Blueprint vs Cyanotype

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Blueprint comes from Technical Expression and Cyanotype from Photographic Techniques. One is style and the other technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Blueprint

Blueprint — 青写真による銃弾の設計図 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainBlueprint — University Bridge の青写真 1915, シアトル — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0Blueprint — ブザンソン大聖堂の平面図 1882, フランス国立文書館 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Instead of a finished object it shows the lines of the thinking behind it, communicating structure and possibility.

Cyanotype

Cyanotype — Anna Atkins, Dictyota dichotoma, 1843–53 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCyanotype — アトキンス『英国の藻類』第3巻 — Wikimedia Commons / CC0Cyanotype — 建築図面の青写真 1902 — Wikimedia Commons / No restrictions

Fixes the outline of a light-struck object directly into deep blue, making record and lyric the same image.

BlueprintCyanotype
Eraindustrial1842–
FamilyTechnical ExpressionPhotographic Techniques
KindStyleTechnique
CuesWhite lines on blue / Dimensions / Sections / Handwritten notesPrussian blue / White object traces / Contact shadows / Chemical unevenness
Best used forVisualizing concepts, design and process · Structural credibility for products and architectureDirectly recording plants, materials and objects · Adding the trace of handwork to drawings and archives
TypeMonospace plus drafting-style handwritingWhite or pale letters; add small classification labels
CompositionOrthographic views, sections, dimension lines tied to real informationLead with the object's contour; keep generous blue around it
MaterialDeep blue, white lines, fine paper grainOne deep blue and the paper's white; don't polish away the exposure marks
CautionNo fake drawings as decoration. Bind everything to actual structure and thought.A blue filter is not the technique. Understand contact image, exposure and support.

Put these two together

Technical Expression ／ Photographic Techniques

IndexStyle