Your latest dag!

[supphaman]

My latest attempt last weekend, ungilded w/scratches and all. Spot meter readings ranged from 6.5-10 EV( need to start keeping track of incident readings) + an 8″ bellows ext. w/150mm lens, the exposure was calculated at 40 min. I overexposed a prior test plate at 52min and reduced .25 stop for this one.

 

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[CasedImage]

Thanks Tyler for posting the image of the shoot as well, its interesting to see how unusual material render in daguerreotypes.

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[Jon Lewis]

Here’s an image I made the other day (with a faux-passe-partout from illustrator). Dropped the plate right after sensitizing it so it got a bit scratched but I decided to use it anyway. The paper towels that I was keeping the plates seem to have created an interesting effect on some of the images. I really need to make some plate boxes.

 

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[Jon Lewis]

Sorry, forgot the specs on this one:

Quarter plate, sensitized until second red, exposed at f/4.7 for 2 hours (10 EVs @ ISO 100), developed under rubylith for 7.5 hours, fixed in kodak rapid fix, gilded for longer than was probably necessary giving the whole plate a gold sheen. I added an extra stop to the exposure because the violin has a red varnish and I was hoping the details would show up better.

[jdanforth]

That’s really special, Jon. Do you gild using the hot-plate and frying pan method or blow torch?

 

edit: I have had the EXACT same trouble with paper towels. Get some buffered silver storage paper like Silver Shield. Plate boxes are really nice too. Maybe I’ll make some for the members here… I could use a new woodworking project. I just got a laser engraving/cutting machine which I can use to put Daguerre’s visage on the front! Just like the Daguerreoshirt!

 

I got the laser (in case you were wondering) in part to etch brass mats for daguerreotypes. 🙂 I love combining the old with the new!

 

[Jon Lewis]

Thanks Jonathan, I had been using the torch and stand method but it didn’t work very well with a stereo plate I was trying to gild so I got a hot-plate and pyrex dish. Still working out temperatures and times but it seems to work pretty well. Uses more gilding solution though I can gild two plates at once.

Have you tried laser engraving the backs (or fronts) of your plates?

[botticelli1972]

Here are two shot with my new F/2.9, the 1/4 plate full length pose with the vintage matte and preserver was 26 second in full sun Ev 14.6 @ISO 100 0.2 stop bellows extension. The half plate bust pose was 45 second full sun 0.5 stop bellows extension. The half plate is probably 1/3 stop overexposed but still nice. Both were developed under amberlith for 3 hrs, fixed in hypo, and gilt in the microwave.

 

I think I need to set up a light colored background the black background seems a bit harsh.

 

Larry

 

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[Andy Stockton]

Larry – Thanks so much for sharing your work and the many supporting details as well. Very instructive. Doing portraits in becquerel seems pretty challenging, and one in 1/2 plate size as well!

I am intrigued by your comment about gilding in the microwave. Would you be willing to share some more details?

[botticelli1972]

As you may know becquerel plates are very susceptible to staining and tide lines during the liquid phase of processing. When I first started I would always get dark lines from pouring on the gilding solution (see upper background of pic below). I read in an old text the process of cold gilding, which is basically to add the gold during fixing and I use a modified form of this. I fix in sodium thiosulfate in tap(well)water and if the image is “good enough” I remove the excess fixer with a pipette till just a little more than a meniscus of fixer is left over the whole plate. I use a solution of 2 grams of gold chloride in a liter of distilled water, I just add 10cc into the edge of the tray so it mixes with the hypo already in there before contacting the plate. No need to make fresh hypo or mix part A and B before hand and the gold in distilled water lasts nearly forever. You can watch the gold react with the plate almost instantly. If you want you can just leave it in and let it work (I have left it in as long as 12 hours before longer and the gold plates out in a cool pattern that will ruin the image), or if you are in a hurry pop the whole tray in the microwave, as long any metal is covered by a liquid it will not spark, for about 25-50 seconds depending on how much liquid is in the tray, just till it starts to steam you don’t want bubbles on the surface of the plate. If you do get bubbles use a pipette to get rid of them with a stream of fixer/gold or you will get un-gilt spots where the bubbles were. Too long and it gets too hot and will fog the plate. Now I do have to say here that I do this only with sold .999 silver sheet, no copper backing on my plates. I have no experience trying this with a copper base and I do not know how they react to bath gilding but if others are doing it with hotplates and copper based plates I would imagine it would work also.

 

Larry

 

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[Andy Stockton]

Wow. Thanks for the info. Definitely food for thought. Anything that reduces the chance of stray markings on the dag surface seems worth a try.

[CasedImage]

Hey larry, When I gild becq. or Mercurial dags I keep it in a final wash of distilled water and upon removing the plate from the dish I quickly placed it on the gilding stand and immediately pour on the gilding solution. Its a little hairy an nerve racking at times but with enough failures in doing it I have earned my stripes. The washing in distilled water i think is a crucial step so you won’t get tide marks. I had read that stains can appear in gilding but you just keep on gilding till they disappear but I never found this to be so, I just gild to the solution bubbles or to a overall tone of the plate.

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[corey r]

Well, I tried my first plate ever, today. I’m shooting 1/4 plate becquerels. No luck today, extremely under exposed to the point of no image and the iodine coated a bit unevenly. The sun will soon be too far along in its course to be of much help developing.

All hope is not lost. Adding more iodine to the box and giving it another try. After all tomorrow is another day (off). I’ll post and l et you know, what ever I get tomorrow. I’m all giddy and can’t wait until tomorrow…

The gilding process that Larry is describing is very close to that used with printing out papers (minus the microwave) and I was actually hoping that I would be able to get away with using a similar process. Knowing that some one else is getting results makes me optimistic.

Corey

[photolytic]

There is one minor difference.

Printing out papers were (are) toned with gold before the fixing stage.

I doubt that would work with Dags, although some workers have reported that fixing Dags in a weak solution of hypo produces beautiful golden brown tones.

One suggestion that Ken Nelson first gave to me was be very selective about which of your Dags you decide to gild. Not only does this eliminate the more difficult job of buffing off bad gilded images, but it saves a lot of silver plates. A bad image is not going to be a perfect image after gilding so the best approach is often to make another attempt before you decide to gild. Inspecting the image after drying is the best way to do this because an underwater view of a Dag image tends to hide the flaws.

Whether you chose to use the tray method or the gilding stand method, I have found that the decision to gild or not to gild can often be delayed for several days, or even years, without affecting the result, so long as the image is protected from corrosion and abrasion.

[Lionel TURBAN]

Last Dag from France 🙂

Iodine – Mercury – Gilded

6x9cm

 

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[corey r]

Ok, I know I’ve been posting a bit much in the last 24 hours, but I’m watching my first partially successful becquerel image develop and its the most exciting photographic … thing I’ve experienced in a long time! Picture when its dry.

[Andy Stockton]

Post as often as you like Corey. One of the main points of the CDags site is to share our excitement about making daguerreotypes.

[CasedImage]

Its winter here in NZ, occasionally the sun beckons though and here’s today’s response to it. I have changed my development time and temperature which seems to be a step in the right direction as I have lost the blue cast I was getting in mid tones and there is more detail in the image. This is a third plate (3.75 x 4.25) mercurial, gilded and galvanised clad plate.

 

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[botticelli1972]

Latest pic from this past weekend. If it was not for the staining I would say it was the best I have done in a while. The staining is from the fixing stage, I didn’t have enough in the tray, I need to get one of Alan’s glass oval vessels made for me. Did cold gilding for 4 hours development was 6 hours. Was taken on a partly sunny day EV 12-13 through a 13:20 exposure at f/5.6 with my 8″ Dallmeyer.

 

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[CasedImage]

For the oval fixing tank – just keep an eye out in shops like crate and barrel, bed bath and beyond etc – they are sold as vases and oval ones seem to be fashionable so eventually you’ll find one that works

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[CasedImage]

Few problems with this one, too much bromine, dust getting in the way of the halogens , slightly overexposed and developed but the thicker galvanising layer on this one seems to be helping the image tone. Thanks to the wife for pulling the lens cap..

 

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[corey r]

Hey,

Here’s that first dag that I was so excited about a week ago. I don’t have a digital camera & had to borrow one. After I shot it, I feel like I need some cleaner glass. Too many scratches. Shooting again tomorrow if the sun is out.

 

-Corey

 

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[botticelli1972]

This weekends work: 60 seconds f/4 EV 13.7 mostly cloudy. Over Iodine 3:15 to first magenta, A/C on in darkroom slows up Iodine uptake. Probably 1/3 stop overexposed, I keep doing that. Tried the new light background and it makes a huge difference in the hair definition, much better. Did another but background was too far away, needs to be right behind sitter or it does not show as well. Currently using an old blue with green tinge low knap fuzzy blanket.-Larry

 

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[photolytic]

Like any volatile chemicals, the rates of evaporation or sublimation iodine and bromine are proportional to the ambient temperature. Thus the concentration of vapors in your fuming box are proportional to the ambient temperature (or reciprocal temperature in degrees Kelvin Celsius + 273) in your darkroom. Due to the density of the vapors and the distance between the chemical and the Daguerreotype plate in the box, the actual vapor concentration is quite a bit lower than the theoretical concentration but it nonetheless bares the same proportionality to the temperature. The vapors in the attached illustration were sampled from the top level of the funing box using a syringe and analyzed via iodometric titration with thiosulfate.

[jdanforth]

I have been doing a lot of contact-printing lately because, frankly, it pays well. It feels a bit like I’m cheating but it’s fun and challenging nonetheless.

This image was made by a friend in London of the band Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis. My friend added all of the staining and spots digitally. It has that certain look that he’s after (I used to sprinkle pulverized sulfur directly on the ungilded plated to achieve this!). I made the daguerreotype and cased ‘er up nice n’ pretty.

At least I’m getting practice making plates even if I haven’t dusted off the actual camera in a while!

[jdanforth]

Here’s another contact print of the singer Morrissey for his 50th birthday.

The mat, preserver, and thermoplastic case are all 19th century. The velvet is embossed with a custom-made stamp.

Here’s the same image prior to casing:

[Author]

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