Your first daguerreotype…
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Yesterday I created my first daguerreotype and I would love to see other people first daguerreotypes! They may not be perfect or even quite recognizable but they’re special none the less.
Since it was night I photographed the brightest thing I could think of: my computer screen. The polish was really quite bad and I’m amazed I got an image at all. It looks better in person than it does in the scan. The image is much more distinct and the scratches are harder to see. You can see a larger version on my flickr site.
Hey congrats Jon, the achievement of doing it on your own is something quite special. I had done a workshop a few years before hand but the first one I had made on my own was this one, its a grave in Pere Laichase cemetery in Paris. Mine actually looks worst to some extent in person as I was a bit generous in photoshop with it.
www.CasedImage.com
Congratulations all !
Unlike most I started with iodized plates and mercury developement.
I had never heard of Becquerel in those days.Fuming was done in a wooden box containing a glass ashtray with an ounce of iodine crystals.
Plates were inserted in a small wooden drawer at one end of the box.
The exposure was 3 min at f/8 in an old Kodak Pony Premo glass plate camera.
Development by inspection was done in a wooden box shaped like an inverted pyramid
Inside was a small beaker containing a few drops of mercury.
Heated was done with an alcohol lamp.
The plate was not gilded and has never been sealed. Hence the tarnish.I took this 3 years ago at a class by Jerry Spagnoli. I got a good exposure with his guidance.
Folding Autographic Kodak
Becquerel development
Anniversary Speed Graphic/ f4.7 127mm EktarGreat Thread,First time lucky 7 mins @ 2.8 Becq. dev ….ages. Then many attempts with nothing!
Wow, everyone’s first dags are very impressive.It would be nice to see progress scans as everybody improves.
Oh a little embarrassing to post but all in good cause right.My polish was just horrible among other things.Iodine, bromine and Hg development.
Cool! Great job!
I did this while learning the ropes with Jerry Spagnoli a few years ago. I’ve made a lot better AND a lot worse since then.
I’ll have to check my notes on the exposure.
Hello !
” title=”Smile” />My first "good" Dag and on a homemade plate…
Exposure : 10mn F4.5 – Mercury development, not gilded.
You can see a video on youtube here : http://youtube.com/watch?v=aytv-D6rQPQ
My first Becquerel Daguerreotype…Exposure – 3minutes @ f8EV 12ishDeveloped under rubylith for 3hours
I realize this is the First Dag thread but I think early progression might fit as well.
” title=”Wink” /> Here are my second and third attempts:Exposed for 30 minutes at f/2.8, developed for 9.5 hours. Quite underexposed and my polishing is still horrible. I re-polished the plate for the third exposure.
Exposed for 30 minutes at f/2.8, developed for 3 hours. Decent exposure but my polishing could still use some work… as well as my lighting.
Andy, I metered the scenes using a gray card. The first one metered 6 EVs @ ISO 100 and the second metered 10 EVs @ ISO 100. So there was 4 stops more light for the second image. What happened really was that for the first image I had some clip lamps set up at quite a distance. Since that image didn’t turn out I decided to move the lights as close as I could without interfering with the camera. I expected the image to be overexposed but it seems to have come out right on. The polish of the second image was also much better than the first image so that might have also added some sensitivity. It’s all still a lot to juggle in my head.
I hope that helps and I’m looking forward to seeing the fruit of castle daguerre
” title=”Smile” />Thought I’d post my second plate. I’m loving this process, I must say. Eposure 6.5min@ f/11ev 12-141st red/purplesun developed for 2.5hours
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