Photography In The Studio And In The Field | by E. M. Estabrooke
The most important improvement in photographic processes that has been introduced since Maynard first made collodion, and Archer discovered its adaptability to the production of photographic negatives, is the gelatine bromide dry plate.Wet plate photography had reached its utmost point of adaptability to the demands of the times. A few men of marked ability, and the skill of long study and practice, had reached the point of highest excellence in working with collodion, and the great multitude were pressing on toward that designated height to which it was given to but few to attain.

By E. M. Estabrooke, Author Of "The Ferrotype And How To Make It."
A Practical Manual Designed As A Companion Alike To The Professional And The Amateur Photographer.
Introduction- The most important improvement in photographic processes that has been introduced since Maynard first made collodion, and Archer discovered its adaptability to the production of photographic negatives...
How To Prepare The Glass For Use- Before proceeding to wash the glass, each square should have its edges roughened, by means of a file or a coarse stone, or the edges of two pieces of glass may be abraded against each other in such a ...
Albumenizing The Glass- While the glass is still wet from the washing, after being taken from the acid, it should be coated with a preparation of albumen, prepared as follows: To the albumen or white of a fresh egg, add eig...
Collodion- The discovery that explosive cotton was soluble in ether, was made by Mr. Maynard, who gave it the name of Collodion, and later, in 1848, published in the American Journal of Medical Science the form...
How To Coat Plates- The ferro-plate is held between the thumb and first two fingers of the left hand. The collodion bottle is held in the right hand, and the collodion is poured on the right upper end of the plate, flowe...
Developer And Development- In the preparation of a developing solution for plate pictures, we must consider that we desire to produce a picture, which, to be admired, must have pure whites, clear shadows, be full of detail and ...
Argentic Dry Plates For Positives- The Phenix Plate Co., the largest manufacturers-of ferrotype plates in this country, and whose name is familiar with every ferrotypist, as well as most photographers, have lately placed on the market ...
The Collodion Process For Negatives- We now take up that more important branch of the collodion process, vis., that for negatives. The formulae and instructions already given for positives might enable one to make a negative, but the ne...
Formula For Making Collodion Cotton- Sulphuric Acid.........................6 oz. Nitric Acid............................4 Water................................2 Mix and the temperature will rise to 1700 F. Inmerse dry cotton woo...
Formula For Making Collodion Cotton. Continued- The silver bath is also contaminated with organic matter, taken up from the edges and backs of the many plates used, of which some portion of the albumen is likely to be exposed to the action of the s...
The Negative Developer- There are a thousand and one formulas for developing solutions for the wet plate, but they are all composed of protosulphate of iron or a compound thereof, acetic acid, and water, with the addition of...
Gelatine Emulsion- Since the introduction of the new process into the United States, the preparation of rapid dry plates has been and remains now in the hands of certain prominent firms, who, from the skill they have ac...
Gelatine Emulsion. Continued- When all has been mixed and thoroughly stirred, cover the top of the dish and allow the temperature to be at 140 degrees for eight hours, occasionally stirring the emulsion during that time, which sho...
Description Of Apparatus Used In Making And Washing Emulsions. The Dark Chamber- Any form of room that has running water in it, if there is a window, the better, unless the work is done at night. If in the daytime, shade the window with heavy red orange paper; if gas is used, shad...
Developing Room For Dry Plates- Dry plates, ranging in rapidity from . one-tenth to one-twentieth the time necessary for a wet collodion plate, are now commonly used in the studios of this country. Of course, plates of such extreme ...
Development Of Dry Plates- Every manufacturer of dry plates encloses in each box of plates packed for the market a formula for the development of the same. The various manufacturers of dry plates, whose names will be found in ...
Ferrous Oxalate Developer- No. I Neutral oxalate of potash. ............ 1 lb. Water............................... 5 pints. Acidify with oxalic acid and filter. No. 2. Protosulphate of iron................ 1 lb. Water......
Intensification Of Dry Plate Negatives- From the difficulty of judging when the development has reached the right point, in consequence of the opacity of the gelatine film, many negatives are finished before they have acquired sufficient de...
Retouching, Or Stippling The Negative- No photographic establishment in these days is considered to be well equipped that does not employ a skillful retoucher and provide all the apparatus and conveniences for the proper performance of thi...
Retouching, Or Stippling The Negative. Continued- The lights and shadows should be caused to blend imperceptibly; this will give a harmonious effect. Let the grain or stipple be seen in all parts suitable in fineness to the size of the head. The re...
The Printing Room- All professional photographers practice the silver printing process with more or less of success, as they bestow care and intelligence in the working and are zealous for the reputation of their work. ...
How To Silver The Paper- Albumen paper is sensitized by being floated for a time on the surface of this silver solution, albumen side down. For this purpose it is necessary that the solution should be held in a flat dish, lik...
Toning The Prints- A toning solution is composed of chloride of gold in water with enough carbonate of soda to make it slightly alkaline, and a pinch of common salt. The action of toning is merely the deposition upon th...
Fixing The Prints- Hyposulphite of soda, about 1 lb. to a gallon of water, constitutes the fixing solution; its function is to dissolve all the chloride of silver that may remain in the prints after their previous washi...
Lubricating The Prints- Make a pad of Canton flannel, get a piece of white castile soap, rub the pad on the soap until it is well covered, then with this soaped pad rub the surface of each print separately, carefully coverin...
Camera Lenses. The Optics Of Photography- A solar beam of light is a bundle of rays; a ray being the smallest portion of light which can emanate from a luminous body. Each of these rays possesses distinctive characters, both as regards their...
Camera Lenses. The Optics Of Photography. Part 2- The double concave and the plano-concave have the power of dispersing the rays of light and of diminishing the image of an object seen through them in the same proportion. The meniscus lens has but a...
Camera Lenses. The Optics Of Photography. Part 3- Fig. 6. The diagram, Fig. 7, shows a section of Mr. Dallmey-er's New Portrait Lens. There are two actinic combinations, of which the front resembles the Petzval lens; the back combination differs ...
Camera Lenses. The Optics Of Photography. Part 4- To those desiring advice on the choice of a lens, this much may be said. If it is intended to procure a Dallmeyer, it is only necessary to know the limit in size of the work to be done. If in portrait...
Camera Boxes- The camera box and lens in the hands of the competent photographer are what the brush and colors may be in the hands of the portrait painter. They are the means whereby he produces his portrait and st...
The Camera Box For Positives And The Multiplier- These boxes are usually made for use with four or more lenses in a block, by which at one exposure as many pictures are made as there are lenses. The size represented by Figs. I and 2 is usually empl...
The Camera For Negatives, Wet Or Dry. Climax Imperial Cameras- For the gallery making no pictures larger than 8x10, the above, figure 6, represents the camera box that is the best fitted in every respect. It is light, compact and durable, and it is most accuratel...
The Camera For Viewing And Out-Door Work- The Success Camera, for viewing, Figs. 15 and 16, is an instrument calculated in every way to meet the requirements of professional out-door work. It is made in a form to secure the utmost rigidity an...
Camera Stands- A stand or support for the camera box and lens, by means of which the box and lens can be raised or lowered or moved about the room with facility. The stand best suited for the purpose is one that is...
The Pneumatic Shutter For The Camera- This device for making exposures in the photographic studio has proved to be so useful a;:d popular as to have secured almost general recognition and adoption among the photographers of America. The ...
Prosch's " Duplex " Photographic Shutter. For Timed Or Instantaneous Work. Perfect In Both- With this shutter, the latest production of the inventor of the very popular Eclipse shutter, exposures can be made of any desired duration. It is equal to any requirement for the most rapid work, a...
Head-Rests- It might have been thought that the rapid dry plate, by shortening the time of exposure so much, would have done away with the necessity for using head-rests; and many old photographers whose backs ha...
Posing Chairs- Much attention has been bestowed upon the posing chair since 1865, when Sarony introduced into the country the posing apparatus which first brought his name permanently before the American photographe...
Part Second. Field Photography- That the thousands who formerly practiced photography in the fields, as an amusement and recreation, took great delight in it and found it to be an extremely fascinating pursuit, there can be no denia...
The Amateur Outfit- The number and variety of outfits manufactured for the use of amateurs are so great that the question of selection becomes one of more than ordinary interest and importance. Indeed, this fact is impre...
Dry Plates- The manufacture of dry plates has now reached such a state of perfection that the purchaser may procure them of every grade of sensitiveness, each of the several grades of a perfect uniformity and all...
The View Camera For Amateurs- In an article on Cameras, in the first part of this work, we have given a very accurate description of the View Camera for professional photographers. The View Camera, as manufactured for amateurs, i...
The Fairy Camera- There has long been a demand on the part of the public for a Camera that would at once embrace these most necessary requirements - portability, compactness and strength, combined with beauty and accur...
The View Lens- (Sere article on lenses in Part First.) View lenses may be classed in two groups: Single combination lenses and double combination lenses. Single combination lenses are intended for producing pictu...
Wide Angle Lenses- There is another class of lenses of double combination, which are called wide angle lenses. They are constructed to embrace an angle of from 90 to 100 degrees, and are therefore indispensable for use ...
The Instantaneous Shutter- The rapid dry plate and the quick acting lens have created a necessity for a shutter that would make an instantaneous exposure, in order that sharp pictures might be made of objects in motion. This h...
The Developing Outfit For Amateurs- The amateur is recommended to get some experience in making exposures before attempting to develop. By taking plates to some photographic establishment for development, and observing carefully the me...
The Washing Box- The gelatine plate requires much and prolonged washing to free it from the solutions by which it is developed and fixed, and which, if not thoroughly washed from the film, would ultimately injure and ...
Ferrous Oxalate Development Of Dry Plates. (Roche.)- First make two stock solutions as follows: No. 1. A saturated solution of oxalate of potash (a pint or quart) and test with blue litmus paper. If it does not show an acid reaction dissolve a little o...
Ferro-Cyanide Of Potassium Developer- Make a saturated solution of yellow prussiate of potassium and dilute with an equal bulk of water; add 2 drops of ammonia and 2 grains of dry pyro to each ounce used. The solution can be used repeate...
Eastman's Improved Negative Paper- The Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co., of Rochester, N. Y., exhibited at the P. A. of A. Exhibition, at Buffalo, N. Y., in July, 1885, a very remarkable display of photographs, the negatives of which wer...
How To Use The Eastman-Walker Roll-Holder- The Eastman paper films for the roll-holder are prepared in continuous bands, and are rolled up on wooden spools and neatly packed in paper boxes. The spool may be removed from its box and placed in ...
The Roche Film- The year 1885 has been remarkable for the great importance of the numerous improvements in photographic processes that have been brought before the profession, and for the great impetus thereby given ...
Enlarging And Duplicating Small Negatives- Many amateurs have of late discarded their larger equipments, and for general work use the smallest sizes, such as the Detective Camera and the Bijou or Novelette, which are of the smallest sizes, suc...
Printing Processes- The amateur who has secured a fine negative of some choice bit of scenery, or has made a hit on any subject interesting or beautiful, will naturally desire to secure prints or impressions from it, t...
The Magic Lantern And Its Use- The Magic, or, more properly, the Projecting lantern, is an optical instrument, consisting of a case of wood or metal, enclosing a lamp or other illuminating agent, the light of which being gathered a...
Printing By Anthony's Collodio Chloride- Collodio chloride is a collodion emulsion, consisting of plain collodion and silver chloride. It is a grayish-white substance in liquid form, and being quite sensitive to light, it must be kept in a c...
The Enlarging Camera- Method of making large pictures from small negatives. The prevalent use of the Dectective Camera, and other cameras, for making pictures on small plates, has caused a demand for an apparatus where...
The Ferro-Prussiate, Or Blue Process- The preparation of the paper by this process is very simple, and requires very few manipulations, while the results, when prints are made, are pleasing and lasting. Prints in blue are so easily made a...
Chloride Of Gold Developer- This is a more rapid developer than the preceding. The print is fixed in like manner by water, in which it must be well washed, and afterwards dried. When dried by artificial heat, the vigor of the pr...
Transparencies On Glass And Opal- Photography, throughout its varied range, produces no more charming or satisfying picture than the transparency, whether it is on glass for the window, or on porcelain or opal for the lamp. The beaut...
Formula For Developing Dry Plate Transparencies- When making transparencies by contact use artificial light, either gas or a common lamp. A deep printing frame is the most suitable, having a piece of thin plate glass in it to support the negative. L...
Porcelain And Opal Transparencies- Porcelain And Opal Transparencies may be developed in the same manner until detail may be seen in the face, if it is a portrait; then remove it and instantly flow with a solution of bromide of ammoniu...
Transparencies By Wet Collodion- From the Photographic Times. Transparencies for the decoration of windows, or gas shades, or for examination in the stereoscope, differ from those intended for lantern projection in being somewhat mo...
Transparencies By Wet Collodion. Continued- Most of us, no doubt, have experienced the desire, as our machines have passed some pretty and specially picturesque bits of scenery, to take away with us some memory, to be recalled at some future l...
Photo Micrography- If you place any natural object at a distance from a convex lens, a much smaller image of the same will appear at the focus of the lens. When this small image is reduced to that point that it cannot b...
The Photo Micrography Camera- Probably the most convenient and generally useful form of camera is one with bellows extending some thirty inches, and capable of carrying both quarter and half sized plates, horizontally or verticall...
The Photo Micrography Camera. Part 2- 1 ½ inch objective 3 to 5 seconds, 2/3 inch objective 7 to 90 4/10 inch objective ½ to 3 minutes. 1/5 inch objective 2 to 7 1/10 inch objective 4 to 10 This lamp produces sufficient light for...
The Photo Micrography Camera. Part 3- * The Stanley dry plate has all these qualities in the highest perfection. A carefully kept note-book is a most important aid to the worker in photo-micrography, and it should contain all his failure...
Practical Suggestions- When preparing for an outing, consider the kind of work you intend to do and select your plates accordingly.* If it is intended to make instantaneous exposures, get the most sensitive plates possible;...