The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-29 00:00:00

A NEW PROCESS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC

PRINTING.

It has c.ften been remarked that while the process
by which photographic negatives are produced lsa,s
been entirely changed during the past three or four
years, hardly any alteration has been made in the
method by which the finished picture is produced.
Pa. er negatives gave way to collodian, and these in
their turn have been succeeded by negatives pro-
duced by gelatine plates. The silver print, however,
bolds its own, and the process of produc ng it has
undergone but little modification since the time, just ,
thirty years ago, when the introduction of collodion
by Archer, and the consequent improvement of the
negative rendered necessary a paper with a finer sur-
face than had previously been required, and thus
caused the adoption of the albumen-coated paper still
employed.
It will, of course, be understood that these remarks
are not intended to apply to any of the numerous and
beautiful devices for, on the one hand, multiplying
mechanically copies of a photograph, or, on the other,
producing from a photograph a printing surface capa-
ble of being employed with ordinary printer's ink.
Nobody could prets nd to say that there have been no
improvements in pictographic printing processes; but
nobody would deny that there has been practically no
improvement in the process by which the vast ma-
jority of photographs are prodnced, that of silver
printing. For wall pictures the carbon or autotype •
process has surpassed it; for the rapid multiplication
in large numbers of popular pictures, it cannot hold
its own with the Woodbury type, or the collotypic
processes. For book illustrations the beautiful pla-
tinotype process is distinctly superior, though it is not
thus used sufficiently often. But still the thousands
and thousands of pictures that are bought and sold
every day, likenesses, landscapes, and the like, are
all produced on albumenized paper rendered sensitive
to light by means of a salt of silver.
The idea of coating paper with a gelatino-bromide
of silver followed obviously enough on the successful
employment of the same compound for the produc-
tion of negatives, and many attempts have been made
to produce in this manner a paper which might give
results equal to those of the process which is always
known as silver printing, and at the same time be so
sensitive as to allow the image to be impressed on it
in a few seconds, instead of requiring an exposure
often of hours. The most successful experimenter in
this direction was Mr. Morgan, of Greenwich, who pro-
duced a paper fulfilling the latter condition entirely,
but giving pictures which certainly will not stand coin-
parison with ordinary silver prints. For enlargements,
however, Morgan's paper has come largely into
use, and a considerable business appears now to be
carried on in this department of photographic work.
The chief objection to the paper is its cold gray, or
even greenish, tone, and this appears the principal
reason why pictures on it have not secured the favour
of a public educated to a liking for the rich purple
and chocolate hues of ordinary photograhs. The
enlargements are generally a good deal worked up
by hand, and when carefully finished form no bad
imitation of a crayon drawing. The difficulty of
procuring warmth of tone and consequent brilliancy
in the picture seems now to have been overcome in
a new material which Messrs. Marion, the photo-
graphic dealers of Soho-square, have produced and
are about to supply commercially. Messrs. Marion
propose to work the process in secret, believing that
a safer method of praceeding than patenting it; and
consequently the invention is of no less interest to
the scientific photogropher than it would be if the
manner of production as well as the results were
revealed; but probably the effect on the photo-
graphic industry will be much the same. The paper
is obviously coated with a gelatine emulsion of some
sort, and in all probability rival experiments will
before lone'' find out its precise nature. As regards
the results producible by its means, their value does
not seem to admit of much doubt. No industrial
process can properly be termed successful till it has
stood the test of regular commercial work; but it is
at all events safe to say that no improvement of such
promise has been introduced into photography since
the advent of gelatine plates. In Messrs. Iciarion's
studio, on Saturday last, the writer saw produced
three prints, which nobody could tell were not
ordinary silver prints, produced with exposures of
two, three, and four seconds, and he afterwards, at
home, at four o'clock in the afternoon, with an expo-
sure of fifteen seconds, produced on a first trial
almost equally good results.
Now, if material of similar quality can be supplied
commercially and at a reasonable price, it is easy to
see what a valuable pcwer the portrait photographer
has given to him. The whole process of producing a
couple of dozen prints need not take an hour. Allow-
ing time for washing, mounting, and finishing, an
energetic man can, if required, supply his customers
with their likenesses the next day after the portraits
are taken. In these dark, short, winter days it may
be weeks before a photographer gets light enough to
print a batch of pictures; but by Messrs. Marion's
invention the whole thing can be done by gaslight.

The process of working the paper is quite simple.
As may be supposed, the image has to be "developed"
—that is, no visible image is produced by the exposure
to light. Consequently, the exposure has to be esti-
mated, as it ha si on taking a portrait or a view. The
development is effected in very much the same way
as if an ordinary gelatine plate were under treatment,
the developer being a weak solution of ferrous oxalate.
After development the image is of a rich purple ; but
as this would change in the final, or "fixing," bath, it
is necessary to " tone " the picture, as is done with an
ordinary silver print, in a solution containing gold.
After this the picture is " fixed " in the usual manner.
Considerable variety of tone can be produced, the
tints ranging from a warm red brown to a purple or
even black.
The objections to the process are that it requires
rather more skill than the old system. It has to be
carried out in greater darkness and with greater pre-
caution. Nor are the results quite so bright and good
as the best silver printing. It would, however, require
an expert to tell the difference, and certainly no pur-
chaser would be likely to complain if he were supplied
with a batch of prints on the new paper. As regards
permanence, only time can answer that question; but
there seems no reason why it should be less per-
manent than the old, which unfortunately has in this
particular not much to boast of. Having regard to
all considerations, it may be expected that the
albumenized paper will still hold its own for the
finest work, and for work in summer when the light is
bright and abundant; but the new paper will in all
probability come largely into use for winter work, and
it ought to be used by all ports ait photographers for
sending out "proofs" at once of their portraits.
Times.