Carbon Printin

On April 15, 1864 a new photographic process was patented, carbon printing. “Why should we have a multiplicity of processes when we have one which can give us any result we wish and is permanent, too? We can now have our picture printed in black like platinotype, in red, sea green, blue purple and several shapes of sepia nd brown…but what of that? Are we going to let a process with all these advantages be unused because it is difficult to work?” This was written by J B Johnston, the man who patented this new technology. He mentioned the difficulties that Carbon Printing presented as a deterrent, the process simply put is printing a negative onto a tissue containing carbon and other pigments in a gelatin base, previously made light sensitive in a bath of potassium bichromate then transferring the image to a paper base and stripping off the backing of the tissue. Here is a link the a five step description of the Carbon Printing process http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_early/1_early_photography_-_processes_-_carbon_print.htm
There are definite gripes with how involved the carbon printing process is. It relies on gelatin, sunlight (uv), pigments and timing. Now, the pigments are one of the reasons this process was a better option than it’s predecessors. Because the carbon printing process uses pigments instead of dye it can achieve a wide array of color. Pigments had and have been used by some of the great painters of our times so I guess it was simply a matter of time before photography as an art form followed suit. Obviously color been considered in regards to photography before the carbon printing process was achieved, the issue was stability and the use of pigment was that x factor that allowed the appropriate stability. A more recent example of the stability that pigment offers is in automobile paint. But, there are examples of pigments being used for their ability to retain their color dating all the way back to the tombs of the Valley of the Kings and the frescoes of Pompeii. It is an admittedly time consuming process but, it’s effectiveness and beauty have allowed for it’s use even today.
There are two major variations of the carbon transfer process, single and double. Single transfer the sensitized tissue is developed directly on its support, double the sensitized and exposed tissue is developed on a temporary support before it’s final support.
It is considered the “aristocrat” of the photo developing world, time consuming, exact, artistic, and beautiful. It has been around since the mid 1800’s, patented in 1864 and still used today.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_print

The Daguerreotype and the first Photo of People

Together, Luis Daguerre and Joseph Niepce invented a new technique to develop a photo, they called it the Daguerreotype in 1837. The process required less exposure than Niepce original process that he created earlier and only used privately. The Daguerreotype, the first publicly announced photographing process, takes advantage of a fine combination of silver and mercury, or more accurately mercury vapor. Because the image was so fragile, in that it could be easily rubbed off of the mirror like plate it formed itself on, they were always and immediately kept in glass cases. A Daguerreotype is a non fixed image, meaning it is simply a substance resting on a surface (mercury vapor sitting on light exposed areas of a copper plate, more where there is the most exposure and less on the least exposed), so the obvious next step was to figure out how to fix the image to its base.

Ultimately, this process was very expensive and difficult for the average person to accomplish. It was quickly outdated by the "tintype" which is a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, enameling is then used for photographic emulsion, and the Ambreotype which is a positive image on a sheet of glass using the "wet plate collodion process(glass plates with a photographic emulsion of silver halides suspended in gelatin)

The Daguerreotype is most well known for being the first photographic process that captured the human form. In 1838 Louis Daguerre, the co creator of the process itself, took a photo of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. Now, the most amazing part of this photograph, http://assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/science/HumanPhoto.jpg, is that whomever the person that was accidentally captured in it had to stand still for a significant amount of time in order to be seen at all. It appears that this person is getting their shoes shined or mimicking a 'Captain Morgan's" commercial. Recently there was a story run in the Yahoo news in regards to another early photo of people http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101027/od_yblog_upshot/very-early-photographic-images-of-humans-discovered.

It amazes me how these two men, Niepce and Dageurre, had the knowledge and drive to create a way to conserve well, the past. I am a photographer by trade www.jjisaacs.com , and I owe quite a bit to these men. They had the foresight to invent a process, see what needed to be done next and then they figured that out as well.










http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/10/the-first-photograph-of-a-human/65196/

http://www.hokumburg.com/2010/10/squail-of-day-september-8-th-2010-first.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101027/od_yblog_upshot/very-early-photographic-images-of-humans-discovered

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/

The First Photograph

The Harry Ransom Center, The University Of Texas At Austin

As this is an online university resource, this source was originally created to fill a database.  Every potential subject needs to be covered and documented.  This “document” is an incredibly thorough packet of information about Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, the man who created the first photograph using lithography technology and creating the beginning of images being burned or copied onto another surface.  It covers everything in a general overview, a viewing of the first photo, a bio on the man, it discusses the technologies used and how everything has been preserved.

As this is all documented specifically for The University of Austin At Texas the authors did not have any firsthand knowledge of the process but I’m sure they had an amazing database from which to gather information.  The original picture is housed at the Ransom Center where this information is coming from in the first place. 

Because this has to do with an invention of an enormous magnitude the story has been remembered and reported for years.  This information has been studied and appreciated and that is what it’s intention is in this instance.  There are no biases or persuasions involved here.  It is nothing political and the man in question, Niepce, is not a controversial figure, he is either a hero or of no consequence.

I am a photographer, which makes Joseph Nicephore Niepce a hero, of sorts, to me.  Niepce was a scientific man who had an interest in lithography, the process of printing from a flat surface treated so as to repel the ink except where it is required for printing, and he had a mind that allowed him to experiment with this new technology.  In 1824 he began these experiments with moderate success.  What Niepce was trying to understand and evolve was a process called heliography which was a type of photographic engraving made using a sensitized silver plate and an asphalt or bitumen varnish.  In the end he would come up with the beginnings of Photography.

Ultimately, it took him two years to actually take a picture.  This first image was of the surrounding foliage outside of Niepce’s second story window. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/viewing.html is the link to some information about where this original picture is housed now and what has been done so it can be viewed correctly.  Apparently it is difficult to see the image as it is on an oddly reflective bit of plate glass.  To counter this effect the people at The Ransom House, where the picture is on display,  a “special enclosure has been constructed to produce the correct levels of display light and to block out the brighter surrounding or ambient light that would reduce the viewing properties of the plate itself” (Harry Random Center www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitins/permanent/wfp/viewing.html viewing the first photograph tab). 

Primary source http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/