I'll make a triptych from the Grand Canyon images by contact printing on one piece of paper. The challenge is that I want to use a different process for each of the three images. Starting with the center image seemed the most logical.
I wanted to not only have a bit of split toning with this cyanotype, but I also wanted the top third to have much more red than the bottom. I remember the river-left wall at Unkar having a deep burgundy quality, with the water reflecting the sky, the wall, as well as having a slight muddy quality to it.
I used a very mild solution to bleach the original cyanotype slowly (I heard that this helps preserve some of the highlights). Instead of standing over the basin, with my hand in the air, holding the print, I taped it to the green splash board. Once the river-left wall was almost totally bleached, I dropped the print in just enough to bleach the middle for a while. Before moving the print to the wash basin I dunked the whole thing so the toning process would bring a little warmth to the entire picture.
A similar process was employed during toning, bringing most of the deep red tone to the top third of the image.
The images will be about 1 inch apart. I've left plenty of paper on the sides to allow for easy handling while printing.
It turned out looking good. The actual image is more subtle, but this is a pretty good idea of how it looks (considering how iPhones auto exposure is strange in fluorescent light)
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