Handmade Gum Bichromate Photographic Print
From Light & Lens to a Watercolour Photograph
The Digital Image
A Handmade Gum Bichromate Photograph from Watercolors
Merging the 19th century watercolor photography to the 21st century digital photography
I at Custom Landscape Photography make Gum Bichromate photographic prints using Watercolors. The Custom Landscape Photography is a combination of the two times and the two eras.
I take fine art photograph with a digital camera as a modern day photographer who is purely a pictorialist.
Then I print these fine art photographs in my darkroom using the method of the old nineteenth century, which is known as “the Gum Bichromate process“.
It is by painting the watercolors with the brush on a watercolor paper with a mixture of the gum arabic and the dichromate and then exposing it with light and a negative.
And so, because of its beauty, the composure of making a “Handmade Gum Bichromate” print is simply my core satisfaction.
It is because of this key ingredient, the “gum arabic” and the dichromates, that this process has got the name of the Gum Bichromate.
And this creativity therefore has delight, joy and fun.
About the Custom Landscape Photography
Wall hangings are an integral part of interior designing. Cherishing the ambience with adorable wall hangings enhances the mood of the Interior decor.
Custom Landscape Photography uniquely provides hand made watercolor fine art photographs. This is for the visual art lovers and the enthusiasts.
It has the colors and tonality of a photograph, and the mellowness and beauty of a painting.
Its gorgeousness is for the admiring and praiseworthy viewers.
Those who understand the optical elegance and also posses the “aesthetics“, for the knowing eye.
And although still as it is, a “handmade fine art photograph “, that has the look and the sweetness of a “watercolor painting”.
The watercolor photograph, also called a gum bichromate print, has an archival permanence and robustness. This is because of the acid-free watercolor paper and the long-lasting watercolor pigments.
Techniques and the instruments
This is for the visual understanding. These pictures explains the method of the technique and the instruments which are in used in the making of Watercolor Photographs.
The Expression
As this art is an integration of the old 19th and the modern 21st century photography. It is because, as a photographer, the digital camera is not just a piece of equipment for me.
But it is also a perspective of the Photographic Art.
So seeing the world with an artist’s eye and because of this enhancing my perceptible thinking, I view the world with a photographic perspective, and then, by making a gum print, I express this artistic perspective.
Gum Bichromate explained as Watercolor Photography
All the materials used to make this hand made photograph is of watercolor artist, except for the photosensitive salts, so this is for the general audience and thus, the term “Watercolor Photography” is for most of the viewers.
The Thought about the terminology
It is in my experience that most of the people do not have the knowledge about the gum bichromate print because it is an old and historical photographic process.
So the analogy here is this, that for the simplicity I am using the denomination “Watercolor Photography” as it is a simpler and an easier explanation.
The term “Watercolor Photography” is for those people who are actually not familiar with the old scientific term and because of this, I also prefer to use the easier and understandable name so that everyone can then understand.
For this reason, I shall use the term “Watercolor Photography” on my website.
Gum Bichromate is Watercolor Photography
And so the actual technical term for the “Watercolor Photography” is “Gum Bichromate”.
About the Artist
I’m Asad, and I manage customlandscapephotography .com
I make these gum bichromate prints.
I’m also a landscape photographer and make pictures for the gum prints of customlandscapephotography .com.
For me, researching about the creative elements is very interesting. Like of both, the picture made for the gum bichromate print and to maneuver it digitally for the print.
Especially the digital image relation to the gum bichromate printing behavior is very exciting.
About my photography
Photography is not only my passion, but it is also an artistry for me. I learnt it from my father after the college.
And then later I continuedly try to keep enhancing my knowledge and refined my craft by reading books and magazines. For the gum bichromate print, I shall say that it is a craft which outgrows a photographer’s artistic aptitude.
I also have other alternative photography processes experience and in the year 2005, I make one successful Color Carbon Print. You can view it at the end of the contact page of my business website by the name of Zaidis. The link of the website is below .
In modern subjects, I studied color management extensively. I always consider myself as a student of the light, and this is because, for me, research and learning will never end.
So for the personal details, see the link below by the name of Zaidis :-
To understand the historic photographic processes, I highly recommend