Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-16


NEaATIvE-rHE ''FIxING" AND BuRSIsHINa.
Let us take peep at the clark art" which
Is having great deal of light shed on it now
through amateur photography.
Comparatively few people have any idea how
much time and hard work is spent on the dozen
or two portraits which they order from the
photographer. and think they are paying big
prlce for them at from 50 to SIS a dozen, to
say nothing of their dissatisfaction at not
getting them when promised. The process
OF photography might be conveniently 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 will now be described
Since the introduction of dry plates the pho
tographer's work is considerably lessened tor
ne now buys glass plates covered on one side
with preparation of albumen and nitrate of
silver, which gives them an Opaque, white ap-
pearance and renders them sensitive to light.
whereas before he had to make these plates
himself, ana us they had to be used while wet
IL was often dlsagreeable and trying portion
OF bis work, not always attended with success.
Several OF his dry plates are taken from paste
board box, in which they are packed and put
into a nat wooden box with removable Slides
called plate holder, which must be carefully
constructed SO as to exclude all light. The
photographer is now ready to take your
picture. He places you in position in which
he thinks you look your Sunday best, and with
cloth thrown oyer his head to darken the
back of the camera. he sees
YOUR INVERTED IMAGE
on the ground glass there. When he has OBJ
tanned an image that suits him best he takes
the ground glass from the camera and sub
stitutes the filed plate holder, closes the
shutter of the lens on the front of the camera,
draws out the slide of the holder and says in
gentle tones, Now keep still and look pleas
ant" or if you happen to be baby, Now
watch the little birdie come out of the hole"
then opens the shutter, leaves it open q few
seconds. closes it, replaces the slide in the
holder and Your picture Is taken. Taking the
plate holder mot the dark room, from which all
but red light is shut. out and removing the glass
pate, he finds that so far as the eye can detect
there Is no change IN it-seem!nSiy nothing has
been done to 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 motion. For few moments there is no
vlsable change; then faint gray streak steals
across the plate, then another ndanother, until
he IS able to distinguish your white dress or ala
bas;er brow; your face appears, then the details
OF hair and dress become distinct, until your
whole picture or likeness" is written in black
and white on the glass plate.
IN THE FIXING BATH.
When sufficiently developed the negative is
placed in the fixing BATH" a solution of
water and hyposulphite of soda, which re-
moves all the milky parts and leaves perfectly
clear places instead and makes the negative IN
sensible to the further action of light After
remaining in this bath long eHough-from ten
to twenty mlnutes-it is thoroughly washed in
pure water for half an hour, more or less. and
then put Ill frame called drying rack to drv
When dry the negative may need retouch-
ing, that Is, any little spots in it caused by dust
on the plate, a Flemish on your face or a fly
alghting on your nose during exposure must
be made to disappear. To do this the negative
must first be covered with a thin coat of var
nlsh on the film or gelatine side and then dried
after which q retouchcr covers the spots one
by one with lead-pencil marks-a rather tedi-
Gus and eye-trying process. The negative is
now ready for printing.
PRINTING.
First, some paper must be silvered. Several
sheets OF fine paper, covered on one side with
thin coat of albumen. are fioated in turn. al
bumen side down, for five or ten minutes on a
solution of nitrate of silver; are then hung ND
IN dark closet to dry and after drying they
are exposed in another 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
tIle SIZE Oh the negative. Inc negative IS put,
MIN side up, In wooden frame with an open
face and a back to which springs are attached,
called printing frame. piece of the sensi-
tive paper Is laid silver side down upon the
negative, the back of the frame closed by
means of the springs and the whole exposed
face up, to the sunlight, which has the same
effect on the paper that the developer seemed
to have on the negative. i.e., causes a picture
to appear. When printed the paper is re-
moved and the other pieces in turn put
through the same process until all have been
printed, when they are ready to be toned.
With a 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 ma
chine. All having been trimmed they are now
thrown into pure water and allowed to wash for
quarter or half an hour, after which thew are
drawn. one by one. through a solution of salt
or acid water and again thrown into pure
water. No doubt to the print the toning
which now follows is the incest part of the
whole operation, for it is literally going to have
its face gOid-plated. Even to disinterested
party 1t Is very interesting to watch,
THE TOWING BATH
or gold solution, changing the prints from an
unsightly red color to beautiful dark brown
or black. The change is effected by the gold
in the bath, which is made of water, pure gold
chloride of gold, and some alkalies such as
posted in very fine particles on the face Of the
print Half dozen of the prints at a time are
put in the toning bath and kept in constant
motion until they have attained the desired
tone. when they are taken out and put in alco-
hol or salt water to prevent blistering. which is
caused by air collecting between the paper and
albumen. The rest having been treated like
wise they are removed from the alcohol one by
one and thrown into a fixing bath
made of hIposulphite of soda (Which
isn't half SO rare and unknown a
chemical as its name might suggest), which pre-
vents 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 ''fx" them and they must then be
thrown into clean, and if possible, running
water and left to wash for several hours to
eliminate all traces of ''hypo," for if any
should remain in them it will cause them to
become discolored and faded. Being washed
thoroughly the prints are now taken from the
water and laid face down, one above another,
on a large piece of glass and the excess of water
squeezed from them, after which they are
ready for mounting.
Having gathered together the paste, brush.
cards and several other requisites the back of
the topmost print is covered with paste; the
print is lifted up by the corners and very care
fully laid face up in the correct position on the
card and then pressed or squeezed down, after
which it is laid aside until the others
have been treated in the same manner 1t al
most seems as though this ought to finish them.
Without doubt the photographer wishes it did,
but 1t don't, for there is still quite a good deal
%sl.