writer Marcel Proust was correct when he said that art is a “translation” of life, then learning about these processes can be a recipe for change that may expand the horizon of possibilities and make you a better photographer by permitting another way of expressing your ideas about life.
