Site Index
TLF Tutorials
Handmade Silver Gelatin Emulsions
- The Light Farm Tutorial Workshops—Preface
- Getting Started
- Getting Started—Heat
- Getting Started—Contact Printing
- Getting Started—Paper Prep
- Getting Started—Tools and Materials
- Getting Started—Paper Coating, Wet Paper Method
- KCl Gaslight Paper—Background
- KCl Gaslight Paper—The Recipe
- KCl Gaslight Paper—Between Tutorials Addendum
- A Developer Segue
- Dry Plate—Getting Started
- Dry Plate—Creative Control
- Dry Plate—Glass
- Dry Plate—Odds and Ends
- Plain Silver BrI Dry Plate Emulsion—The Recipe
- Ammonium Bromide Plain Silver Negative Emulsion, parts 1-3
- Film, parts 1-4
- Deep Dive into AmBr, parts 1-4
- AmBr with Variations—The Recipe
Kit Funderburk's book
Kit Funderburk was one of the original contributors to The Light Farm. A retired Kodak paper engineer, in 2006 and 2007 Kit wrote two short books mostly as a memento for past employees when the last of the Kodak paper mills were shut down and dismantled in 2005. He was well ahead of his time in recognizing that an invaluable piece of photographic history was in danger of memory extinction. History of the Paper Mills at Kodak Park and A Guide to the Surface Characteristics, Kodak Fiber Based Black and White Papers have been treasured members of my library for almost ten years.
As we all know now, chemical photography with its rich and deep history has vanished faster than most of us foresaw. Capturing that history has become ever more imperative. Recognizing this, Kit has written a second edition book combining, and expanding on, his first two books. It is available to read on TLF. I can't recommend it highly enough. So much of what we think of as "classic" B&W prints is wrapped up in the surface characteristics of the base paper. Knowledge of history is important not only for its own sake but also because it informs our present art.
Thank you, Kit! (Again.)
A Guide to the Surface Characteristics: Kodak Fiber Base Black-and-White PapersA random journal of silver-centric photography
December 14, 2009 — January 26, 2014
Errata: The Handmade Silver Gelatin Emulsion Print (1st printing)
Updated: February 23, 2025
The first run of the book had several errors. I have not read the subsequent printings, but it is my understanding that these have all been corrected.
- p 150: “Figure 15.17 is a short stack…” should read “Figure 13.17…”
- p 186: For the salted gelatin, use 2.5 g photographic gelatin (NOT 50 g)
- p 255 and 256: The titles for Figure 19.1 and 19.7 are swapped. Also, Figure 19.3 should not include the word "Caption."
- p 295: The recipe has omitted the amount of silver nitrate. It is 5.1 g in 10 ml water, heated to 60C.
- p 20: Second column, third paragraph: the reference to Figure 3.6 should be to Figure 3.7.
- p 200: Before adding the silver nitrate solution to the salted gelatin, stir 2 ml (40 drops) 10% solution potassium iodide into the salted gelatin. (See p 120-121 of The Light Farm book in the Blurb preview.)
- p 220: The ingredient listed as sodium potassium tartare should be sodium potassium tartrate (or alternatively, potassium sodium tartrate, or Rochelle Salt).
- p 295: The amount of silver nitrate is 5.1 g.
