The Platinum Print (7 of 12)


Platinum prints are characterized by their delicate surface and subtle tonal gradations. They are made by sensitizing paper with iron salts and exposing the paper in contact with a negative until a faint image has formed. The paper is then chemically developed in a process that replaces the iron salts with platinum and intensifies the image. Platinum prints were popular with art photographers around the turn of the twentieth century, but when World War I caused the price of platinum to rise, palladium (a related metallic element) was introduced as a more affordable substitute.

Video from the George Eastman Museum

Cite this page as: George Eastman Museum, "The Platinum Print (7 of 12)," in Smarthistory, May 4, 2019, accessed March 19, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/the-platinum-print-7-of-12/.