White paper coated with albumen is made sensitive to light by being
floated upon a solution of chloride of silver in water; and this, when
dry, is placed against the negative and exposed to the sun. In this
way, by pressing the silvered surface of the paper against the film
side of the negative, a duplicate impression of the picture on the
glass is transferred to the paper. This may be repeated with other
pieces of paper any number of times, until hundreds are obtained from
the same negative. Instead of attempting to prepare the paper yourself,
it would be better to purchase it already _sensitized_, which you can
do of any dealer in photographic goods. A printing-frame, or grooved
block with a spring back, is used in printing. After having placed it
with the negative and paper in the sun, watch carefully. By removing
the frame and retiring to a dark corner, you can examine the paper
by unspringing _one-half_ the back at a time, and thus print to the
degree desired. It is best to print a little darker than it is designed
to have the print when finished, as it will bleach a little in the
subsequent process of _toning_. This toning operation, as well as the
cutting up of the paper, the placing of it on the negative and removing
it, should be performed in a darkened room. When a sufficient number
of prints are done, trim them the size they are to be when finished,
wash in two or three changes of water, and then place in the “toning
bath,” made as follows: Chloride of gold one grain, water ten ounces,
saturated solution of bread soda three or four drops. This will change
them to a deep bluish or purple color, and gives them that lovely tint
we admire in fine photographs.
The chloride of gold is sent in solution, as well as the soda, so
that you have but to follow the printed directions accompanying them,
putting a certain quantity of each in the water, and your toning bath
is at once prepared.
After toning for a few minutes, remove the prints, and place in another
dish containing an ounce of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in a pint of
water; allow them to remain ten minutes, and then remove and wash an
hour or more in water—running water if possible—constantly changing
the water and moving the prints about. Then dry your prints and the
completed picture is before you, ready for mounting on a card, or
pasting in an album.[E] If you wish to obtain merely a “proof,” or a
fair print, without the delicacy of shading and tone of the silver
print, you can do this with “blue paper,” by simply exposing this
prepared paper beneath the negative, and washing and drying without any
further toning or fixing.
[E] Many preparations are advertised for sticking the prints to the
cards, but common starch paste is about as good as anything. Mix the
starch in cold water, very thin, and then boil it, constantly stirring
it to break up lumps, and remove from the fire soon as it reaches the
boiling point. The prints should be wet and pasted on while quite
moist, rubbing them down beneath a sheet of blotting-paper from the
centre to the margin, in order to expel all air, that would otherwise
cause lumps or wrinkles.
These, in brief, are the various processes necessary for procuring
a photographic print; but, as I have already remarked, the negative
being your main object, it would be much better to rest content with
securing that, and depend upon some photographer to give you the paper
impressions.
To recapitulate: For a short trip, fully equipped for taking
photographs, we shall need the following:—
A “tourograph,” for plates 4×5 inches, with alpenstock
tripod and lens $15.00
One dozen 4×5 plates 1.00
One graduate (or measuring glass) .50
Two developing pans .40
One pound oxalate potash, in papers ready for use, 60 cents,
half pound protosulphate of iron, in papers, 10 cents .70
One pound hypo’ soda, in papers, 10 cents, six ounces
varnish, 50 cents .60
------
Sum total for apparatus and chemicals sufficient for
development of fifty negatives $18.20
If you will insist upon printing your own views, then you
will need in addition—one printing frame .60
One bottle chloride gold sufficient for a certain number
of prints as stated in directions with it, 50 cents, one
bottle bicarb, soda, 10 cents .60
Sensitized paper for one dozen prints .25
------
$1.45
In round numbers, for $20.00 you can be fully prepared to set up for
yourself as an amateur photographer, and after many trials, with
diligence and perseverance, can hope to secure photographs of scenery,
interiors, and even portraits, that will compare favorably with the
work of professional artists. The above is such an outfit—except that
I had a larger camera and larger stock of plates—as I have carried to
the West Indies and to Mexico.
Since my return, however, I find that my friend, the inventor, has
produced yet another instrument, which he calls his “pocket camera,”
which folds up into a small package but one inch and a half in
thickness, and weighs but _twenty-four ounces_. This is so constructed
that double plate-holders, each containing two dry plates, form the
top, sides and back of the camera, and the entire outfit for the taking
of eight negatives, sold for ten dollars.
It is only fair to state that other apparatus and outfits can be
purchased at rates almost equally low, notably those of the Scovill
Manufacturing Company, of New York, who furnish complete equipments
from ten dollars up. While I recognize the excellence of these
articles, I have selected the “tourograph,” as being something with
which I have experimented, and likely, from its simplicity, to meet
the wants of beginners.
Since the expense is reduced to so reasonable a sum, and the road is
made so easy that any one can travel it, what boy or girl will be
deterred from entering this fascinating domain of photography?
If you can secure some old room in the garret, or in some unused
corner, cover the window with yellow or orange paper, excluding all
other light, and take to it such simple chemicals and apparatus as
I have indicated, then what a delightful world for experiment and
research is opened to you!
The mysteries of photography; how the subtle changes are wrought by
the potent salts and acids, under the influence of the sun, I cannot
explain now. But following the outline I have sketched, the rest will
appear as you get interested, and you will gain an insight into wonders
hitherto unrevealed, and enjoy sensations to which the boys and girls
of past generations have been strangers.