Recent Close-Up Botanical Daguerreotypes

[Fragomeni]

I thought some here might find these interesting. I've recently become deeply interested in the botanical work of Karl Blossfeldt ("Urformen der Kunst") and that has inspired me to look more closely at botanicals and to do so close up. Since I'm focusing mostly on the daguerreotype process these days, that is the form these images have taken. Since daguerreotypes are reflective and still images don't do them justice, I tend to share them as videos to give a better sense of what the objects, not just the image, are like. Hope some find these interesting:



The system will only allow one video to play directly here so here is the link to the other daguerreotype of the spear plant when braided: Plate #1 - Braided Spear Plant - Daguerreotype

[cowanw]

Wonderful work!

[Fragomeni]

Wonderful work!

Thank you very much for the kind words!

[Mark Sampson]

Beautiful work. Few people today are willing to tackle that most difficult of photographic methods, but you've succeeded admirably.

[paulbarden]

Very nice indeed!

[ic-racer]

Little masterpieces!

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Those are lovely. Really nicely done. The white background can be so unforgiving, but yours is wonderful and really helps the plants pop out.

I am curious, are those beveled edges on the plates? And what is the silver mounting tape you are using?

[Fragomeni]

Thanks everyone for the lovely reception to the work. It's very much appreciated especially considering the effort it takes to make these. So thank you for helping me stay motivated with the positive responses!

Those are lovely. Really nicely done. The white background can be so unforgiving, but yours is wonderful and really helps the plants pop out.

I am curious, are those beveled edges on the plates? And what is the silver mounting tape you are using?

Jason, the white background definitely requires a fine balance and finesse with exposure. Forgiving it is not. I'm told extended gilding can be helpful in pushing it back to neutral if it goes blue but I since a lot can happen in the gilding, I aim to just take my time and get the best possible exposure and when I get that right they come out beautifully. Also, yes I cut my plate corners and bend the plate edges to help with the methods I use for polishing. Once the plate is made and ready to case, I bend the edges up. This is a method I learned from Mike Robinson which creates a very practical and clean means of mounting glass without a matte. The sealing tape is the only thing touching the glass and the plate and nothing is touching the image surface of the plate at all. I find it to be the quickest way to protect the surface after processing and a lovely presentation in its own right when not over-matting or using a more traditional casing method. I'll look for the name of the tape I'm using. Shoot me an email in case I forget to reply here.

[Ben Calwell]

Beautiful!

[takpro]

Beautiful work.