Drying prints with a hair dryer

[Whateverist]

I've been drying my test prints with a hair dryer (medium blast, no heating) for convenience while letting my final prints air dry.

I was wondering what, if any, the side-effects of drying them like this are. Can it damage the paper or the image? Does it have long-term effects? Or can I use it more regularly?

 

[Steve M.]

I assume you're using resin paper? If so, as long as you don't over cook the prints (they're essentially plastic) then you won't have any problems. I do this on my test strips w/ fiber paper so I can see what the print will look like after it dries down before making the enlargement, but you can't use a hair dryer on the final prints. Fiber is curly enough as it is!

 

[Whateverist]

Yes, I'm just starting to I'm using RC paper.

 

[sepiareverb]

Ansel Adams used to dry test prints on fiber paper in a microwave.

Most of the old standard RC dryers used heat and moving air to dry prints, so I would say your method is completely fine.

 

[JoeV]

I've used a hair dryer on RC prints for years, works fine. I first squeegee them front and back side.

Be sure to dedicate a hair dryer for this purpose. Don't want bits of hair and gunk getting on your prints.

For fiber paper I squeegee them front and back, then hair dry the surfaces. The inside of the paper will still be wet - the paper will be limp, then I tape to a sheet of glass using artists tape or drafting tape and leave in a clean, warm area for several hours. They dry nice and flat this way.

~Joe