Large 1860s Salt Photo

[williameik]

Hello,
I am very new to the photography process and enjoy collecting old photographs. I have one that im having trouble with. Its a very large portrait 16 half by 21 and a half from 1860-65. From this time period how was it done? This photo is very flat.. On an angle I can see were an artist had sharpened differant areas of contrast like the eye's, hair and anything small at one time had to be really out of focus but when you look at it foward and not at an angle it looks very nice. I dont understand how in the 1860s someone could make such a large image. The subject lived to 1865 and was a personal family portrait. Thanks for the input,
William

[Vaughn]

Contact print from a mammoth plate camera.

Best I can do without seeing an image of it.

[williameik]

Thanks for your helping..very..much is there any more info that I can give. I was told it was a silver gel but how was it made, so large for the period. And how would they get a image on a plate that large. my title was wrong its silver gel have to run have to be somewere will type better next time...,,
Regards,
William

[Vaughn]

If it is from the 1860's, it is most likely an albumin print -- made from egg whites (instead of the gelatin now used in emulsions) and silver.

It would be a contact print -- not enlarged. So the negative t he print was made from was also 16x21.5 -- hence the name "mammoth glass plate camera". If you wanted a bigger print, you had to have a bigger camera!

This is before "dry plates" were invented, which were maunfactured and could then be stored and used as needed. These were glass plates coated this an light sensitive silver emulsion. Kodak eventually invented a way to coat flexible material (a film).

But back to what you might have.

In 1850, a way to coat plates of glass with collodion -- a mixture of egg white, gun cotton, silver, etc. -- was invented. It was called collodion wet plate photography. It was called "wet" because this collodion had to be mixed up, poured onto a piece of glass, and then exposed through the camera before it fully dried. Once dry it was no longer sensitive to light. It was immediately developed on the spot.

Sounds like a lot of work -- especially when this is how the Civil War photos were all made, as well as some of the early explorations into the American West.

So at least a portrait usually done in the comfort of a studio with all one needs handy. Those photographers of the early American west had to do with a wagon (sometimes a converted ambulance) or set up a darkroom tent in the field.

So, it sounds like someone made a portrait using a camera that exposed a 16x21.5 inch piece of glass covered with collodion. Once exposed, processed and dried, one had a 16x21.5 glass plate negative. This piece of glass with the negative image on it was placed on a piece of albumin paper, exposed in the sun, then developed -- and that is what I believe you have. Albumin paper was invented also in about 1850.

And if you want to hear something real crazy -- some people are still making photos the same way!

A Google search (now that you know what to search for) will lead you to more info. But you make want to check this out -- http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonexperience/programs/player/16-The-River-They-Saw

[williameik]

Thanks for your reply,
I would like to take some photography classes sometime to learn the differant forms. Over the years I mostly collected prints and sometimes a few photographs would be in the mix. I see your from CA. I have a great portrait of Princess Victoria and Princess Ella of Hesse,( Queen Victoria's grandchildren) done by I.West Taber of S.F 1880's just a great photo. That one has very light color tinting.. Well thanks again ,
William

[bvaughn4]

Vaughn,

Thank you so much for posting that video, i really enjoyed viewing it and seeing the work of Watkins in Oregon.

Bill

[Scott Davis]

If the image were actually from the 1860s and it is a studio portrait, it is possible that a print that big was made from an enlarged copy negative. Being a bit of a vintage image collector specializing in Matthew Brady's photos, and a history buff to boot, the big commercial portrait studios had "Solar Enlargers" that they could use to make projection enlargements from collodion glass negatives. He had one print size he would make called the "Imperial" which was 12 3/4" x 17 3/8" in size. Most of Brady's cameras in the studio shot whole plate size or smaller, with carte-de-visite size being the most common (2 1/2 x 4 inches approximately). So it is entirely possible this was in fact an enlargement.

[Vaughn]

That might be possible, Scott. The only thing is that the 16x21.5 was the common mammoth plate size. But I suppose one could also make a copy negative with the mammoth plate camera by directly re-photographing a smaller print.

Using what's his name's razor, though, it would be easier to take the original image with the mammoth plate camera.