The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-29
HOW a PHOTOGRAPH Is MADE.
From the Inverted Image in the Cam
era 70 the Finished Portrait
From the TVasEtugton Star.

OF II no" through amateur Photography.
Comparatively few people have any idea
how much time and hard work is spent on
the dozen OF two portraits which they order
from the photographer, and they are pay
ing big price for them at from . to g
dczsn, % say nothing Of their dissatisfac-
ton at not getting them when promised
The process Of Photography might be con
veniently divided into two portions
making the negative and making the
print or finished picture. Each of these
may in turn Be divided into several sep
arate processes, which viii now be de
! scriosd.
Since the introduction Of dry plates the
photographers work Is considerably less
ened, Tor he now buys glass plates covered
On one side with a preparation OF albumen
and nitrate Of silver, which gives them al
I opaque, white appearanre and renders them
sensitive 70 hglt, whereas before he had To
make these plates himself, and as they had
70 be used while wet Il was often disagree
able and trying port n OF his work. not
always attended WIKI Success Several OF
| his dry plates are taken from a paste
board box. II which they are packed, and
put into fat wooden OK with removable
slides, called plate holder, which must be
carefully co8structei 50 as TO exclude all
light The Photographer is now ready t.
take your picture. he places you in a po-
sltion In which be thinks you look your
Sunday best, and, with cloth thrown over
his head 70 darken tie tack Of the camera,
| be sees
| YOUR INVERTED IMAGE
on the ground glass there. When he has
obtained an image that suits him best he
taxes the ground glass from the camera
and substitutes the dlled plate holder, closes
| tle shutter u the le OF the front Of the
| ca mera, drows out the slide of the holder,
| and says in gentls tone, "Now keep still
and look pleasant or if you happen to be
q baby, Now watch the little birdie come
| out Of the hole then opens the shutter,
| leaves 1t open a few seconds, closes il, re-
| places the slide in the holder and your
| picture is taken. Taking the plate holder
into the dark room, from which all but red
/ iIgnt Is SHUT out. q removing the glass
| plate he finds that 50 far as the eve can de ect
there Is no change In seemingly nothing
| has been done 70 it-but with great deal
more faith than most Christians have, he
| puts the plate or negative, as it has now
| become, into a solution called developer.
| which must be kept in almost constant mo-
| ton. For few moments there is no vista
bic change; then faint gray streak steals
across the plate, then another and another,
until be is able to distinguish your white
| dress or alabaster brow; your face appears.
then the details # hair and dress become
distinct, until your whole picture or ''like-
ness" Is written il black and white on the
| glass plate.
IN THE FIXING BATH.
When sufficiently developed the negative
is placed IN the fixing bath, - solution of
water and hyposulphite of soda, which re-
moves all the milky parts and leaves per-
| fectly clear places instead and makes the
negative insenslble 70 the further action of
| light. After remaining in this bath long
enough-from ten to twenty minutes-it is
thoroughly washed in pure water for half
| an hour, more or less, and then put in a
frame called drying rack to dry When
| dry the negative may need retouching,
that Is, any little spots in it caused by dust
on the plate, a blemish on your face or a fly
| allght1ng on your nose during exposure
must be made TO disappear. To do this the
| negative must first be covered with a thin
coat OF varnish on the film or gelatine side
| and then dried, after which a retoucher
| covers the spots one by one with lead pencil
marks-a rather tedious and eye-tryiug
process. The negative is now ready for
printing.
PRINTING.
First, some paper must be silvered. Sew
eral sheets of fine paper, covered on one
side with thin coat of albumen, are floated
in turn, albumen side down, for five or ten
minutes on a solution of nitrate of silver
are then hung up in dark closet to dry,
and after drying they are exposed in an
| other dark closet to the fumes Of ammonia
for half an hour After Tuning the paper
is ready for use. These large sheets
of sensitized paper are cut into
smaller ones, the size of the rega-
tive. The negative is put, film side
up, In wooden frame with an open face
and back to which springs are attached.
called printing frame. A piece of the
| sensitive paper is laid silver side down upon
the negative, the back of the frame closed
by means Of the springs and the whole ex-
posed, face up, to the sunlight. which has
the same effect on the paper that the de
veloper seemed to have on the negative,
!. e., causes a picture to appear. When
printed the paper is removed and the other
pieces in turn put through the same process
until all have been printed, when they are
ready to be toned.
With sharp knife and rectangular piece
of glass the sides of the prints are cut
straight and the opposite ones parallel
| This is called trimming, and is sometimes
| done with a machine. All having been
trimmed, they are now thrown into pure
water and allowed to wash for quarter or
half an hour, after which they are drawn
| one Dy one, through solution OF salt OF
| acid water, and again thrown into pure
water. No doubt to the print the tonine
| which now follows is the incest part Of the
whole operation, for it is literally going &c
have its face gold-plated Even to disin.
terested party it is very interesting tx
watch
THE ToNING BATH
or gold solution, changing the prints from
an u slightly red color to a beautiful dark
brown or black. The change Is effected by
the gold in the bath, which is made OF
water, pure gold, or chloride of gold, and
some alkalies such as carbonate of soda
and acetate of soda, being deposited il
very fine particles on the face of the print
Half dozen of the prints at a time are pu
in the toning bath and kept in constant mo-
ton until they have attained the desired
tone, when they are taken out and put in
alcohol or salt water to prevent blistering
which is caused by air collecting between
the paper and albumen. The rest having
been treated likewise they are removed
from the alcohol one by one and thrown
into fixing bath made of hipOsulphite of
soda (Which isn't half so rare and unknown
n chemical as its name might suggest. which
prevents light from having any further
effect on them, just as it keeps light from
acting on the negative. From seven
| to fifteen minutes in this solution
will Fix" them and they must then be
thrown into clean, and if possible, running
| water, and left to wash for several hours To
| eliminate oil frocec of uhv,,o for . 49,.