Cyanotype in the Digital Realm

An early predecessor to the blueprint and to color photography in general, the cyanotype process was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, and put into use in photography by Anna Atkins. In playing around with photography while re-studying the history of photography, I've grown a recent fondness towards the cyanotype, not unlike my fascination for sepia. Of course, it has already been brought into the digital realm, and 'an Italian geek' has created a free Photoshop action for converting images to cyanotypes.

Of course, I like exploring things myself, so I played with some settings in Capture NX to apply to my .NEF files and create my own version of a cyanotype. I've discovered that it works especially nice for the higher-noise IR shots I've played around with. It's not quite as 'cyan' as a true cyanotype, perhaps, but the effect is similar, and my own slightly different take on it. Here are a few samples of pictures that I find work well as a digital cyanotype:


(original tweaked -- had to get rid of that annoying billboard, and replace it with a better advertisement)






(IR image, with cyanotype conversion)