I've listed anodized titanium here under ‘Competition’, but there really isn’t any except for some artists who do masterful color anodized images on titanium sheets. These are not etched, and they are not reproducing photographs. But they are quite nice, and one of these artists might be able to render an image of a person with limited detail.

Titanium is anodized by using electricity with an electrolyte. A broad range of colors can be obtained. They are natural, stable oxides of titanium. They will not fade. Some artists have produced some extraordinary colored titanium pieces.

This is, however, not a photographic process. I have worked with titanium for some time in the lab. After refining the high resolution etching process I thought I might be able to use a dark oxide color as a contrast for a photo. I cannot go into the details of the etching process, but suffice it to say that was not successful.

I still plan to do some anodizing on some photos in the lab as an experimental process, but we had to use another coating to be successful with titanium, which we were.