Long exposure leaf cyanotype

Creating cyanotypes, sometimes it can be something very simple, or something very complex, anything can change the final result. The amount of cyanotype with which we paint the paper, the time we expose it to the sun, everything has an influence. One of the most important things is the amount of minutes we leave our print exposed to the sun.

In my case, I have an ultraviolet light lamp to create cyanotype, which is very easy and convenient, especially when it's winter, cloudy, etc. In most occasions I usually leave my laminates for about ten minutes, with that time is more than enough for everything to work well.

But in some occasions, when we are going to use organic elements, that have transparencies, like petals, leaves, flowers, etc, in these cases, it is necessary to study the possibility of leaving much more time our cyanotype in the sun.

When I say much more time, it’s really much time, the images that you can see below, are of an exposure to the sun for two hours, if instead of two hours, it had been only ten minutes as usual, you would only see an opaque white spot with the shape of the leaf. In this case, by leaving it in the sun for so long, the light has had time to penetrate the thickness of the leaf and print its image with much more detail.