The cyanotypes was used famously by Anna Atkins's in her 12 past book British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. This was the first book ever to be illustrated with photographs making her a real pioneer of the new art form. Cyanotypes were amongst the first ever kinds of photographs that did not require a camera. In the essence, they describe the real meaning of the word 'photography' - photo = light; graph = to draw. Therefore, photography = drawing with light. Atkins was an expert botanist and illustrator of plants. She discovered the cyanotype process after meeting the British inventor Fox Talbot. Atkins neighbour was the astronomer Sir John Herschel and it was he who discovered, in 1842, that when exposed to UV light (i.e. sun) a paper soaked a with a complex iron salt solution captured a blue “negative” image, once the salts had been rinsed away. For obvious reasons, Herschel named these prints Cyanotypes or blueprints.
The advantages of cyanotypes The cyanotype process is cheaper and easier to use. A wide range of surfaces can be coated with the mixture of chemicals (ammoniumiron citrate and potassium ferricyanide) and you don't need a darkroom or any complicated equipment. Perhaps this is why artists are still using the process, sometimes to make quite large and unusual photographs.
Some examples of cyanotypes
In the lesson we got to do our own cyanotypes. For example here is one of mine;
first image
In my image I added a cd and a dvd and small rings, I tried to make less space but also tried to make it simple. It didn't come out as I wanted it to be, but I used some light objects. It looked like the sun didn't shine properly on some parts of the cyanotype as it looks different on some parts.
second image
The objects were moved so there are shadows of it around the image, also the image isn't very simple since there are shadows and there is not a lot of space left on the page because most was taken by the objects, I used a tape, some silver rings and a small fan.