Wet Plate Enlarging History
When did enlarging begin?
A picture of a picture seems pretty obvious from here and now
and inter-negatives
as a collector of enlargers I wonder
Soon it was used on Copy Cameras for science
The very high resolution of wet plate allowed magnification and extreme reductions of data
and now I read in my new book that by 1853 wet plate was being used for micro printing documents on tiny bits, by 1870 attached as Pigeon Post into Paris during war
Scientists also used very thin emulsions for better resolution
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Re: Wet Plate Enlarging History
David A. Woodward patented the first "solar Enlarger" in 1857. It was successful enough that he soon had a fair amount of competition.
"In 1857 Woodward patented the first widely successful photographic enlarging camera. He continued to make improvements to his solar camera in a series of patent renewals in the 1860s and 1870s. He became internationally recognized for his invention and in 1876 he was given an award at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In the 1878 book How to Paint Photographs in our collection there is an ad for the Improved Solar Cameras by D.A. Woodward, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Md."
Re: Wet Plate Enlarging History
Re: Wet Plate Enlarging History
Ever heard of wet mounting drum and flat scanners...?
nothing new under the Sun
Below quote from this source:http://resources.culturalheritage.or...5_Albright.pdf
[Article: A SHORT REVIEW OF CRAYON ENLARGEMENTS: HISTORY,
TECHNIQUE, AND TREATMENT
Author(s): Gary E. Albright and Michael K. Lee
Topics in Photographic Preservation, Volume 3.
Pages: 28-36
Compiler: Robin E. Siegel
© 1989, Photographic Materials Group of the American Institute for Conservation of
Historic & Artistic Works. 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 320, Washington, DC 20005. (202)
452-9545, www.aic-faic.org. Under a licensing agreement, individual authors retain
copyright to their work and extend publication rights to the American Institute for
Conservation. ]
"One rather ingenious idea
formed a well of glycerine between the negative and a cover
glass, using India rubber to seal the sides. "The glycerine
coming in contact with the retouching obliterates all marks of
the pencil and makes it more transparent, and the result is a
fine, soft photograph, full of detail and roundness, often
surpassing the contact-print" (8). After printing, the assembly
was taken apart and the glycerine washed off. The negative was
then ready for contact printing again. "
