Contemporary Stereo Daguerreotypy

[Jon Lewis]

Being interested in stereo photography AND daguerreotypes it’s a natural inclination to consider stereo daguerreotypy. In my brief search around the internet and else where I have found the following:Mike Robinson made a stereo daguerreotype (possibly more) on a single plate using an interesting version of the cha-cha method: http://www.phsc.ca/Mike.html John Hurlock seems to be using vintage stereo cameras for is stereo: http://moderndags.com/stereo%20gallery.htmThis is a reference I found on the Daguerreian Society website to an essay contains a stereo daguerreotype by Irving Pobboravsky: Pobboravsky, Irving. ;Alte Techniken neu. entdeckt: Die Daguerreotypie. Foto Hobby Labor (Munich), (March 1980), pp. 30-33. Essay on the daguerreotype process with photographs of Pobboravsky at work; also includes a Pobboravsky stereo daguerreotype; authorship of article incorrectly credited to a Nicolas M. Gaver. In Robert Shlaer’s article entitled “Practical Daguerreian Imagery” found in the Daguerreian Society’s publication of Contemporary Daguerreotypes; he talks some about stereo daguerreotypy. He is also using the cha-cha method of stereo and he talks a lot about the problems that can occur using this form of stereo.Lastly I have found that Alan Bekhuis is making a very nice stereo daguerreotype case: http://www.casedimage.com/enclosures/ca … /case.html. I would like to know who is making stereo daguerreotypes or has made them in the past and what other experiences and methods you have. If they’re made in a stereo camera, how does one flip the two images so they can be seen in a viewer? What sort of viewing methods have people used besides the in-case stereo viewer? And of course, I’d love to see some images of your stereo dags and equipment!

[CasedImage]

I have posted some images of contemporary stereo daguerreotypes in the Galleries section (link above in navigational bar). Mike’s single quarter plate stereo is there – note the jagged edge of the in camera mask to provide a image septum. There is also a stereo of a digitally manipulated image of the band "Queen" (Band member Brian May is a stereo photography collector). Also very fine images made by John Hurlock who uses cold mercury development (mercury off gases in a vacuum) who has been making Daguerreotypes since 1958.
Best Mike talks about single plate stereo taking. My sixth plate camera in the galleries section (made be Ivan Rose) has a stereo slide that slots into the camera base – moves the camera across to give the right inter ocular separation between the two shooting positions of the camera. Its another example of single lens stereo taking.

www.CasedImage.com

[CasedImage]

Newly added to the Stereo Daguerreotypes gallery (http://www.contemporarydaguerreotypes.info/?page_id=118) are whole plate stereo images by Mike Robinson. Due to the size of the plates they can only be viewed in a special viewer – the 19th century original of this was the Grand parlor stereoscope (http://www.contemporarydaguerreotypes.info/?page_id=366). Also in the galleries section are modern reproductions of the stereoscopes (http://www.contemporarydaguerreotypes.info/?page_id=370).

www.CasedImage.com

[Jon Lewis]

Mike Robinson’s image is very interesting. When you view it in 3d (this one’s cross-eyed) you can see all the things that have changed between taking the left and the right shot yet the depth is still good.

The grand parlor stereoscope is something else, I’ve never seen anything like it! I bet the images see with it are really beautiful… well they better be for the price that thing must have been.

[photolytic]

All my stereo Dags were made using a version of the so called cha-cha method.
http://www.moderndags.com/stereo%20gallery.htm
When I used one of my two-lens stereo cameras, I would cover the lens on one side, shift the whole camera at least half an intraocular distance to the opposite side, and expose one side of the plate with the uncovered lens using the shutter. After completing the first exposure, I would cover the lens I had just used and uncover the lens on the opposite side of the camera. Then I would shift the camera at least one intraocular distance to the opposite side, and expose the remaining side of the plate. As you suggest all this had to be done before anything within the cameras field of view moved. While this may sound complicated you might note that I did not have to invert my camera as some stereo Daguerreotypists have reported doing.

[Jon Lewis]

That’s an interesting way of getting around the reversed pair. That would also give you more control over the separation and allow you to take hyper- or hypo-stereo images. Have you tried exposing the plate with both lenses at the same time then splitting the plate in half and then reversing the two sides? That way you only have one exposure and don’t have to worry about cha-cha artifacts. Though I’m not sure how easy it would be to split the plates without damaging either half. Perhaps it could be scored before buffing and coating. I remember reading somewhere that the old stereo daguerreotypes were on two different plates held together in the right position by the case. I don’t know if they actually used two different plates or one plate they split in half and reversed.

[photolytic]

I’ve seem old stereo Dags made both ways, on a single plate or on two plates taped together. You can’t tell whether they used one exposure and then cut the plate or used two exposures. Those thin 19th Century plates were easy to cut with tin snips but cutting the thick engravers copper on most modern plates requires a band saw (which I have done). Frankly I think that having both stereo images on a single plate looks much better and the result is worth the effort in my opinion.
Don’t have a stereo camera? You can make both stereo images on a single 4×5 plate using the cha-cha method and a single lens graphic camera equipped with a shifting split back. These come up on EBay occasionally. The resulting plates can be easily mounted in one of Alan’s modern masher style cases as shown in the stereo section of this website and the stereo effect is quite stunning.

[Jon Lewis]

I saw in David Burder’s article that he created a lenticular stereo daguerreotype. I don’t suppose anyone was around to see it?

[Andy Stockton]

he created a lenticular stereo daguerreotype

What is that?

[Jon Lewis]

Lenticular stereo is a form of stereo photography that doesn’t require something special on the viewing end. Anaglyph require red-cyan or red-blue glasses, polarized requires polarized glasses, stereoviews require a stereopticon or something similar. A lenticular print consist of two or more images cut up into little strips and merged back together in one print. Then a lens is placed over the print to allow you to see all the images depending on the angle you view it.

I’m sure you’ve seen them, especially if you’ve had kids. I remember seeing ones with batman and superman and such. There is a retched one on my office of a little white dog with it’s tongue sticking out.

David Burder, being the stereo icon that he is, would have probably created an amazing lenticular daguerreotype. I’m curious if anyone actually saw it and if the ‘mirror’ of the daguerreotype affected the stereo of the image at all.

[photolytic]

On my website you can view a lenticular stereo Daguerreotype print I made in March of 2003.

On the right side is a 5×7 lenticular stereo Daguerreotype laminated with a 40/lens per inch plastic lenticular screen.
On the left side is the 5×7 B&W lenticular transparency of an antique Swiss microscope, provided by David Burder, from which the Dag was contact printed.

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