About Gelatin Silver Photographs

The traditional, classic gelatin-silver print produces beautiful, rich photographs made from bright luminous whites, deep blacks and a full compliment of tones in between. The process made famous by Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston has remained largely unchanged since it was introduced in the 1880s. The print can be hand-toned to achieve subtle tonalities from sepia to selenium.

Fiber paper is coated with gelatin that holds light-sensitive halide particles. The image from a negative is projected onto the paper exposing the silver particles to varying degrees of light. The paper is then placed in a chemical developing solution where the exposed silver particles are transformed into tones of grey corresponding to the amount of light received by each particle. The wide spectrum of grey tones produced ranges from full black to full white and creates what is called the “black and white” print. Its archival permanence is unique in today’s world of pigment digital reproductions and is of heirloom quality.