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THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. December 24, 1880.1 613 UtAhotographicebs, Hecember 24, 1880 Et fume, AT THE Tom Hood OPENING OF THE BRISTOL INTER NATIONAL EXHIBITION. photogravures that they might be confounded with each other. We know that M. Goupil employs the electrolytic method for reproducing his photo-reliefs in copper, and he requires about four weeks for the deposition of the necessary thickness; but Klic, we are informed, only wants three days for making a copper plate from a negative. Preparing Gelatine Plates in the Studio.—We have recently had an opportunity of conversing with M. Mottu, of Amsterdam, who is one of the best known continental makers of gelatino-bromide plates, and this gentleman ex pressed the opinion that, after two or three years, every photographer will prepare his own gelatine plates. We cannot agree with this opinion, as all know how very easy it is to make albumen paper—easier, certainly, than to pre pare gelatine plates. Yet only a few photographers, and the owners of very large establishments, make their own albumen paper. How few photographers possess really suitable rooms for the preparation of dry plates ? How few can find time for watching over the process, and for making the emulsion ‘I The process may be easily worked out in the winter time, but in hot summer months the whole aspect of affair changes, and a period of trouble sets in, enough to drive the already over-worked photographer out of his senses. We are informed that last summer almost all of our gelatine plate makers were com pelled to work during the night, because the temperature during the daytime was so high as to cause constant diffi culties to arise. The troubles incident to developing and fixing gelatine plates in hot weather are sufficient to exhaust the patience of the average mortal, but in working with Dr. Vogel’s emulsion we are informed that these troubles are eliminated. Until, however, more is known of this preparation, we must withhold our final judgment. Why is it not yet introduced into England? In France it is manufactured by AI. Schaffner, of Paris. Our excellent confiere and correspondent refers to the matter in his in teresting Paris letter of December 10.: “ We are surprised to find no one has given an authoritative opinion on the new product.” We beg to call attention to the fact that a first-rate man like Dr. Eder has given a very favourable report on the subject in the July issue of the Photogra- phische Correspondenz. We hope soon to hear more on the matter. Bristol, if it only had the Secretary to do it. For there cannot be a doubt that to Mr. H. A. H. Daniel, the Honorary Secretary of the Bristol and West of England Amateur Photographic Association, is due, in the main, the credit of having gathered together an Exhibition that ranks not only as one of the finest in this country, but in the whole world. When we mention that there are in the catalogue no less than 730 exhibits described, of which many are frames containing several prints, and that the gathering comprises not only the best pictures exhibited this year in Loudon, but also for some years previously, we need not say another word to intimate the magnificence of the collection. The rooms in which the Exhibition is held—the galleries of the Fine Art Academy—arc, moreover, -worthy of the display they contain. A fine and spacious central hall contains the landscapes, interiors, out-door studies, &c., while other rooms on the right and left are devoted to portraiture, ceramics, transparencies, apparatus, &c. On GoupiCs Photogravure.—The process of photogravure worked out after the Woodbury idea in Goupil's cele brated establishment with admirable success has induced many to offer suggestions as to the best manner of obtaining a grain gelatine relief. Certainly Major Water house’s researches, as described in the Photographic Society’s Journal, are very valuable, but it is doubtful whether his method is identical with M. Rousselon’s. All artists acknowledged M. Goupil’s photogravure as the most artistic photo-mechanical process of the day, and we must add, it is a cheap one. We have purchased a photogravure, after a landscape painting of Lier (size of the picture 24 by 18 inches), for £1, whilst we have paid more than double the sum for a silver print of the same size. Would it not be possible to obtain the same results, especially with the co-operation of Mr. Woodbury, the original inventor? Indeed, Goupil has spent many thousand pounds in working out the process, and in making it really practical, while perhaps any other person who would wish to do the same would have to expend a like amount. But it seems clear that the result can be obtained by others, as we have before us some pictures of Makart, the celebrated Austrian painter, reproduced by a photo-mechanical process of Mr. Klic, engraved in Vienna. The reproductions are so similar to Goupil’s PHOTOGRAPHY IN AND OUT OF THE STUDIO. Gelatine Bromide Tissue-Goupil’s PHOTOGRAVURE — PREPARING Gelatine PLATES in the Studio. Gelatine Bromide Tissue.—We have read several accounts of trials to make flexible gelatine pellicles in the style of Warnerke's emulsion films. It would be indeed very im portant to have such a tissue, which would make the practice of photography much less burdensome to travellers. We have obtained good results with Warnerke’s collodio- emulsion films, but, for some reason, this ingenious pro duct has not come into general use. Although the pre paration of the collodio-bromide tissue is probably a diffi cult matter, it is our opinion that the preparation of gela tine bromide paper should be much easier. Everybody knows how carbon paper is prepared, a sheet of paper being drawn over the surface of a warm gelatine solution containing pigment; exactly in the same manner a band of paper could be coated with a gelatine solution containing bromide of silver. Warnerke gave his paper preliminary coatings of india-rubber and plain collodion, and perhaps a similar preparation would be necessary for the gelatine bromide tissue. Warnerke removes the film from the piperafter development, and mountsit on glass; but it might be more convenient to let it dry on the paper, and then to render it transparent by means of wax or a suitable varnish. P'erhaps such tissue would become of very high importance for making positive prints on a large scale by means of artificial light. We mention here that on one occasion we wished to reproduce fifty copies of an astrono mical photograph, and, as no daylight was available, per formed the printing operations by gaslight—commercial gelatine plates being employed—the exposure, at seven inches distance, about eight seconds, being eight seconds at a distance of seven inches from the flame. In this way we produced fifty pictures in about one hour, and no doubt it could be done in a much shorter time, provided that convenient arrangements were at hand. But although we say one hour, we must confess that fixing was not included. Why is the time required for fixing gelatine plates of com- merce so widely different? We have obtained plates which were fixed in five to six minutes, and other plates from the same manufactory needed at least half-an-hour for perfect fixation. Such plates could be fixed much more rapidly by means of cyanide, but sometimes we lost a plate because the alkaline fixing solution dissolved the gelatinous film. once remarked that anybody could write like Shakespeare if he had a mind to, but that, unfortunately, the mind was generally lacking; and it might be said with equal truth that any Society could readily get together an exhibition as fine and complete as that now to be seen at