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The photographic news
- Bandzählung
- 7.1863
- Erscheinungsdatum
- 1863
- Sprache
- Englisch
- Signatur
- F 135
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- Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
- Digitalisat
- Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
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- SLUB Dresden
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- LDP: Historische Bestände der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
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- Bandzählung
- No. 277, December 24, 1863
- Digitalisat
- SLUB Dresden
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- Ausgabe
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Zeitschrift
The photographic news
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Band
Band 7.1863
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- Titelblatt Titelblatt -
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- Register Index 619
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Band
Band 7.1863
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614 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. [December 24, 1863. any process which the art involves, that gives the most beau tiful aud permanent results, must be considered the most valuable as regards the portrayal of humanity. In point of beauty, then, it appears to me that no pro cess gives such fine results as that of the Daguerreotype, seeing that it fulfils all the requirements desired by those who have in any measure studied the aesthetics of this particular branch of photography. By it, the most life like pictures have been made; in fact, one of our local artists used to advertise “ speaking likenesses.” With out endowing them with the faculty of speech, and, at the same time giving the artist his due, they were very telling portraits. Many of his, and of many other artists who were then practising the art here, come before me yet to be copied or cleaned; and I can assure you they come like “ sunny memories,” reminding me of a time when really pretty pictures were made by a process much revered, but now superseded. There was a roundness and depth given to the subjects which I have never seen equalled by the other processes—a sharpness, minutiae of detail, clear ness of line, and, with all this, a gradation of light and shade softly delicate. They seemed to reflect the beautiful image of one’s friend in a mirror. You might fancy you could touch the reality, so quietly did the background recede from the figure. Now-a-days the background comes up to the utter exclusion of the figure, which seems to have some connection with a furniture warehouse in the distance; or that it dwells in “ marble halls,” being a mere statue in the centre. Moreover, there was a warmth and brilliance about the Daguerreotypes which all the toning baths of the pre sent fail to excel. Pretty pictures, which have had their meed of praise awarded them in being likened to the Daguerreotype, have been produced by the collodiotype; but the calotype pictures will in no manner bear comparison, so different are they in make and appearance—the one being the direct heir of the camera, the other the effect of light thrown from its parent's shadow. In them there is a want of that softness possessed by all the other requisites which the silver plate had, and which I fear can never be rendered in sombre black and white without being placed on a reflecting medium. The second great quality in a photograph is permanence ; nor can we wonder that such is desired in those light-formed images so beautifully true. All that we can wish for next to the original is there:—each line correct, each feature given ; the grey hair, with its peculiar curl; the thoughtful eye, with its quiet look; even the individuality impersonated in the pose; and where such pictures are aided by binocular effects, how wonderfully true ! Before such the poet and painter must bow, and the sculptor resign his chisel. The curious, cunning work of the sunbeam cannot be rivalled when joined with optics in such illusion that cheats the sense of sight itself, and from flat planes raiseth before us in pal pable form the beings we love. It is a sari thing to think that those pictures which thrill us with their truth and fidelity, and which seem to spring from the invisible, should, after a short sojourn in the land of figures, again return to invisibility. We can fancy the first photographer’s emotions as he stood entranced scanning the images that used to scamper across his camera glass now captive held at last, and immediately after perplexed with the thought of how to stay their visit— at that time a very transient one, as the hyposulphite of soda had not yet been applied. His feelings, somewhat modified, may still apply to our own, as our further discussion of this subject will show. Thecalotype—or more properly speaking paper photograph •—has many advantages in its favour, that of reproduction being one of its most important features, as also its portability and adaptability to a variety of uses. It permits of being used without case or frame, and if it fall, it is not easily broken. Certainly, these arc great recommendations; but, unfortunately, it sadly lacks permanence. Toning baths have been devised for the colouring and the rendering more permanent of the image obtained on the chlorided surface. These have the power of extracting a portion of the reduced chloride, and of substituting gold instead ; thus the original image, built up by the light, is partially removed and some thing else added. I have often wondered whether this doing and undoing docs not affect the stability of the image, as I have for a long time past had by me prints taken from the printing-frame, which, after having been washed, and passed through the hyposulphite of soda bath, look as bright as on the day they were dried. Of course their colour is not so charming as those that had passed through the gold ton ing bath, being red : but they have the excellence of being more permanent, as placed before their darkened brethren of the same date. They retain their red and white, whilst the blacks of the others turn to a leaden colour, and the whites to that delightful colour which allows us to work in darkness and concerning which there is so much darkness. Of course your old antagonist, the hyposulphite of soda bath, is blamed : your prints have not been properly washed. But why do the red prints retain their whites, whilst those that have had the deep violet tinge added to them, assume such a faded appearance? This is a question I should like answered, or at least have you to think over, as you know the old hyposulphite of soda bath has long been in disrepute the sei d'or reckoned only a little better, whilst the alkaline gold toning bath has had a fair trial, and still the voice of truth proclaims our work unstable. The Exhibition test was a tough one; and I see a motion is being agitated by a certain society for the purpose of storing up the effigies of the notables of the present, only the members do not know well how to proceed, as this stumbling-block of imperma nence stands in the way, and cannot be readily got over. In the plain paper prints there was a tendency towards the image sinking in the pores of the paper, which in a great measure was obviated by the instituting of albumenized paper; but this albumenizing has brought on a host of difficulties which have to be contended with, the greatest of which seems to be in the fact that a portion of the silver employed in the formation of the picture cannot be extracted by means of the hyposulphite of soda bath, and consequently must tend to the impermanence of the print. It is unfortunate that so much can be said against this division of our comparison, as it is the most generally useful and workmaking branch of the whole profession. We shall now turn to the collodiotype positive, the for midable rival of the Daguerreotype. It could be looked at in any light—give the image non-reversed, if required, but seldom done—could be coloured, aud, more, varnished; but its great recommendation was that it could be made the medium from which any number of copies could be thrown. It will be observed of the glass that it did away with the old paper negative “ botheration.” Like the Daguerreotype, however, these pictures had to be kept in case or frame. By this process many beautiful portraits were made ; but until they were varnished their permanence was much less than that of the ungilded silver plates, such instability arising in many cases from the different developers used. As, for instance, a picture the silver of which, from rapid develop ment, was thrown down in large flakes, spongy and white, would not endure in the common atmosphere so long as one the development of which was prolonged, the minute par ticles of silver precipitating in a more metallic form, and when finished assuming more of the colour of a good Daguerreotype—a clean, frosted silver appearance, with the high lights and deepest shadows given without that hard dash of black and white too characteristic of this process; but the necessary black varnish was difficult to obtain that should possess the good quality of not cracking or becoming powdery, as is the case with most varnishes after the volatile oil with which they are impregnated vanishes, the resinous substances left breaking up into thousands of ridges. Such was the case with the black enamels used in backing of collodiotypes. Cloth and paper were often substituted with less effect. This unfortunate cracking was ever the cause of pictures being brought back to the photographer as spoiled
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