What is POP Paper?

What is POP paper? I want to make contact prints, and my understanding is that this is a very slow paper. How do you use it?

William:

 

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Check out the website of Silverprint in London

(http://www.silverprint.co.uk). They appear to be

similar to our Bostick & Sullivan, selling materials for alternative

photo processes. They have a paragraph describing Centennial

printing-out paper that should help (there's a link to the Centennial

POP on their home page).

 

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'Centennial' Printing-out Paper

 

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Printing-out paper, or POP for short is one of the

transitional materials between Fox Talbots original

paper and the modern enlarging materials we use

today. It uses a silver/gelatin emulsion, but is not

designed for developing; instead, an image is formed

simply by exposure to light, being reinforced

by an excess of silver nitrate carried in the

emulsion. Very slow, it needs exposure to sunlight or UV

light, using a negative the same size as the required

image.

The rewards of the process are the subtle qualities

of the image, both in well separated tonal scale

and colour. Printing-out results in self-masking,

that is as the shadows increase in density, so this

acts as a filter to light, slowing further shadow

build-up, while the highlights print in. The image

colour initially is a reddish purple. This is

unstable,and although it can be kept for a long time if only

occasionally inspected in low light, it is usual to

want to permanise it. A slow sodium thiosulphate

based fixer can be used on its own, resulting in an attractive amber

colour, but for best effect gold toning should be used, which

will preserve most of the original colour, tending only to shift it to

a more cool purple.

William: Back in the early '60s we still used POP paper for making

contact prints for studio proofs when we shot portraits on split 5x7

film. We contacted the proofs by putting them in a contact frame and

setting them out in the sun. Not only was it an easy method, but the

proofs would soon fade, so the customers would not keep them and not

return or copy them and make the studio the loser.

I haven't seen POP paper in years and I haven't missed it. There are

lot better papers available.

 

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Hope this helps. Doug.

See also http://www.f32.com/Articles/art014.htm for several pages on

POP and how to process it.