Transcriber Note
Text emphasis is denoted as _Italic_ and =Bold=. Whole and fractional
parts of numbers as 123-4/5.
HUMPHREY'S JOURNAL
OF THE
DAGUERREOTYPE AND PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS.
~~~~~~~~~~
The above-named Publication is well known as the best and most valuable
one devoted to the Photographic Science in this country. Humphrey's
Journal made its first appearance Nov. 1st, 1850, and consequently is the
first and oldest serial offered to the Photographic world.
The art of producing Portraits and Landscapes by means of Light has
recently taken a new and enlivening impulse, which will in all probability
lead to important and interesting results. No practical Daguerreotypist,
Photographer, or amateur should be without the means at hand for securing
all of the information upon this subject. Each should be ready to
receive and apply the improvements as they may be developed. In order to
accomplish this, it is a matter of great importance to the Practitioner
or Experimenter that he should have a _reliable_ medium through which he
can obtain _information_. In what source can the inquirer better place
his confidence than in a regular Journal, whose editor is literally a
_practical_ person, and familiar with the manipulations necessary for
producing Portraits upon "_Daguerreotype Plates_," and upon glass and
paper? Such is the conductor of Humphrey's Journal.
This Journal is published once every two weeks, and contains all the
improvements relating to the Art, and is the only American Journal
whose editor is _practically acquainted_ with the process for producing
_Daguerreotypes_. _Ambrotypes_, and _Photographs_ The first No. of Vol.
VIII is dated May 1st, 1856. The terms (Two Dollars per annum) are
trifling compared with the vast amount of information furnished.
There are several societies recently established in Europe composed of
learned and scientific men, who are in every way engaged in investigating
the Science, and we may look for improvement from that quarter, as well as
from our numerous resources at home. In the former case our facilities for
early and reliable information cannot well be surpassed.
Ambrotypes.--_Humphrey's Journal_ contains everything novel which appears
upon this subject, and has already presented more new, important; and
original matter than can be found in any other place.
Many are the letters we have received during the term of the last volume,
in which the writer has stated that a single number of Humphrey's Journal
has contained information of more value to him than "several times the
amount paid for the entire volume."
Our resources have grown up around us, and our facilities for procuring,
as well as distributing, all such facts and improvements as will benefit
as well as instruct all who have the progress of the Art at heart, are as
ample as they can well be made.
The future volumes will be abundantly furnished with original writings
from persons of standing in the scientific world; and the practical
Photographer will here find a full account of such improvements as may
from time to time develope themselves.
From the Editor's long practical experience in the Heliographic Science,
he will be enabled to present the subject in a plain, clear and concise
manner.
Read what the Editors say of Humphrey's Journal:--
"We have received a copy of a valuable Journal (Humphrey's) published in
New York, which has reached the 18th number of Vol. VI. ... We now have
the pleasure of quoting from our transatlantic coadjutor."--_Liverpool
Photographic Jour._
"Humphrey's Journal is practical as Well as scientific in
character."--_American Journal of Science and Arts._
"It treats the subject knowingly, and with force."--_New York Tribune._
"It is both a popular and interesting publication."--_Mechanics'
Magazine._
"It is highly useful to all who practice 'shadow catching.'"--_Ohio State
Journal._
"The work is neatly gotten up, and contains many interesting varieties in
this new field of science."--_Times._
"It should be hailed and encouraged, not only by Daguerreotypists
themselves, but by every lover of Science and Art."--_The Democrat._
"We cannot too strongly urge all artists, and those persons who feel an
interest in the Heliographic Arts and Sciences, to take a copy of the
work."--_Sentinel._
"It is indicative of talent worthy of the important Art it is designed to
elevate."--_American._
"This Art is entitled to its own organ, which could not have
fallen into better hands than those of the editor of Humphrey's
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inexplicable."--_Hudson River Chronicle._
"It is rich with interest."--_North American._
"It contains all the 'Improvements.'"--_Delta._
"It teaches us how to take our own portraits."--_Bee._
"It will cultivate a taste for Daguerreotypes."--_Commercial Advertiser._
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"It should be found in every library."--_Evening Journal._
_From some of our old subscribers._
"Humphrey's Journal has been the means of saving much time and money, for
by its instruction I have been enabled to produce some of the finest Paper
Pictures I have ever seen." W. P.
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_five_ times the amount of subscription. It is the only publication I can
_depend_ upon." A. G. R.
"Your treatment of the humbugs and humbugging members of the profession,
is of the most valuable importance to us practical Daguerreians. Go on.
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We might quote like commendatory extracts enough to more than ten times
fill this page.
Humphrey's Journal contains 16 octavo pages of reading matter.
TERMS.
One copy per annum, in advance $2 00
Three copies, do. do. 5 00
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The thousands who read it cannot be induced to remain without it. All who
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Don't fail to become a subscriber. Address
=S. D, HUMPHREY,=
NEW YORK.
[_Office, 37 Lispenard Street_]
A
PRACTICAL MANUAL
OF THE
COLLODION PROCESS,
GIVING IN DETAIL A METHOD FOR PRODUCING
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
=Pictures on Glass and Paper.=
AMBROTYPES.
PRINTING PROCESS.
ALSO,
PATENTS FOR THE COLLODION PROCESSES;
MELAINOTYPES--PHOTOGRAPHS IN OIL--ALBUMENIZED COLLODION--CUTTING'S PATENTS
AND CORRESPONDENCE.--SPECIFICATION'S OF ALL THE FOREGOING, GIVING
EACH PROCESS ENTIRE.
THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED.
By S. D. HUMPHREY.
NEW YORK:
HUMPHREY'S JOURNAL PRINT,
37 LISPENARD STREET.
1857.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by S. D. HUMPHREY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
~~~~~~~~~~
The rapid and unexpected sale of the entire second edition of this Manual
has induced the author to lay the Third Edition before the Public.
Although but little time has elapsed since the second, yet there have been
some new developments which it has been thought best to give, as conducive
to the interests of the practitioner. The manipulations have been given
somewhat more in detail than in the Second Edition.
All that would have a tendency to confuse the reader has been carefully
avoided, and only the plain methods for operating laid down. The work is
intended for the beginner in the glass process of producing Heliographic
pictures.
S. D. H.
New York, _February 1st, 1857_.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
~~~~~~~~~~
The object of this little Manual is to present, in as plain, clear and
concise a manner as possible, the _practice_ of a Collodion Process. This
beautiful acquisition to a "sun-pencilling" was first given to the public
by Mr. Frederick Scott Archer, an English gentleman, who alone is entitled
to the credit, and deserves the esteem of every lover and practitioner of
the Art, for his liberality in _giving_ it to the world.
The Process here presented has never before appeared in print, and has
been practised with the most eminent success by those who have been
enabled to adopt it.
All reference to the various systems or methods of manipulation, by the
thousands of practitioners, has been excluded, and one Process given. I
conceived that this was the better plan to adopt, thus leaving the mind of
the learner free from confusion, and pointing out one course, which, if
carefully followed, will produce good and pleasing results.
I have also presented a list of all Patents upon the Collodion Process;
this will give all an opportunity of choosing their own course in regard
to the respect they may conceive to be due to such Patent Rights.
S. D. H.
CONTENTS.
~~~~~~~~~~
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction--Light--Solar Spectrum--Decomposition of Light--Light--Heat
and Actinism--Blue Paper and Color for the Walls of
the Operating Room--Proportions of Light, Heat and Actinism
composing a Sunbeam--Refraction--Reflection--Lenses--Copying--Spherical
Aberration--Chromatic Aberration 13
CHAPTER II.
Camera--Arrangement of Lenses--Camera Tubes--Camera Boxes,
Bellows, and Copying--Camera Stands--Head Rests--Cleaning
Vice--Nitrate Bath--Leveling Stands--Printing Frames--Collodion
Vials 26
PART II.
=Practical Hints on Photographic Chemistry.=
CHAPTER III.
Soluble Cotton--Manipulation--Plain Collodion--Bromo-Iodized Collodion
for Positives--Ditto for Negatives--Solution of Bromide and
Iodide of Potassium and Silver--Double Iodide of Potassium and
Silver--Developing Solution--Fixing the Solution--Brightening
and Finishing the Image--Photographic Chemicals 41
PART III.
=Practical Details of the Positive or Ambrotype Process.=
CHAPTER IV.
Lewis's Patent Vices for Holding the Glass--Cleaning and Drying the
Glass--Coating--Exposure in the Camera--Developing--Fixing or
Brightening--Backing up, &c. 129
PART IV.
=Practical Details of the Negative Process.=
CHAPTER V.
Negative Process--Soluble Cotton--Plain Collodion--Developing
Solution--Re-Developing Solution--Fixing the Image--Finishing the
Image--Nitrate of Silver Bath 143
PART V.
=Practical Details of the Printing Process.=
CHAPTER VI.
Printing Process--Salting Paper--Silvering Paper--Printing the
Positive--Fixing and Coloring Bath--Mounting the Positive--Facts
worth Knowing 151
CHAPTER VII.
Helio Process.--An Entire Process for Producing Collodion Positives
and Negatives with one Bath, and in much less time than by any
other known Process: by Helio--Photographic Patents 164
CHAPTER VIII.
The Collodio-Albumen Process in Detail 190
CHAPTER IX.
On a Mode of Printing Enlarged and Reduced Positives, Transparencies,
&c., from Collodion Negatives--On the Use of Alcohol for
Sensitizing Paper--Recovery of Silver from Waste Solutions,--from
the Black Deposit of Hypo Baths, &c.--The Salting and Albumenizing
Paper--On the Use of Test Papers--Comparison of
British and French Weights and Measures 191
CHAPTER I.
LIGHT--SOLAR SPECTRUM--DECOMPOSITION OF LIGHT--LIGHT, HEAT AND
ACTINISM--BLUE PAPER AND COLOR FOR THE WALLS OF THE OPERATING
ROOM--PROPORTIONS OF LIGHT, HEAT AND ACTINISM, COMPOSING A
SUN-BEAM--REFRACTION--REFLECTION--LENSES--COPYING--SPHERICAL
ABERRATION--CHROMATIC ABERRATION.
It has been well observed by an able writer, that it is Impossible to
trace the path of a sunbeam through our atmosphere without feeling a
desire to know its nature, by what power it traverses the immensity of
space, and the Various modifications it undergoes at the surfaces and the
interior of terrestrial substances.
Light is white and colorless, as long as it does not come in contact
with matter. When in apposition with anybody it suffers variable degrees
of decomposition, resulting in color, as, by reflection, dispersion,
refraction and unequal absorption.
To Sir I. Newton the world is indebted for proving the compound nature
of a ray of white light emitted from the sun. The object of this work is
not to engage in an extended theory upon the subject of light, but to
recur only to some points-of more particular interest to the photographic
operator.
[Sidenote: PRISM, SOLAR SPECTRUM.]
The decomposition of a beam of light can be noticed by exposing it to a
prism. If, in a dark room, a beam of light be admitted through a small
hole in a shutter 7 it will form a white round spot upon the place where
it falls. If a triangular prism of glass be placed on the inside of the
dark room, so that the beam of light falls upon it, it no longer has the
same direction, nor does it form a round spot, but an oblong painted image
of seven colors--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
This is called the solar spectrum, and will be readily understood by
reference to the accompanying diagram, Fig. 1.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
To those who are unacquainted with the theory of light (and for their
benefit this chapter is given), it may be a matter of wonder how a beam of
light can be divided. This can be understood when I say, that white light
is a bundle of colored rays united together, and when so incorporated,
they are colorless; but in passing _through_ the prism the bond of union
is severed, and the colored rays come out _singly_ and _separately_,
because each ray has a certain amount of refracting (bending) power,
peculiar to itself. These rays always hold the same relation to each
other, as may be seen by comparing every spectrum or rainbow; there is
never any confusion or misplacement.
There are various other means of decomposing white light besides the
prism, of which one of the principal and most interesting to the
photographer, is by _reflection_ from colored bodies. If a beam of white
light falls upon a white surface, it is reflected without change; but if
it falls upon a _red_ surface, only the red ray is reflected: so also with
yellow and other colors; the ray which is reflected corresponds with the
color of the object. It is this reflected decomposed light which presents
the beautifully colored image we see upon the ground glass in our cameras.
[Sidenote: LIGHT, HEAT, AND ACTINISM.]
A sunbeam may be capable of three divisions--light, heat, and actinism;
the last causes all the chemical changes, and is the acting power upon
surfaces prepared to receive the photographic image. The accompanying
illustration, Fig. 2, will readily bring to the minds of the reader the
relation of these one to another, and their intensities in the different
parts of a decomposed sunbeam.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
The various points of the solar spectrum are represented in the order
in which they occur between A and B, this exhibits the limits of the
Newtonian spectrum, corresponding with Fig. 1. Sir John Herschel and
Seebeck have shown that there exists, beyond the violet, a faint violet
light, or rather a _lavender_, to _b_, which gradually becomes colorless;
similarly, red light exists beyond the assigned limits of the red ray
to _a_. The greatest amount of actinic power is shown at E opposite the
violet; hence this color "exerts" the greatest amount of influence in the
formation of the photographic image.
[Sidenote: COLORING WALLS BLUE.]
(Blue paper and blue color have been somewhat extensively used by our
operators in their operating rooms and skylights, in order to facilitate
the operation in the camera. I fancy, however, that this plan cannot
be productive of as much good as thought by some, from the fact, that
the light falling upon the subject, and then reflected into the camera,
is, coming through colorless glass, not affected by such rays as may be
reflected from the walls of the operating room; and even if it were so, I
conceive that it would be injurious, by destroying the harmony of Shadows
which might otherwise occur.) The greatest amount of white light is at C;
the yellow contains less of the chemical power than any Other portion of
the solar Spectrum. It has been found that the most intense heat is at the
_Extreme Red_, _b_.
Artificial lights differ in their color; the white light of turning
charcoal, which is the principal light from candles, oil and gas, contains
three fays--red, yellow and blue. The dazzling light emitted from lime
intensely heated, known as the _Drummond light_, gives the color of the
prism almost as bright as the solar spectrum.
[Sidenote: LIGHT, HEAT, AND CHEMICAL POWER.]
If we expose a prepared collodionized plate or sensitive paper to the
solar spectrum, it will be observed that the luminous power (the yellow)
occupies but a small space compared with the influence of heat and
chemical power. R. Hunt, in his _Researches on Light_, has presented the
following remarks upon the accompanying illustration:--
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
"If the linear measure, or the diameter of a circle which shall include
the luminous rays, is 25, that of the calorific spectrum will be 42·10,
and of the chemical spectrum 55·10. Such a series of circles may well be
used to represent a beam from the sun, which may be regarded as an atom
of _Light_ surrounded with an invisible atmosphere of _Heat_, and another
still more extended, which possesses the remarkable property of producing
chemical and molecular change."
[Sidenote: REFRACTION.]
A ray of light, in passing obliquely through any medium of uniform
density, does not change its course; but if it should pass into a denser
body, it would turn from a straight line, pursue a less oblique direction,
and in a line nearer to a perpendicular to the surface of that body.
Water exerts a stronger refracting power than air; and if a ray of light
fall upon a body of this fluid its course is changed, as may be seen by
reference to Fig. 4. It is observed that it proceeds in a less oblique
direction (towards the dotted line), and, on passing on through, leaves
the liquid, proceeding in a line parallel to that which it entered. It
should be observed, that at the _surface_ of bodies the refractive power
is exerted, and that the light proceeds in a straight line until leaving
the body. The refraction is more or less, and in all cases in proportion
as the rays fall more or less obliquely on the refracting surface. It is
this law of optics which has given rise to the lenses in our camera tubes,
by which means we are enabled to secure a well-delineated representation
of any object we choose to picture.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
When a ray of light passes from one medium to another, and through that
into the first again, if the two refractions be equal, and in opposite
directions, no sensible effect will be produced.
[Sidenote: REFRACTION, LENSES, FOCUS.]
The reader may readily comprehend the phenomena of refraction, by means
of light passing through lenses of different curves, by reference to the
following diagrams:--
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Fig 6. Fig. 7.]
Fig. 5 representing a double-convex lens, Fig. 6 a double-concave,
and Fig. 7 a concavo-convex or meniscus. By these it is seen that a
double-convex lens tends to condense the rays of light to a focus, a
double-concave to scatter them, and a concavo-convex combines both powers.
[Sidenote: ENLARGING OR REDUCING IN COPYING.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
If parallel rays of light fall upon a double-convex lens, D D, Fig. 8,
they will be refracted (excepting such as pass directly through the
centre) to a point termed the principal focus. The lines A B C represent
parallel rays which pass through the lens D D, and meet at F; this point
being the principal focus, its distance from the lens is called the _focal
length_. Those rays of light which are traversing a _parallel_ course,
when they enter the lens are brought to a focus nearer the lens than
others. Hence the difficulty the operator sometimes experiences by not
being able to "obtain a focus," when he wishes to secure a picture of
some very distant objects; he does not get his _ground glass near enough
to the lenses_. Again, the rays from an object near by may be termed
diverging rays. This will be better comprehended by reference to Fig.
9, where it will be seen that the dotted lines, representing parallel
rays meet nearer the lenses than those from the point A. The closer the
object is to the lenses, the greater will be the divergence. This rule
is applicable to copying, Did we wish to copy a 1/6 size daguerreotype
on a 1/16 size plate, we would place it in such a position to the lenses
at A, that the focus would be at F, where the image would be represented
at about the proper size. Now, if we should wish to copy the 1/6 size
picture, and produce another of exactly the same dimensions, we have
only to bring it nearer to the lenses, so that the lens D E shall be
equi-distant from the picture and the focus, _i. e._ from A to B. The
reason of this is, that the distance of the picture from the lens, in
the last copy, is less than the other, and the divergence has increased,
throwing the focus further from the lens.
These remarks have been introduced here as being important for those who
may not understand the principles of enlarging or reducing pictures in
copying.
[Sidenote: LENSES.]
I would remark that the points F and A, in Fig. 9, are termed "conjugate
foci."
If we hold a double-convex lens opposite any object, we find that an
inverted image of that object will be formed on a paper held behind it. To
illustrate this more clearly, I will refer to the following wood-cut:--
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
"If A B C is an object placed before a convex lens, L L, every point of it
will send forth rays in all directions; but, for the sake of simplicity,
suppose only three points to give out rays, one at the top, one at the
middle, and one at the bottom; the whole of the rays then that proceed
from the point A, and fall on the lens L L, will be refracted and form
an image somewhere on the line A G E, which is drawn direct through the
centre of the lens; consequently the focus E, produced by the convergence
of the rays proceeding from A, must form an image of A, only in a
different relative position; the middle point of C, being in a direct
line with the axis of the lens, will have its image formed on the axis
F, and the rays proceeding from the point B will form an image at D; so
that by imagining luminous objects to be made up of an infinite number
of radiating points, and the rays from each individual point, although
falling on the whole surface of the lens, to converge again and form a
focus or representation of that point from which the rays first emerged,
it will be very easy to comprehend how images are formed, and the cause of
those images being reversed.
"It must also be evident, that in the two triangles A G B and D G E, that
E D, the length of the image, must be to A B, the length of the object, as
G D, the distance of the image, is to G B, the distance of the object from
the lens."
[Sidenote: SPHERICAL ABERRATION.]
It will be observed, that in the last cut the image produced by the lens
is curved. Now, it would be impossible to produce a well-defined image
from the centre to the edge upon a _plain_ surface; the outer edges would
be misty, indistinct, or crayon-like. The centre of the image might be
represented clear and sharp on the ground glass, yet this would be far
from the case in regard to the outer portions. This is called _spherical
aberration_, and to it is due the want of distinctness which is frequently
noticed around the edges of pictures taken in the camera. To secure a
camera with a _flat, sharp field_, should be the object of every Operator;
and, in a measure, this constitutes the great difference in cameras
manufactured in this country.
Spherical aberration is overcome by proper care in the formation of the
lens:--"It can be shown upon mathematical data that a lens similar to that
given in the following diagram--one surface of which is a section of an
ellipse, and the other of a circle struck from the furthest of the two
foci of that ellipse--produces no aberration.
"At the earliest period of the employment of the camera obscura, a
_double-convex_ lens was used to produce the image; but this form was
soon abandoned, on account of the spherical aberration so caused. Lenses
for the photographic camera are now always ground of a concavo-convex
form, or meniscus, which corresponds more nearly to the accompanying
diagram."
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
[Sidenote: CHROMATIC ABERRATION.]
_Chromatic Aberration_ is another difficulty that opticians have to
contend with in the manufacturing of lenses. It will be remembered, that
in a former page (14) a beam of light is decomposed by passing through
a glass prism giving seven distinct colors--_red_, _orange_, _yellow_,
_green_, _blue_, _indigo_ and _violet_.
Now, as has been said before, the dissimilar rays having an unequal degree
of refrangibility, it will be impossible to obtain a focus by the light
passing through a double-convex lens without its being fringed with color.
Its effect will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying cut.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
If L L be a double convex-lens, and R R R parallel rays of white light,
composed of the seven colored rays, each having a different _index_ of
refraction, they cannot be refracted to one and the same point; the red
rays, being the least refrangible, will be bent to _r_, and the violet
rays, being the most refrangible, to _v_: the distance _v r_ constitutes
the chromatic aberration, and the circle, of which the diameter is _a l_,
the place or point of mean refraction, and is called the circle of least
aberration. If the rays of the sun are refracted by means of a lens, and
the image received on a screen placed between C and _o_, so as to cut
the cone L _a l_ L, a luminous circle will be formed on the paper, only
surrounded by a red border, because it is produced by a section of the
cone L _a l_ L, of which the external rays L _a_ L _l_, are red; if the
screen be moved to the other side of _o_, the luminous circle will be
bordered with violet, because it will be a section of the cone M _a_ M
_l_, of which the exterior rays are violet. To avoid the influence of
spherical aberration, and to render the phenomena of coloration more
evident, let an opaque disc be placed over the central portion of the
lens, so as to allow the rays only to pass which are at the edge of the
glass; a violet image of the sun will then be seen at _v_, red at _r_,
and, finally, images of all the colors of the spectrum in the intermediate
space; consequently, the general image will not only be confused, but
clothed with prismatic colors.
To overcome the difficulty arising from the chromatic aberration, the
optician has only to employ a combination of lenses of opposite focal
length, and cut from glass possessing different refrangible powers, so
that the rays of light passing through the one are strongly refracted, and
in the other are bent asunder again, reproducing white light.
To the photographer one of the most important features, requiring his
particular attention, is, that he be provided with a good lens. By the
remarks given in the preceding pages, he will be enabled, in a measure, to
judge of some of the difficulties to which he is _occasionally_ subjected.
We have in this country but two or three individuals who are giving their
attention to the manufacture of lenses, and their construction is such,
that they are quite free from the _spherical_ or _chromatic aberration_.