Bromoil printing

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Code Completion Credits Range Language Instruction Semester
307DBOT credit 3 50 workshop hours (45 min) of instruction per semester, 38 to 53 hours of self-study English, Czech summer

Subject guarantor

Martin STECKER

Name of lecturer(s)

Jan DOUŠA, Martin STECKER

Department

The subject provides Department of Photography

Contents

Bromoil printing is a historical photographic process, known as a “noble print,” which was very popular among pictorialists in the first half of the twentieth century and is still used today by some artists. The process begins with a black-and-white silver bromide enlargement on paper. The photograph is developed in a non-hardening developer and fixed in a non-acidic fixer. The resulting gelatin positive is then washed, bleached, and hardened. Once dried, the photograph is soaked in water, creating a relief: the gelatin that originally held the darkest tones is hardened the most, while the light areas absorb the most water. On this prepared enlargement, lithographic or oil-based color can then be applied.

Workshop is for students: 2nd and 3rd year Bc. + 1st and 2nd year Mg.

Learning outcomes

Students will master this relatively simple method and may apply it in their own creative work. The technique can be further adapted by adding color or used as a matrix for transferring the image onto other materials.

Prerequisites and other requirements

Students should have experience working in the darkroom with traditional analog processes and silver-gelatin photographic paper.

Workshop is for students: 2nd and 3rd year Bc. + 1st and 2nd year Mg.

Literature

Anchell, Steve: The Darkroom Cookbook, Routledge / Taylor & Francis, 2025

Jammes, André: Bromoil and Other Historical Processes, Focal Press, 2006

Willoughby, Arnold G.: Bromoil Manual, Foutain Press, 1928

Cartier-Bresson, Anne:Le vocabulaire technique de la photographie, Paris Marval 2008

Odkaz knihovna FAMU:

Evaluation methods and criteria

Students are expected to actively participate in the theoretical portion of the workshop, prepare in advance, and engage in all practical steps of the process, culminating in the creation of their own bromoil image, including its stabilization and hardening.

Note

Mode of study:

intensive block course

Beroun 24.-26. 3. 2026

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans