Cyanotype
An iron-salt photographic print that develops in water to a deep blue. John Herschel introduced it in 1842; Anna Atkins used it for the first photographically illustrated book, and engineers later knew it as the blueprint.
Spot it
- 01Deep Prussian-blue ground
- 02White glowing silhouettes
- 03Brushed, uneven coating edges
Why it happens
Ferric salts on the paper reduce under ultraviolet light and form insoluble Prussian blue; a water wash clears the unexposed salts and fixes the image.
Recreate it in Pixio
Image edit prompt“Reprint this image as a sun-exposed cyanotype on heavy cotton rag paper: saturated Prussian-blue shadows, cool pale-blue midtones, bright paper-white highlights, visible paper fibers, streaky hand-brushed coating borders and slight water marks. Use only blue and white. Keep the original subject and composition.”
Open PixioUpload your image and pick an image-edit model.