Rainbow Reverie: Yellow

Yellow is not a difficult color to get from nature, but I've only experimented with a few yellow dyes because the nature of the color is the same, no matter the source. Yellow is freaking bright. It makes it difficult to see the resulting images and produces low-contrast results. For any yellow anthotype, I will typically adjust the color in Photoshop by about 10%, making it more orange. Whatever my subject is, the visibility and detail jumps dramatically with this simple change.

Despite that, yellow colors are easy to get and the two main dyes I use to obtain them are very simple and straightforward. There are numerous ways to adjust them so that you won't need the Photoshop adjustment. It can, in fact, be worked right into your dye.

Filtered Paprika Dye Test

Paprika: While the spice itself is orange and it can be used to create an orange effect if applied to the paper as a thick paste, paprika creates yellows when diluted into a liquid. I've created two different yellows through different means of preparing the dye.
The first is a goldenrod color, gentle and creamy, which is created by using a coffee filter to drip alcohol through about 2 tablespoons of paprika. The collected liquid is pale orange and exposes in 2-4 days.
Second, you can simply add the paprika directly to the alcohol until the saturation point is reached. This liquid will still appear orange, but when painted on the paper it will only leave a few streaks and bits of residue that can be brushed off when the paper dries. The yellow created this way will be very pale, but still give decent results in 2-3 days. In order to increase your visibility, simply add a little sandalwood or madder root to your paprika. You can experiment with other

Turmeric Dye Test

Turmeric: This is one of the easiest and most reliable dyes I've used for anthotypes. You can buy it at almost any grocery store or supermarket. If you have a local farmer's market, sometimes you can purchase it there very cheaply, too. Turmeric is a spice and perfectly safe so no worries about getting it in your mouth or on your hands or all over your kitchen. It's sold as a thick, golden powder. Diluting with alcohol forms a liquid that is your dye. Just a little alcohol will produce a yellow so bright it hurts the eyes, while high dilutions give muted, pastel shades.
Your exposures with turmeric can be as quick as 2 days (high dilution) and as long as 2 weeks (low dilution with poor light), but will average around 4 days for a good image. As mentioned above, the yellows of turmeric don't provide much contrast and I regularly sift in a bit of sandalwood to my turmeric to give more golden hues that provide better visibility. You can also do a double coat on your paper with a thin layer of blackberry first, and this will also give you more ruddy images that show up quite well.


Our next color is Green, which can be tricky, but is a lot of fun!