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Ensign handbook of photography — part 2 Product booklet
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Page 2 · Read text
www.orphancameras.com
Chapter VI.
MakinS the
Ne$ative'
TF vou hold an exposed plate or {ilm near the ruby
I^ iil';; ,r,. a"rt-'oo"' {or a moment vou will
perhaps be surprised to see that it looks exactly
the same as it did before' The cream-coloured coating
is gelatine containing certain silver salts' When light
guJft.a on to the plate through the lens it affected those
s i l v e r s a l t s , s o t h a t y o u w i l l b e a b l e , b y p o u r i n g S o m e -
thing over the plate to change some of the salts into
thorrsands of tiny particles of black metallic silver'
There will be most particles where the light was strongest'
and fewest where it rvas weakest' and the plate will have
many different degrees of d'ensity as we call it' All the
sih,er ttrat is not changed into black particles will after-
wards be taken"out of the gelatine'
To bring about c.ll this you will want one or two
things, such as dishes and a few chemicals'
T h e s o l u t i o n t h a t c h a n g e s t h e s i l v e r u p o n w h i c h
light has actecl is called the developer' The solution
that helps to get rid of the unused silver is called the
fixer (which is not a very good term)' There are many
different developers' Do not keep changing about from
one to another, but choose a good one and stick to it
till you thoroughly understand its .working' For ex-
ample, there is a solution called " Victol"' rvhich keeps
well and only requir6s diluting with water to be ready
.for use whenever you want it' The instntctions willView original page 2Page 3 · Read text
M I X I N G D E V E L O P E R
tell you what strength to rrrake it for developing. Then
there are other developers that you can buy already
made up in bottles, or in the form of powders or,,Cir-
coids," to be dissolved in water.
whatever developcr you select you must be able to
measure an exact qauntity of water, and so ii is necessarv
to have
a glass
f o r t h e
purpose.
I t r , v i l l
be con-
v e n i e n t
to have
t h r e e .
The first
s h o u l d
be a pint IIi
measure, which vou rvill find marked off (like a medicine
glass) in ounces. There are 20 fluid ounces to the pint.
The second should be an ounce measure, which is marked
in drams. There are eight fluid drams to the orince.The third you will only want if you use " Victol," or rIIi
sorre other strong solution of which very small quantities
are required. This last is a tiny measure marked off in
minims of which there are 6o to the dram.
Remember to keep these measrtres perfectly clean.
Wash them out thoroughly after use.
Using the developers ready made wrll save vou from
having to trouble about scales and rn'eights, althougho
liv.View original page 3Page 5 · Read text
K E E P I T C O V E R E D
developed it, the negative would be spoilt. So beware
of hypo in the wrong place.
It will be a good idea now to see how to develop a
single quarter plate, whether that is exactly what you
will actually do or not. II
The red lamp must be alight and you must have ready At
on the table the quarter-plate dish you use only for I
der.'eloping ; a glass measure containing, sa]', two ounces
of developer ; a piece of cardboard a little larger than ,the dish; the hypo in solution its own dish well out of lIIthe way, and there must be some handy. water All
is now ready. Take the exposed plate, (do you remember
what you repeated six times over ? ) place it in the
ernpty dish, pour on the developer so that it flows all
over the plate at one sweep and cover the dish with
the piece of card. Rock the dish gently so that the
developer flows backwards and forwards over the
plate.In
about a
minute,
p e e p
quickly
a t t h e
p l a t e
and you
may see
i t h a s
b e g u n
to darken in parts. Cover it quickly and keep
gently rocking. Sooner or later you will find that
lvi.View original page 5Page 6 · Read text
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G E L A T I N E I S S O F T
the is lnore or less darkened all over, except
the rvhere no light has acted. Then look
*tti11;iiffil;ir11;i;ji;f!i1!1;iquickly at the back
'ir#r+i (or glassside) of the
i!!iiili[i,,,,i,,'ffi...( plate, and when vou
iil;*i;i,''i,.i:;:iii.l#',,::':.,''1',1t,;.,'see dark oatches
,u' beginning to show
: ' :
t h e r e , r i n s e t h e
plate in clean water
and slip it into the
hypo for ten min-
utes. Then you can
i take it out into the
light and look through
it, and let us hope
you will find it is a
beautiful negative.
As the plates are fi.xed the)' are put in a washing tank,
which contains a grooved rack to hold the plates upright
in the water, and washed in running lvater or a great
nnmber of complete changes of water for at least an
hour. You should then take one plate at a time, hold
it in a gentle stream of water under the tap, and very
tenderly rub over the gelatine with a plug of cotton
wool. Remember that the gelatine is very soft and that
a touch with the finger nail will damage it. Then squeeze
the cotton wool out and wipe off any drops or streaks of
water from the gelatine. Stand the negative on one edge
on a shelf, out of the dust and not near a fire or in the sun,
and leave it to dry thoroughly. This will take some hours.
lvii.View original page 6Page 7 · Read text
A B O U T T A N K S
It is interesting to watch the development of a negative,
but if you do only one plate at a tjme you may find it
too long and tedious. You can increase your rate of
working bv putting two quarter-plates at a time into
a half-plate dish, and using from three to four ounces
of developer. What you have to learn is how long to A7',
continue development. This you can only do after
some practice, and watching the appearance of the back
of the plate will be your best guide, as long as you use
the same kind of plates and the same developer.
Another way is to develop for a certain fixed time,
according to the de-
veloper you use and the
temperature. You can
buy a developing tank
into which you put a
number of plates at once
and fill the tank with a ,l
weak developer. There Iare special developers
purpose, IImade for this
and whichever one vou I)
c,hoose there will be
i n s t r u c t i o n s w i t h i t
telling you the proper
strength and how long
to let it act. As these
tanks are light-proof
when closed, you need not wait about in the dark-room
during the time taken for development. you may take
lviii.View original page 7Page 8 · Read text
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b T H I N O R D B N S E
the tank into a light room if you like. With most
patterns the tank has to be turned over occasionally.
The advantages of this kind of development are that the
plates are not exposed to light at all, they do not have
to be handled, and they are sure to have just about
the right development, provicled the exposure was
reasonabl)' correct, and we have already seen to that.
It is almost impossible to describe what is a good
negative. The best thing you can do is to show some
of your own to an experienced photographer. If he
tells you that you develop too long, or not long enough,
you can easily put matters right next time. Another
good plan is to stucly your prints. If they look dull
and, " flat," with no nice contrasts of light and shade,
your negative is too " thin." That is to say there is
not enough clensitv or strength in the silver drposit and
vou should
d e v e l o p
a l i t t l e
l o n g e r .
Ilut if the
printshave
bare white
p a t c h e s
r v i t h n o
d e t a i l
s h o w i n g
yorlr nega-
tive is too " dense," and you must not devclop
quite so long.
l i x .View original page 8Page 9 · Read text
I
I
F ' I L E Y O U R N E G A T I V E S
Lay one of your negatives face downwards, in a good
light, on printed paper. The e'dges of the plate should
be clear glass, or nearlv
so, but there should be
scarcely a sign of clear
\ glass anywhere else ;
and through the densest
parts you should just see
the print underneath.
When your negatives
are quite dry, polish the
glassside. The film side
should already be per-
{ectly clean and have a
smooth, silkv surface.
Take care never to
scratch it, or get finger
marks, or dirt,or stains of
anv kind upon it. You ma)' pack yonr negatives film to
film in the plate boxes, but at any rate vour best ones
should be more carefully stored. The " Negasys "
trile provides a splendid means of taking care of your
negatives. Each negative has an envelope of its own,
with space for its title and other particulars, and all the
envelopes go into a strong box and there is a numbered
index so that you can find at once any nega^uive you
want. Good negatives are worth taking care of.
Perhaps, after all, you are not going to use plates,
but roll-fiIm. Very well ; what you have learnt about
making a negative on a glass plate will not be wasted.
)
II
IIView original page 9Page 10 · Read text
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F I L M S O R P L A T E S
A good deal of it applies just as much to negatives on
film.
The gelatine and silver we found on the glass plate is
often coated on a strip of thin celluloid. This can be
r o l l e d
up with
b l a c k
paper, so
t h a t a
spool of it
c a n b e
put in the
c a m e r a
and taken
out again
after ex-
posure, in da_u-light. This is a great advantage. trilms
are much lighter than plates, too, and take up muc:h less
space, so that they are particularly convenient when
travelling. And glass negatives are liable to be broken,
while films are not. You can store up film negatives
in much smaller space than the same number of glass
ones would require. Against all this you must set the
fact that fi.lms cost considerably more than plates ; but
you cannot expect so many advantages without paying
for them, can you ?
When you handle films do not forget that there is
gelatine on both sides, and not only on one as in the case
of plates. One side has onlv plain gelatine, which is
put on because the film rvourd curl up very badly if it
l x i .View original page 10Page 12 · Read text
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S E E . S A W
can possibly manage just to see what you are doing.
First you draw the strip backwards and forwards through
clean water, raising first one hand and then the other,
and keeping the bottom of the loop of film in the
water. You do this tiIl the gelatine on both sides is so
wet that the fi.lm is limP.
Then you do the same sort of thing through a dish of
developer, r,r'ith enough solution in it to develop all the
six negatives. You can get a special dish for this purpose'
fitted with a roller or
bar, under which the
film passes to keeP it in
the solution. When the
darkening of the film
s h o w s p l a i n l y r i g h t
through to the Plain
side you return it to the
clean water to wash off
the developer. FinallY
you " s.ee-saw " the film
in the same wa)' through
the hypo solution for
at least ten minutes.
Then it has to be washed
for at least an hour and
h u n g u p b y o n e
end to dry. It must harrg fiee so that neither side
touches anything. The dty film is then cut up u'ith
scissors into six separate ncgatirres.
This, you can imagine, is a rather tedious process'
lxiii.View original page 12Page 13 · Read text
A T E R R I B L E T A S K / /
although you get six negatives when yor: have finished.
Nevertheless, thousands of flms are developed in this :, l! r
way, and if every operation. is performed thoroughly tit
and carefully the results are quite satisfactory. "l
Fortunately, there is a better method than this, and
tr
if you are going to use films a good deal it will pay you
to adopt it. The " Standa " fi.lm tank is made specially
for dealing with six-exposure spools. You can put the
frlm into it by daylight and develop for a certain time,
as you found you could do r,vith plates in a tank.
Developing, fixing and rvashing can all be done without
any manual labour, and the film does not come out into
daylight until it is ready to hang up to dry. This not
only saves time and trouble, but the films are notliable
to be damaged by handling, or to be fogged by long
exposure to the light in the dark-room.
However much care you take about exposing your
plates and 6.lms, and in developing them afterwards, 4lr
you must not expect every negative to be a perfect one.
You will learn later on in your work that many things
can be done to irrtprove negatives. Therefore you shorrld
not destroy any that you are not satisfied with. Keep
them till you have further knowledge and then you may
flnd ihat you can improve them wonderfully. Always,
though, you should strive to get as good a negative as
you possibly can.
No doubt you think that the making of negatives is
a terrible task, now that you have read all this. But
you must not imagine that at all. You see, you will
not have to do all the thines that have been described,View original page 13Page 14 · Read text
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B E C O N S T A N T
but only one set of them, according to whether you use
plates or films and what method you adopt for dealing
with them. Whatever you have to do will be quite
simple, and when you have been through the little set
of operations once or twice you rvill think of nothing it.
You go through a far more complicated performance
every time you dress yourself.
Stick to one developer till you are thoroughly familiar
with its working and then, whenever you have a batch
of properly exposed plates or films, you will be able to
set to work and feel cluite sure that you are going to
turn them all into good ciean negatives. And having
finished your negatives do not forget to take proper
care of them. They are easily damaged.View original page 14Page 15 · Read text
Chapter VII.
Contact Printing.
have seen that the finishe<l negative lets light \aOat
I pass through it in varying quantities accorcling
to the greater or less density of the silver
deposit. Most light passes through where the negative
is clearest, and that is just where the shadows in the
subject were darkest. Least light passesthrough where
the silver is densest and that is where the Iights were
brightest in the subject. The purpose of the negative
is to produce a positive ; that is, a picture with lights
and shadescorresponding to those in the original subject.
These positives are generally made on paper and there
are several distinct methods of protlucing such prints.
Some of the methods have many varieties, so that there
is a tremendous variety in photographs. you should t\i
now learn a little about some of these ways of making
prints. This will help to give you an idea of what you
would like to take up first.
It will be just as well to try a simple one to begin with.
There is a class of photographic papers known as ,,self-
toning papers " and making prints on one of these is
about as simple as any photograph printing can possibly
be. The only chemical used. is hypo, and you already
have that for your negatives. Then you will want a
printing frame I in fact you will like to possessseveral
printing frames so that you can have several negatives
t*
lxvi,View original page 15Page 16 · Read text
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O P E N I N G T H E P A C K E T
out in the light at once. It is slorv r,vork making onlY
one print at a time.
A printing frame is a strong frame of lvoocl, with a
back that fastens clown rvith springs. This back is
jointed and
hinged, so
that part
of it can be
lifted up
while the
other keeps
tight. You
will under-
stand it di-
rectly you
see one.
Suppose you have got a packet of seif-toning paper'
a printing frame and a negative (rvith glass side quite
clean). Open your packet hy slitting open one end,
as you cut the pages of a book. The paper has other
wrappings inside. When you take a sheet out wrap up
the others and put them back in the envelope. l)o all
this indoors in a weak light, so that no strong light falls
on the paper even for a moment. You will fi.nd that
one side of the paper is sensitive to iight and if this
" right " sicle is not gloss!, at any rate it will not be so
white as the " wrong " side.
Take the back right out of the frame and lay the
negative in, film side inwards and place a sheet of paper
on it, " right " side towards the film. Put in tlr.e backView original page 16Page 17 · Read text
N O T I N T H E S U N
again and fasten the springs. The paper is now pressed
tightly and evenlv against the negative. Place the
frame out of doors-not when it rains, though-in an
open position where plentv of light falls on the glass
of the negative. Do not place it in vivid sunlight.
After a rvhile take the
frame indoors out of the
strong ligl-rt, unfasten one
part of the back (taking
care not to move the
other) lift up the edge of
the print and see horv it
is getting on. At first
the picture will be weak
and faint. By-and-by
you rvill find it is just
as dark and strong as
you would like it to be.
If you take it out of the
frame you will have a
beautiful photograph,
showing all the detail
and light and sh ade
that the negative has
stored up for you. But you see that this would never
do ; for light will still act on the paper, and every time
vou look at your print the light rvill fall upon it and soon
darken it all over. You can " fi.x " the print in hypo,
somewhat in the same way that you did yollr negative
and take out the silver that is not wanted to form the
.)\
l x v i i i .View original page 17Page 18 · Read text
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H O W F A R T O G O
picture ; but doing this will take a little of the strength
out of the picture too. It will then look pale and rveak.
lVhat is to be done ? Why, do not take the paper
out of the frame rvhen the picturc is just dark enough,
but keep on
.::,,:..ii] dafk. ThiS
" little roo
dark " will
come away ln
the hypo and
leave lvhat is
just right.
This is the
only thing to
be learned by experience rvith this paper-judging when
the printing has gone far enough, but not too far. yotr
will soon learn how much extra strength to ailow.
The print, as it comes from the frame, must be put
out of the light (say in a box or drarver) till you are ready
to finish it. No doubt it will have to be fixecr in hypo.
It mav, or may not, have to be washecl first, but it will
certainly want rvashing afterrvards.
This is not very definite, is it ? I{ow long must the
prints be in the hypo ? what is the strength of the
hypo ? How are the prints washed ?
well, whatever paper you buy you r,vill rind with it
very clear instructions telling you lvhat to do. Do
exactly what you are told. All self-toning papers are
lxix.View original page 18Page 19 · Read text
T H O R O U G H W A S H I N G
not to be treated aiikc, but each one exactly as its
maker tells you.
At the same time there are certain principles or rules
that apply to all self-toning papers, ancl some of these
rules apply to other papers too. E,xcept while printing
do not allor,v strong light to fall on the paper until it is
frxed in the hypo, and the less weak light falls on it the
better. Avoid touching the sensitive side as far as vou
possibly can. Use fresh hypo-quantity and strength
accordins to instructions. Keep the prints moving
constantlv in the hypo
by repeatedly dra'ring
out the bottom print
and placing it on top.
Now try to learn
once for all how to rvash
prints thoroughly. To
commence the rvashing,
place the prints in a dish
of clean rvater. Good
large dishes are best, so
tha'u the print.s do not
have to lie in a heap. In
two or three minutes lift
up one print and let the
lvater drain off at a
corncr ; then drop it into a second dish of clean
rvater. Continue till all the prints are in the second dish.
E,nipty' the first dish, rinse it out, and re-fill it. Nou' get
thc prints back into this, one by one. So you go on.
Ixx.View original page 19Page 20 · Read text
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P . O . P
If the prints are changed thus into clean warer every
five minutes, for at least an hour, y-ou may feel sure th.at
they are r,vell washed. If ther paper is thick, or the r,vater
very cold, increase
the time of u'ashing.
It is time well spent.
Nearly all self-
toning papers give a
print of a brorvn
colour unless you do
somethiirg more to
them than fix them
in a hypo bath.
Learn to get nice
prints of this kind
first, and then vou
may find from the
instnrctions rvhat to
do to get a different
colour, and go on to
try that.
A paper that shows the picture after you have
exposed it under the negative is cailecl a ', printing-out
paper." You will soon find that there are other papers
that shorv nothing after you have exposed them, any
more than your plate did ; and you have to develop
them very much as you did vour plate. If you take
the initials of the words " printing-out paper " vou get
" P.o.P.," and that is what these papers are often called.
for short. Self-toning paper is a p.o.p., but it is aView original page 20Page 21 · Read text
Y O U S E E T H E P I C T U R E
special kind, for it gives you a print of a pleasing colour
r,vithout vour having to use a " toning bath " to get it.
With most P.O. P., if you onlv put the prints into a
fixing bath the colour you get is not nice at all. So
for these you have to use another bath first to alter the
s6lsur-a " toning " bath. Again 1,'-oumust follow the
instructions. The general processes are : Wash, tone,
lvash, fi,x, wash. You can get a bath that will tone and
fix at the same time ; but you had better not use this
till you know a good deal more, and then, most lil<ely,
you rvill dec.ide not to use it at all. It saves trouble, but
you should not mind how much trouble you take to
turn out good work that will keep good.
The great advantage of a printing-out paper is that
vou can
a c t u a l l y
see tbe
p i c t u r e ,
ancl so
j u d g e
when it
is strong
e n o u g h .
F inishing
the prints
is only a
question of careful work. LTse the proper solutions for
the time stated in the instructions, keep the prints
moving durin.g toning and fi,ring, wash thoroughly, and
the prints will be a success. Above all, do not forgetView original page 21Page 22 · Read text
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G A S L I G H T
about keeping the clishes clean, and alwavs taking care
that the hypo clish especially is used for nothing erlse.
The drarvbacl< to a printing-out paper is that it
requires daylight, So
that dull and wet wea-
thcr, ancl short winter
days, are against turn-
ing out prints quickll'.
It is never wise, either,
to leave partlv exposed
prints in the frames
from one day to allo-
ther, or the negatives
may be stained by the
silver in the paper.
You rvill be glad, there-
fc-rre,to l<now of a ivay
of making prints with-
out using davlight, so
that you can also u'ork indoors in the evenings.
For this purpose there is another kind of paper known
as " gaslight " paper. This is so named because it can
be carriecl through all the necessarv processes by artificial
light. It must be kept frorn clay'light altogether, and
also from strong artificial light. The paper is taken from
the packet, and placed in the frame, in any artificially
lighted room ; but it must be done at a good d.istance
from the light, or in the shadow cast by a screen of some
kind.
Exposr:re ls tmportant. The frame is held close toView original page 22Page 23 · Read text
D E V E L O P S U P
a strong light ; and to get some idea of the right exposure
you can expose a quarter of the plate for a certain time
(the instructions will give you help), the next quarter
for double the time, and so on. A piece of cardboard
as close to the negative as possible, can be used to screen
part of the plate so as to give four different times of
exposure to the same piece of paper. Afterwards you
can see which of the four strips of the prints is best, and
then you will know what the right exposure is for that
negative, or any other like it in density. But you must
be most careful to keep the frame at the same dist,ance
from the light whenever you are exposing ; if you vary
the distance, even
a little, it will
make a great dif-
ference in the ex-
posure.
This gaslight
paper is one of
those that show
no change after
exposure; there is
no picture to be
seen. That is whv
you must be so careful about the exposure, for if it is
wrong there is no remedy. You pour over the exposed
paper the developer reconrrtended for it, and the picture
appears-not slowly, as the image appeared in your
negative, but in a few seconds. The print has to be
fixed in hypo afterwards, of course. Remember to
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