How to increase tone in a black and white Becquerel daguerreotype?

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  • #7736
    Bakody
    Participant

    I accidentally got normal, black and white dag, when I used 6 layers of red film. Every time, when I make an image, I can repeat the B&W result, so I think this is the right way to get normal black and white dags (previous topic)

    After this it wasn’t enough for me: I remembered, someone in the forum already try to use different film colors, but just in one layer. What about to use them in more layers?

    On the image you can see an egg holder. I was searching for something which has lots of shadows and this was the first thing what I found.

    (I couldn’t buy transparent orange film, just a thin plastic document holder. If you get transparent one, I think you need to use them at least in 6 or more layers)

    So I bought yellow, transparent, kind of “UV yellow”

    red, transparent

    orange, plastic

    On the image, from left to right:

    UV yellow (8layers): at the first 30 min. the image was visible, but weak, then disappeared. Maybe need to use normal yellow film and more layers.

    UV yellow (8layers) + red (1layers): you can see the result, still not good

    red (6layers): just like usual, high black and white contrast

    orange (2layers): you still can see black and white, but you can see more grays.

    orange (1layers): not good as you can see.

    Development time 2 hours 30min. 2 head 500w halogen light, on the picture you can see the corners.

     

    Interesting…

    What do you think?

     

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    http://daginhun.blogspot.com/
 http://www.facebook.com/DagerrotipiaDaguerreotype

    #11428
    Bakody
    Participant

    I just keep watching the image: 2layres of orange: more grays, but nearly no white… Or maybe just because orange can let go thru more light and just cause grays?

    Hmm, new ideals, new questions.

    http://daginhun.blogspot.com/
 http://www.facebook.com/DagerrotipiaDaguerreotype

    #11429
    CasedImage
    Keymaster

    What is the white band in the image on the left hand side? It reminds me of a accidental case of hyper-sensitizing I did to a becquerel plate – the white band at the top of the image was from a darkslide with a loose slide cover that I accidentally moved up and gave the plate a blast of sunlight – I can’t remember if it was pre or post exposure. The resulting plate had the whitest whites of all my becq. plates. It may not relate to your plate but there are many things that could explain the proper tone – correct sensitization exposure, image exposure, polish and development not least among them

     

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    #11430
    Bakody
    Participant

    That band is because of the UV yellow (8layers) development. It’s looks like an overexposed area in a normally developed dag.

    http://daginhun.blogspot.com/
 http://www.facebook.com/DagerrotipiaDaguerreotype

    #18521

    Hello. So far I get a blue image. I use 6 or 8 layers of auto film – I light up for 3 hours. I use a 27000lm – 300W LED lamp. Maybe i need to try with a 1000W halogen lamp?

    #18529
    botticelli1972
    Participant

    Best results I ever got were with Rubylith (the original masking film for orthochromatic processes which is still available from the manufacturer) placed over an exposed plate and set to rest in a north facing window all day. I feel the slow growing of the image particles helps but I have no science to back it, just observational experience. This is a low/no heat procedure, which I also feel is important.

    #18530

    Yes, I know that Rubylith is a proven film. In my country, this masking film is difficult to buy. I ordered to friends from Germany – I am waiting for a parcel. The problem may still be in my silver electrolyte. I assembled it using thiourea, not using cyanides. visually, the coating looks great, but sulfur can interfere

    #18535

    Are you going to use the film Rubylith in one layer or two?

    #18536
    botticelli1972
    Participant

    I only ever used one sheet, taped to a piece of clear glass for support. I did a test once with two, it just took twice as long to develop and the image was no better if I remember correctly.

    #18537

    Thank you.
    Now I have a real Rubylith. I have assembled a new silver plating electrolyte, but I still get plates with a bluish tinge. Did you achieve a black-and-white image like Bakody in the test? Or were they bluish too?

    #18538
    botticelli1972
    Participant

    Slow reply, but I have had both blueish and black and white images resulting from the technique. If you look at my images under Larry Shutts you will see the results. It seems to be about 50% split even though I believe I do the same thing each time.

    #18539

    I started getting beautiful black and white images. Cyanide electrolyte, one layer of rubilite, illumination with a 500 watt halogen lamp – 2 hours 40 minutes.

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    #18541
    botticelli1972
    Participant

    That looks great! The Rubylith is the real secret to getting it right. You might try a few slow developing tests if you have the time. I tried with bulbs of all sorts but settled on natural sunlight, just not direct, using north light only.

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