Found Treasure, A Portrait of my Grandfather as a Boy

[akfreak]

Link to the video please watch in HD

First, I hope someone here can help me identify the process used to create this image. Also what kind of paper and chemicals are used to make such a print. I want to create some prints like this. It is not really a black and white, it is more of a Brown and Cream.

Here is the story,

I was looking through some old trunks and found a blinder of sorts, in that binder there was a portrait inside of a very nice mount. I was astonished at what I saw inside. But before I opened the main flap It was astonishing just to at the craftsman used to create the mount. Everything had a wonderful texture.

The print is amazing and i made a video to show you. IMO the video I shot doesn't do the portrait justice but it will show you exactly what type of image it is. I was hoping someone here can better explain. I shot the video in HD to let you see the detail better. When the image is turned A bluish silver negative looking image appears, Is this a Silver gelatin print? I dont really know much about old papers.

One last thing I found out the studio in Dallas that made the print Burned down and all of the equipment was lost.

on an embarrassing note, I dropped the image a couple of times trying to adjust the camera, but did not harm the picture. I plan to fnd a way to archive the print. I also plan to scan it in and retouch the blemish in the bottom right corner. Have it reprinted to hand on my wall. I dont want this Image to endure any more damage due to my handling or that of others.


Any and all information about how one could make prints like this would be wonderful. I just love to see that silverbluish information when you hold the print at an angle.

[akfreak]

Not a single person can tell em anything about this image. That is depressing, it only took 55 posts here to be put on the pay not attention list, LOL I guess I will have to double post it on Apug. This type of image is one I want to create. I dont have a clue as to what process was used to make an image like that. Was it shades of black that faded to brown? Was the paper yellow or white? Oh wait I alomst forgot, I almost forgot no one is going to answer. Just Kidding!

I hope I havent pissed you guys off. If I have please tell me what I did so I can address any issues. This pleace is invaluabe as a resource, all of the knowlegde from the experts is going to be gone unless you share it with others. When the demand for film dies off so does this type of photography. If mre people are inspired to create with film then so does the demand to produce it.

I forsee the price of film to skyrocket in the next 20 years. Look at the price od a pack of expired polaroid 600, $100 I have seen. That is rediculous! Help film stay alive, share your knowledge

AKf

[Ari]

I don't know, others will certainly chime in, but the look you speak of has a lot to do with the type of paper used, the toning of the image, and it looks like it might have been hand-coloured as well.

[BrianShaw]

I don't think you are suffering a problem resulting from offending people, but you might want to be a more patient. Not everyone sits all day waiting to answer questions on on-line forums.

I suspect your photo is a silver print that was toned and perhaps has oxidized some.

For me, at least, it would be better to post a scan than a video.

[Jim Jones]

I totally agree with Brian. One good photo is worth a thousand words, while a 7 minute video is a PITA. Many of us on a large format forum have seen many similar photos. That quality was fairly common almost a century ago. The folders were mass produced. The discolorization in your speciman would trouble the photographer if he could see it now, instead of being something exotic. I suggest that you do a top quality scan of it, correct a few flaws, and spread copies among your cousins so it might never become totally lost as long as there is any interest in your grandfather.

[akfreak]

I totally agree with Brian. One good photo is worth a thousand words, while a 7 minute video is a PITA. Many of us on a large format forum have seen many similar photos. That quality was fairly common almost a century ago. The folders were mass produced. The discolorization in your speciman would trouble the photographer if he could see it now, instead of being something exotic. I suggest that you do a top quality scan of it, correct a few flaws, and spread copies among your cousins so it might never become totally lost as long as there is any interest in your grandfather.

Great advice. The reason I did a video was to show the silver/blusih cast at an angle. I would of much rather canned it and posted the iamge, however this would not show the total picture as I see it. The video did show you exactly what I see. The color on ly calibrated monitor is identical to what I see.

I do plan to scan it and retouch it then make some prints for my family members. I only have an all in one Brother scanner MFC-665CW. So I am goinmg to find a local pro that had a better scanner so I can have a better file to work woth. The scans from my Btother are less than ideal to say the least.


The only reason I mentioned about no responses is I saw the post had over 50 views and not a single mention about anything. Thanks for those that too time to waatch and respond, I apprciate your time. AKf

[cowanw]

The folder suggests post WW1
The shine is poor fixing. The colour is toning.

[Nathan Potter]

Well the suspense during the opening of the video is sort of Hitchkockian. Dunno; the bluish tint changes as the angle changes and is reminiscent of a surface contamination such as cigarette smoke. There is the possibility of incomplete fixing as mentioned. The sepia could be toning or characteristic of early emulsions.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Nathan Appel]

Well the suspense during the opening of the video is sort of Hitchkockian. Dunno; the bluish tint changes as the angle changes and is reminiscent of a surface contamination such as cigarette smoke. There is the possibility of incomplete fixing as mentioned. The sepia could be toning or characteristic of early emulsions.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

I think Nate might be right about the cigarrette smoke, I have some magazines that have a similar cast, but, I'm taking a guess.

[akfreak]

I dont know about the smoke, I guess it could be, but it is pretty uniform and seeing how it was stored in a closed binder I dont think smoke could uniformly attack the image and create the blue cast evenly.

Based on an earlier poster advice, I did scan it, (with my crappy scanner) and I am going to attempt a retouch (my first one). The image is much darker when it is small and before I converted it to Jpg, it also has the blue cast. The compression to .jpg the file has lost a lot of information and most of the blue cast. I will do the retouch on a .tiff then make my prints.

Here is the first scan