Now that you have read so far and may have already dipped into one or two of the chapters on the various methods, it would not be unreasonable to ask yourself if this is what you really want to be doing. Or more philosophically, why are you here. A number of explanations come to mind. You may just be a nostalgia freak. You may feel a need to present a completely new way of presenting your work to prospective clients. You may have seen an example of say a bromoil or a platinum print in a book or an exhibition and would like to know more about the processes. You may have attended an old process workshop and have become hooked on the idea but don't know where to find the necessary information. You might even know someone who has made a gum print but who has forgotten how they did it. You may be a photographer who has also worked with other forms of printmaking such as etching or silk screen printing and wants to be able to combine pure print making with photographic images. You may be a painter or etcher or embroiderer who wants to incorporate photographic images into other media. You may want to experiment with the idea of printing photographs on materials other than photographic paper such as cloth, T-shirts or wood. You may have considered the possibility that platinum is more exotic than standard photographic paper and that you could make more money selling your images via old processes. On a grander scale you may feel that you have reached the point where you need to explore the current fashion for crossing the boundaries between pure photography and art printing. Or you may be just curious.
Whatever your reasons, it is worth looking at the possibilities offered by historical and alternative processes. But there is one important consideration that should always be borne in mind. If you have a third rate image, it is unlikely that you are going to improve it by messing it about by way of alternative processes. The best you can get is a manipulated version of a poor quality original. Having said that, there is of course, the possibility that you may have some images that in themselves may not make a prize winning entry for the Royal Photographic Society, but which may, if used as part of a larger montage or combination print, have a validity which would otherwise not have been apparent.
The crux of the matter is that when you have become familiar with old processes, the only factor that determines your output of images is your skill and your creative imagination. As one famous American photographer said, 'there ain't no rules'. Visually and imaginatively that is. What you may have to face is a decision that you may never have realised you would have to make; are you going to be a print maker who uses camera originated images to work in a mixed media environment, or are you going to remain as a photographer who may venture into a strange world of print-making in the hope that something interesting will turn up. It could be an interesting decision.