Towler, John. The Silver Sunbeam. Joseph H. Ladd, New York: 1864. Electronic edition prepared from facsimile edition of Morgan and Morgan, Inc., Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Second printing, Feb. 1974. ISBN 871000-005-9
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THIS picture does not differ from any other photograph in the essential parts of its structure or preparation. No picture has ever had so wide a sphere of action, has gratified taste so long, or has been as productive of gain to the photographer as the card-picture. It is the picture of the day, and has tended considerably to simplify the photographic establishment. A few years past a number of cameras were required, ranging from the quarter to the extra four fourth tube; now, a single tube, either a one fourth or a one third will be a complete outfit as regards lenses for an ordinary practitioner, with which, Deo volente, and the war to boot, a fortune may soon be realized. The card-picture generally comprehends the whole figure, either sitting, standing, gracefully leaning against a pillar or balustrade, performing some natural and easy operation, as playing the piano or guitar, trimming a flower in the arbor, or sailing in the yacht; in fact, the photographer, at least the artist, aims to pose his model in the midst of nature's charms with ease and grace, and perfectly free from all constraint.
The size of the card-picture is a distinct characteristic from all other pictures. The mounts of cardboard for this picture are four inches long by two inches and one third wide; they can be had already prepared, plain or ornamented, with gilt edges, or with a gilt border, at any of the photographic wholesale establishments in the city. The prints are smaller than the mounts, leaving a margin of about one tenth of an inch on either side and on the top; the margin at the bottom is larger, being about a quarter of an inch. The paper on which such pictures are printed is of the finest quality, and very uniformly and highly albumenized. It is impossible to obtain the fine, sharp definition on plain paper as on albumen, because of the difference of homogeneity in the two surfaces. Tinted albumen paper, too, is now sometimes used to meet the wishes of the fanciful, or the cravings after novelty.
Lenses for the card-picture are prepared with great care, so as to produce as little distortion as possible in the complete figure. On this account a long-focussed tube is preferred to one that is shorter; but of two tubes, if they both produce irreproachable pictures in a given room, the one, which is the result of the short-focussed instrument, will exhibit more roundness, a finer stereoscopic effect than the other. Choose therefore the shortest tube that will perform all that is required in a card-picture, and at the distance which your glass-house will admit of. Where the business in this department is extensive, two tubes, or even four tubes are mounted at the requisite distance apart for the taking of two or four photographs at the same time. Furthermore, by an arrangement of the plate-holder in the camera, by which it is caused to slide either horizontally or vertically, or in both directions, as many as eight or sixteen photographs can be taken at the same sitting. It would be a waste of time to get up such cameras one's self; they are manufactured very neatly and accurately by city artisans, and are fitted up with the number of tubes ordered or required. Each tube is focussed separately upon the sitter, and then by a shutter the tubes are opened and shut cosentaneously at will. After a proper number of seconds have expired, the shutter is closed, and the plate-holder is moved a fixed distance, so as to expose another portion of the collodion plate. In the mean while the model remains quite still. The shutter is again opened and the plate exposed as before.
This operation scarcely needs any elucidation; the proper negative effect has to be attained by means of the reducing agent and the intensifier as before minutely described. The image is by far softer, and in other respects more agreeable, if the negative can receive its requisite amount of density by the primary development, or nearly so, so that, when intensified, but little more has to be accomplished, and this little can be effected by a weak intensifier. When the strengthening solution is very strong, it is apt to engender a pulverulent deposit on the surface of the collodion which detracts from softness and sharpness, communicating to the photograph an appearance of measles or small-pox. In this respect it is indifferent whatever may be the size of the negative, where there is a tendency to this powdery phenomenon, whether it arise from the collodion, or, as I have just remarked, from a deposit of the silver, it is always advisable to intensify slowly.
One point in the taking of negatives I have not yet adverted to. In the wet process, if the sensitized plate has to wait long between the time of its removal from the silver bath and its development, the silver solution evaporates rapidly, and the plate becomes dry, or nearly so; the consequence of this is supposed to be, that, as the solution thus becomes stronger, it dissolves the iodide of silver in the film, and gives rise to the phenomenon of minute apertures. Without attaching much credit to this rationale of a trouble which is very annoying, we do know that if the silvered plate becomes dry the development is very irregular. Another cause of the minute apertures alluded to is a quantity of insoluble bromide in the collodion. It is a recommendation, therefore, to dissolve the iodides and bromides in the preparation of collodion, first in alcohol, and to filter the solution, after standing several hours, before it is added to the plain collodion. Another reason, and probably a very frequent one, is to be traced to the minute insoluble particles in the silver bath, which settle upon the tender collodion film, and become as it were imbedded in it. These in the subsequent operations of developing and fixing produce either opaque pulverulent black points, or transparent ones, just as they retain a fixed position in or on the film, or are washed or dissolved off Both these phenomena are exceedingly annoying. Such a cause can be removed by filtration, or by a sort of coagulation, (if I may use the word here instead of precipitation,) by means of a small quantity of a solution of salt, and then by filtration. This operation certainly weakens the bath, but it makes it at the same time a better solvent of certain impurities that tend to cause the trouble in question. The tendency to these horrid pin-holes is greater when the bath is strong than when it is weak; it would appear, however, that the insoluble iodide of silver in the film can scarcely be a cause of the trouble; for being present everywhere in the film, it would be uniformly dissolved as the silver solution gradually increased in strength, and would thus present a condition for actinism the very best that could be desired. There is certainly no doubt that these apertures are caused in the majority of cases by an insoluble pulverulent substance, loosely attached to the surface of the collodion, and either sensitive to the actinic rays or not, (which is quite immaterial to the argument;) these, imbedded on the surface of the collodion and opaque, prevent the rays from penetrating to the true film beneath, and being afterward brushed off or dissolved off by the acids in the developer or by the fixing solution, expose parts in which the iodides and bromides have not undergone the luminous influence, and are hence made transparent by the hyposulphite of soda, like any other protected part.
In fine, no general rule is known by which à priori these pin-holes can always be avoided and accounted for.
The card-negative, next to that which is prepared for the solar camera, must be bright and transparent, free from the slightest trace of mistiness or fogging, and of such a depth of shade as to preserve the whites, whilst at the same time the operation of printing is performed quickly. That the negative must be sharp is a sine quâ non; and in order that the negative be sharp and well-defined to the very edge, and from top to toe, spare no expense, no trouble in securing a reliable lens. With this, and a moderate share of intelligence, an operator may run his career without impediment to success; whilst his neighbors, with poor lenses, whatever their amount of education, will roll down the hill to perdition. The lens leads to success or to ruin.
There is no difference in this department from that which will be found in reference to the melainotype, or the ordinary negative. Either cyanide of potassium or hyposulphite of soda is used. The new fixing agent, sulphocyanide of ammonium, it appears has no claims of superiority over its predecessors; it has, however, a decided disadvantage, and that is its expense; this will always exist comparatively, because cyanide of potassium can more easily be manufactured. Like the cyanide, too, it has toxical properties. In order to avoid all the poisonous effects that might arise from contact of such substances with the broken skin or wounds, as well as the discoloration of the skin from the silver salts during development, I would recommend a plan which I generally adopt. I do not hold the negative in the hand when I intensify; it is placed on a piece of glass cut out in the form of the porcelain dipper for the silver bath. At one end a small piece of thick glass, one inch in width, and as long as the dipper is wide, is cemented by melted lac; over this is cemented a second piece, projecting above the first one, so as to form a ledge beneath which the negative is kept in its place. At the upper end the negative is secured in its place by means of a clothes-pin. In this way the negative can be intensified without obscuring the light that passes through it from below, and the hand at the same time is protected from contact with the pyrogallic acid and silver. Stains from nitrate of silver, or from the pyrogallate can be removed, it is true, as long as they have not been exposed much to light, by washing with cyanide of potassium; but this would entail upon the operator the trouble of washing after each negative, and might entail upon him incurable ulcers. If he does not wash his hands after each negative has been taken, there is no alternative, they must inevitably become black. The glass dipper will obviate this trouble. Another trouble, but not quite so alarming, arises from the mode we practise of turning the prints round with the hands in the toning and fixing baths. The health of operators is much impaired, and especially in those large printing establishments, where a number of females are employed in this department, who, by this continual manipulation in the two fluids, are frequently in a suffering condition Now all this can be avoided by a dexterous use of a glass rod, well rounded off at either end, and held in either hand. The hands have no business in these fluids; and all parties concerned, that is, hands, fluids, and prints, will be benefited by following the precaution recommended. With a little ingenuity a pair of porcelain or glass forceps might be constructed for this special purpose, consisting of porcelain or glass legs fastened into a steel spring arch, which would hold them an inch or so asunder. Such forceps may be used, too, in holding the negative either during development or intensifying. The health of the photographer has to be looked to, and means adopted for its preservation.
There is nothing peculiar in the printing of card-pictures, photographically speaking, as distinct from that in other pictures on paper, except it be the number of photographs on the same plate; for, as was to be inferred from the manner prescribed to take the negative, this plate may contain as many as sixteen distinct pictures; it seldom, however, contains as many. Condensing reflectors find their application here to great advantage when the light is dull. Such an arrangement of reflectors might be constructed on a movable platform, or turn-table, capable of rotating horizontally, whilst the frustum itself, lined by the reflectors, and supported on vertical pillars, has a vertical motion. By the two motions combined, the frustrum can be easily brought in front of the direct rays of the sun, whereby a great condensation of light can be effected on any given surface. It is immaterial how large a surface may be occupied by the negative, or the sum of the negatives on the same plate, reflectors can be made in accordance, possessing the advantage of the direct rays that strike the plate, as in ordinary printing, together with the extra advantage of the condensed light from the rays after one reflection, as well as from those after two reflections. The size of each of the reflectors alluded to will be proportionate to that given in a preceding chapter. If the negative plate be sixteen inches square, then it will be four times as large in its linear dimensions, as in the example given; consequently, multiplying 14 78/100 and 21 56/100 by this ratio, that is 4, we obtain 59 12/100 and 85 24/100 inches for the length of the upper or larger base, and 86 24/100 inches for the length of the side of each plate of glass in the frustum. Such a machine, of course, will be expensive, but like a wind-mill where no water exists, it will soon pay for its construction by economizing time. By such a condensation of the sun's rays, a negative will print well in from thirty to sixty seconds.
A vignette is a picture of a portrait, consisting of the head and part of the bust, of an oval shape, in the middle of the card, surrounded by a sort of halo, or shading off gradually into the white background.
For this sort of printing the operator has to be furnished with vignette glasses, which are manufactured specially for such operations, and to be had of all respectable dealers. The vignette aperture can be had of any size required; it is formed of a piece of glass, stained on one or on either side with a metallic oxide, which is burnt into the glass. This stain, however, is a mere film, and can easily be ground away of the requisite shape and size by the lapidary, and then polished. The external parts being of a red orange color, intercept or absorb those rays of light which would act upon the sensitized collodion film, whilst through the vignette opening all the rays can act almost with their primitive vigor. Such a glass, or an appendage of such glasses, is placed first on the glass of the printing-frame; upon this comes the negative, and then the paper, as in ordinary printing arrangements.
Vignette glasses can be made by the photographer himself in the following manner: Take apiece of glass of the proper size, and paint either with water or oil colors the vignette opening in orange or black; shading off toward the edges; fill up the remaining part with white paint, shading the edges bordering on the vignette gradually deeper and deeper, until the layer becomes uniformly white to the edges of the glass. This is the matrix from which an indefinite number of negatives can be copied, which will be, when varnished, the vignettes required.
No further observations are requisite. Instructions on these matters are given in detail in a preceding chapter of this work, and on the coloring of the card-picture, of the stereograph and the photograph in a chapter specially devoted to the subject.
The colors required to tint or color photographs are the same as those employed in miniature painting, and the same amount of artistic skill is required in the one as in the other, where excellence and perfection are the aim of the photographer. Where very large photographs are to be colored, the fineness of miniature painting for hatching or stippling is not essential, in fact it would be out of place; in such a case a knowledge of crayon-drawing is brought to bear on the subject. Colors for such artistic purposes exist in three forms; in cakes, in powders, in liquids, in oil, and in crayons.
For touching up daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, melainotypes, and ferrotypes, colors in very fine powder are employed. These are laid on the appropriate parts, shaded off so that no sharp edges exist, and afterward the excess is blown off with an India-rubber blower, either before the application of the varnish or afterward, or both before and afterward, as in the alabastrine process, where the color is laid on sometimes three or four times, until it shows through to the other side.
Liquid colors, that is, the new Aniline colors, are specially adapted for the tinting and coloring of albumen pictures; these colors flow very easily, and the albumen surf Lee requires no preparation. For the ordinary photographic practitioner in card-pictures they are to be highly recommended.
Where the card-picture or photograph is to be colored, hatched and stippled to perfection in the form of a miniature painting, the artist requires a complete outfit of Newman's photographic colors, etc. It is remarkable, however, to see with how few colors the real artist can execute the most finished work.
Chinese white, Naples yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, yellow lake, ivory black, bistre, gamboge, cobalt blue, Prussian blue, indigo, Chinese vermilion, scarlet lake, neutral tint, sap green, carmine, rose madder, purple lake, Venetian red, pink madder, and sepia. These are in the form of cakes. To these may be added a few bottles of liquid colors, as of silver white, chrome yellows, greens, etc.
Sable, fitch, and camel's hair pencils, prepared ox-gall, brushes, shells, stumps, slabs, palettes, varnish, gum-arabic, gelatine, penetrating varnish, eraser, basin, tumbler, and sponge.
In regard to coloring as to photography, I shall treat the subject of shading as divisible into three parts: lights, middle tones, and shades. An irregular surface has always these three gradations, not separated by distinct lines of demarkation, but flowing gradually or irregularly into one another, according as the undulations of the surface are gradual or. irregular. Difference of distance in a plain surface effects what irregularity effects on an undulating surface, whose parts are nearly all at the same distance. Supposing then a surface of one and the same uniform color gradually retires from the eye, it is evident that the nearest parts are the most brilliant and light, the middle parts less so, and the most distant parts are the darkest and least brilliant. So it is also with undulating surfaces, the most prominent parts are the lights or the bright parts; the depressions or cavities, the shades or darkest parts; and the retiring or intermediate parts are the middle tones. This is the effect of light and distance, and we have to imitate this only in color on a plane surface, for the gradations of shade are already impressed in the photograph. The question to be solved then is simply this: there are three different degrees of the same color in a given space-which is the most appropriate manner of obtaining this collocation or rather gradation of these shades of color? Without the slightest pretension to dictate artistically on a subject that takes much genius and incessant labor to attain to perfection, I recommend to the photographer, who aims to ameliorate his photographs somewhat respectably with color, to lay on the middle tint first over the whole surface, and then the lights and shades afterward, in their proper places, when the first is dry. To be enabled to do this, select three gradations of the color in question. It sometimes happens that the white of the paper forms the lights; in this case the dark parts may be laid on and shaded off into the lights.
Paste the photograph on a piece of cardboard in the first place, varnish the surface with Newman's preparation, and then proceed as follows: Lay on cobalt blue in small quantity in all the shades and depressions of the face with a light hand and small pencil, as, for instance, along where the roots of the hair commence, about the temples, about the chin, beneath the eyebrows, and around the eyelashes, etc. With another pencil dipped in water, so as simply to moisten it, spread the color so as to dilute it and shade it off, so that it becomes more and more transparent, until it finally reaches the bright lights and merges into them. You proceed in like manner with the interior of the eyes, that is, on the visible parts of the sclerotic or white of the eye. The object of this operation with cobalt blue is to give more softness to the dark shades afterward. The veins of the band, the borders of the coat, waistcoat, etc., and the cuffs of the sleeves where they terminate on the linen, have to be treated in like manner, beginning with the darkest part and shading off into the lightest. Allow this color to dry, and in the mean while prepare the colors for the face, neck, hands, etc.
For a person of fresh complexion mix up a little yellow ochre, with one third the quantity of vermilion and pink lake in water on the palette or slab, and cover the face, (with the exception of the eyes,) the arms, the hands, etc., with a thin and uniform layer of this mixture; then tint immediately the cheek-bones and other prominences with a very thin mixture of rose madder and vermilion, in order to give more animation to these parts above the rest. If the person bas a red complexion, these colors are heightened still more; and where the complexion is very pale, less vermilion is used, and no color on the cheeks. The upper lip, being in shade, must be tinted with a mixture of cobalt blue and lake, whilst vermilion is employed for the lower.
For a sun-burnt complexion, add to the colors indicated a small quantity of bistre, and proceed with the general wash as before; follow up with lake and vermilion for cheeks, where they are colored, and use nothing where they are pale. Where yellow prevails in the complexion, increase the ochre. Where a simply tinted picture is required, the operation may stop here; but where a higher finish is desired, you may proceed and stipple in a light tint of lake and vermilion on the bright parts of the cheeks, lips, etc., by using a very fine-pointed pencil, and filling up the parts with contiguous fine dots or points of color; and by hatching over the shadows on the forehead and the retiring parts, the temples and the chin with a bluish-gray color, that is, fill up these parts with contiguous short lines, and then cross them in a similar manner, so as to produce a greater depth of shade. Use a little pink madder in the corner of the eye next the hose; stipple the lips too, and mix a little Chinese white with the lake and vermilion for the high lights. The edge of the eyelids have to be treated in a similar way. Stippling and hatching are more especially required where the colors have not been neatly laid on in the first operations. We now proceed to the hair.
Wash the entire surface of the hair with a mixture of yellow ochre and bistre in small quantity; then soften the colors down where they border on the temples and the forehead with a pencil dipped in water. As soon as this wash is dry, take a very fine long pencil and proceed to introduce the dark parts with a mixture of ochre containing more bistre. The lights are produced by adding either a little white or Naples yellow to the original mixture of yellow ochre and bistre. Both the lights and shades are introduced by streaks of color in the direction of the hair, taking care to avoid the wiry effect produced by making each hair separately. Soften down those parts that border on the background, and stipple up those parts along the roots of the hair with cobalt blue or gray, lest the boundary of the hair should be too marked, and give it the appearance of being inlaid.
Cover the whole with a layer of bistre; then finish up the shades with a mixture of ivory black and bistre, the lights with Naples yellow and bistre, and the high lights with a little white mixed with cobalt.
The general wash for such hair is ivory black diluted with water; the dark shades are put in with ivory black of greater consistency, and the lights with the same color, mixed with white and cobalt if the hair is blue-black, and with white and a little pink madder if the hair is of a pure black.
Cover the whole with a mixture of equal quantities of bistre and white; the dark parts with bistre and a less quantity of white; the lights with bistre and more white than in the general wash, and the high lights with cobalt, white, and pink madder.
Take yellow ochre and burnt sienna for the general tint; the same and a little bistre for the shades; white, yellow ochre and burnt sienna for the intermediate lights; white, cobalt and lake for the high lights.
The general tint is that of the photograph itself; the shades are put in with a little black, and a very small portion of yellow ochre and cobalt, and the lights with Chinese white.
The head and face may now be considered nearly finished; all that remains to be done is to put in the deep touches about the eyes with sepia and pink madder, worked up with a little gum-arabic; those about the nose are put in with sepia and gum-water. Put in the light in the pupil of the eye with Chinese white. All these final touches require great care and skill.
The hand, the neck, the shoulders, etc., are retouched with the final stipplings or hatchings in the same way, in order to give animation to the picture, observing to put in greys or cobalt blue in the shades, and pink madder in the bright lights.
The handsomest drapery is black. The general wash is ivory black of the consistency of ink. This is laid on uniformly with a full pencil, beginning at the top and proceeding downward to the lowest edge, the picture being inclined during this operation. All excess is removed with a dry pencil, and the layer is allowed to dry. When dry, the dark shades are put in with ivory black, of greater consistency, and the lights with ivory black, mixed with Chinese white and pink madder.
In all cases of tinting or coloring with any degree of refinement, it is indispensable for the beginner to be provided with two photographs of the model, one to receive the color, and the other to serve as guide for the introduction of the shades, in case they become obliterated in the general wash.
The general tint consists of Prussian blue, or indigo, as the case may require, mixed with a little black and pink madder; the dark parts are put in with the same mixture, containing more black, and the lights with the same, containing an admixture of white. For light blues, cobalt blue may be used; and the lights may be obtained by proceeding with a pencil dipped in water over the parts, so as to remove a portion of the color.
Cover the dress with a mixture of yellow lake and Prussian blue; and throw in the shades with the same color, mixed with a little black and pink madder. The lights are put in with emerald green, and the high lights with this color, mixed with a little white.
The general wash consists of vermilion, mixed with a little pink madder diluted with water. Add to this a little bistre or black for the dark shades, and Naples yellow or white in place of bistre for the lights.
Rub up pink madder with the requisite quantity of water for the general wash; to this add a little black for the shades, and a little white for the lights.
Use burnt sienna, with a small portion of black bistre for the general tint; for the shades add a little black, and for the lights a little white.
Cover the dress with a dilute solution of pink madder; then put in the shades with a mixture of pink madder, black and cobalt; and the lights with pink madder and Chinese white.
The general tint is cobalt, much diluted; yellow ochre, cobalt and a little black form the shades, and Chinese white is used for the lights.
Any of the yellows, as yellow ochre, yellow lake, gamboge, or chrome yellow, diluted with water, may be used for the ground color; a little bistre added to the yellow forms the dark parts; and a little white to the yellow is used to pro duce the lights.
Mix a little cobalt, black and pink madder for the ground color; add to this Chinese white for the lights; for the shades use a mixture of ivory black and cobalt.
Take equal quantities of Prussian blue and pink madder for the general wash; white and this mixture produce the lights; and neutral tint is used for the shades.
The background must be secondary in effect to the real object in the picture; as a general rule, it must be lighter than the shades of this object, and darker than the lights. Avoid the appearance of inlaying the object or portrait in the background. This can be done by the appropriate use of shadow, which can be made to throw the background far into the distance behind.
A similar uniform fiat tint is laid on as already described for the drapery. Where defects exist in the photograph, a general wash is first laid on and then pulverized crayon of the proper color is rubbed on this, when dry, by means of the finger, and in those parts in contiguity with the figure with a fine stump. Curtains, pillars, tables, etc., are put in precisely in the same way as drapery; only be very cautious not to make these the principal objects of the picture by extreme definition and brilliancy of color. They must be thrown into the background by less intensity of color, and by a general feebleness of outline.
The artist does not use the metals themselves in miniature painting; it would be an insult to art to request their use. They can all be imitated by color as follows:
Gold.--Take an equal quantity of yellow lake and yellow ochre, and, a very small quantity of burnt sienna, and mix them together on the slab, and cover the part desired with this mixture. As soon as this foundation color is dry, use burnt sienna alone for the shades. The lights are formed of chrome yellow, and are completed in the high lights with a little Chinese yellow.
Silver--Mix yellow ochre and cobalt in equal quantities together with a small portion of ivory black; this forms the ground-work. The shades are made with a little neutral tint or ivory black; and the lights with Chinese white laid on with a firm touch.
Iron.--The ground-work consists of cobalt blue, with small portions of black and yellow ochre. The shades are made with neutral tint and a small quantity of ochre; the lights consisting of white, tinted slightly with black.
Mother of Pearl.--This substance takes light in the photograph; there is no ground-tone; put in a very light tint of cobalt blue, as also of very light pink madder in two or three places, taking care they do not come in contact; the shades are then formed of black ochre and cobalt; and the lights with Chinese white.
Lace, etc.--Lay on a general tint of ivory black somewhat deeper than that of the dress; the meshes are then introduced with white mixed with a little blue and black. The design is finished by indicating it with Chinese white.
Precious Stones.--Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc., receive a foundation of neutral tint of considerable consistency; Chinese white is put on the luminous part; whereas the reflection, which is on the opposite side to the luminous part, receives the color of the stone. The diamond alone, owing to its nature, has a reflection of a more dead white.
As soon as the portrait is finished, pass over the eyes, the hair, the eye-lashes. the nose, and the mouth, lightly with a solution of gum; do the same also with satin stuffs, such as collars, waistcoats, and robes. Used in moderation, this solution communicates a vigor and freshness to the picture which are quite satisfactory.
(The preceding article on tinting and coloring is extracted almost entirely from the small work on this subject by Hilaire David.)
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