Chlorophyll Prints

What Are Chlorophyll Prints?

Chlorophyll printing is an alternative photographic process where photographic images are developed on natural leaves through the action of photosynthesis. This organic technique does not use chemicals since the photographs are exposed directly to the sunlight on plants or tree's leaves.

Note: I used drawings made on my digital sketchbook ( AutoSketchbook) along with an altered photograph from the web.

Photographer Binh Danh prints his photos on leaves he gathers from his mother’s garden. They are fragile, brittle images of an imagined life in the chaos of post-war Vietnam that uniquely combine photography and organic materials. To save his work, Dah casts his finished pieces in a layer of resin allowing them to be enjoyed for years to come. (Click Here to See Binh Danh's Chlorophyll Prints )

The Process of Making Chlorophyll Prints (The Science Behind It) :

Bleaching occurs when a photon has enough energy to completely free an electron from its atom, becoming an ion with a net positive charge. Higher light intensity equals a higher concentration of ions, resulting in a surface that has the ability to react with the oxygen in the air. This reaction causes the bleaching of the surface. It is important to remember that the photo-bleaching Chlorophyll Processes work due to the photosensitive pigments in leaves (Chlorophyll-a) and flowers and vegetables (Flavonoids) respectively. Thus light intensity and time of year as well as the natural differences in the concentration of these pigments between species and specimens will have an effect on the results.

Why I'm Making This Instructable:

I attend a college that hosts an Independent Study Project/Period (ISP), which allows the student to design and conduct their own hands-on research. During the four-week Interterm each January, we can focus on a specific aspect of our field of study, or explore something new through an immersive experience (whether that is a lab experiment, a scholarly paper, or a creative endeavor).

I decided to pursue making Cholorphyll Prints after hearing a similar process about a year ago. I prefer sculpting but wanted to try my hand at another medium. This project was rewarding because I was able to explore photography in an untraditional method while manipulating natural processes.

I've kept a log documenting my project with photos and notes. You can refer to it here

How to Make Your Print (Refer to the Supplies List Below):

You can look through my documentation log mentioned above to see photos of the set up i did to provide guidance for yours

You're going to place the leaf and transparency in the frame and then out into the sun

• The order should be backboard ( cardboard if using dollar store frame), leaf, transparent image, then glass
• Secure them together with the clamps ( make sure the print is pressed as tightly as it can against the leaf)
• Place in direct sunlight and check Periodically until the image is printed
• Refer to Steps 1-3 below for tips on the image and leaf

What Happened in My # Attempts (A Look Into My 4 Week Project):

Again, you can refer to my project log here but here's a quick recap:

1) During my first week I used 3 different images (single transparency) on the same type of leaf ( separately) and placed them on a hill. The weather was inconsistent and since the prints were out of sight from me I wasn't aware of when they were and weren't getting sunlight. The most he happened to these leaves was a slight color change from them drying out and dying.

2) During my second week I took my instructor's advice and decided to alter the prints. I left one the same, doubled the transparency on another, and then placed a black piece of paper on half of another transparency. The black was to obstruct sunlight from going through the majority of the print and bleaching the areas that should remain dark on the leaf. The leaf that had the construction paper seemed to produce the most changes and had discoloration in the places that would make sense with the printing process. During this week I also changed out the leaves and put the prints in a location where I could better monitor them. Not much happened with this but I yielded some results with double transparencies.

4) During the last week I was able to get a really decent print with the Fagus sylvatica leaf (the image above the title). This leaf was left outside for 3 days straight and a few hours on the 4th day. The only weather that was not normal that occurred during his time was a thick fog the 2nd night the leaf was outside.

Things You Can Try So You Go Through Less Trial and Error:

• Doing it during the summer rather than a January in FL ( unpredictable winter weather)
• Making/taking/printing good positive transparencies
• Placing your print somewhere where a shadow won't get cast over it
• Using a Devil's Ivy leaf ( based on all my research this is the golden ticket for making prints with a printing time of 2 days)
• Have faith in the process ( I got discouraged and stressed so maybe my plants were feeling it too and capped out on me :/ )

1.Leaves

• I used plant leaves from the Ficus aurea, Ricinus communis, Coccoloba uvifera, Juglans regia, and the Fagus sylvatica which was my most successful leaf for a print.
• Bring scissors to cut the stem!

2. Positive Transparency Images

• I got mine printed at Staples for $1 and some tax
• Print 2-3 copies of each image

3.Contact Frame

• I used a simple dollar store picture frame with clamps from Walmart

4.Sunlight

• Preferably during the summer in the early afternoon

5.Time and Patience

• The process can take anywhere from 24hrs - weeks

6.optional: rubber bands and sandwich bags to keep your leaves hydrated during the printing process

• fill the sandwich bag with water, place the stem of the plant in the water, and secure it with a rubber band

7. There are two methods for preserving your print once you are satisfied.

1. Casting it in resin
2. Start at minute 7:34 for detailed instruction on how to fix your leaf print in a more natural way

• The photos above are what my transparencies looked like so you can see the textures and saturations I played around with ( they are being photographed with white paper underneath)

• I highly recommend using a photograph and it can simply be one shot off your phone

• Positive / transparency (higher contrast preferred): The print on the transparency sheets will be positive and in black and white. It’s important to have a good depth of blacks and a high contrast without losing the grey range. Try not to overexpose the whites, but this depends a lot on the final image you want to obtain.

• Try to scale the image before printing to the size you think you'd need so it can fit on the leaf, if not you can always lay the image over multiple leaves

• Pictured above are the some of the leaves I used and you can gauge their texture and thickness

• Broader flatter leaves are easier to work with (spinach, maple, or oak for example). When cutting your sample, for transportation and preparation, cut the stem at an angle, leaving as much of the stem as possible, and immediately place the end in a bag or bottle of water.

• The image ( the print on the leaf) is not going to be monochromatic, you are going to have all the greens, yellows, browns, even ochres, and oranges that the leaf will be able to provide.

• High light intensity and low atmospheric humidity cause the leaf to dry much faster and consequently, the mid-tones are less or not at all visible. This isn't fixed just dependent on the leaf you sue so it's important to control the exposure.

• If you want to attempt to keep the leaf from drying out and dying for an even longer exposure, you’ll need to provide water. For this, you can position the leaf and positive so that the stem hangs out one side. This will allow you to secure a small bag of water to the stem tied tight with a rubber band

• Use multiple clamps when securing the image and leaf to make sure that the least amount of sunlight is passing through refer to the image above

• Make sure the print is angled towards the sun and rotate/move it as the suns position changes

• You can leave the print out if it's a cloudy day because there are some UV rays that can penetrate the clouds and hit your print. Only take it inside if the weather could damage the print.