compiled by Edward Wilson
reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc

A surprising number of advanced photo experimenters are making their own wet-plates and tintypes. But some of us are crazy enough to make our own gelatin dry plates as a way to avoid taking a darkroom everywhere we choose to take the camera, and to create the special negatives needed to make albumen prints.

Here we reprint Wilson's chapter on dry-plate fabrication which is much larger than the wet-plate version reflecting the intense interest in the process back when this 1887 book was published.

You get hints, tips, and formulas from the major players. You see the special equipment (most of it easily constructed) needed to cook the emulsion, coat plates and dry them. You'll see Herman Vogel's ("Mr. Dye Sensitization") stirring machine used to mix the gelatin and silver solution in the dark. The pro's will tell you how to make pyro-carbonate developer, alkaline-pyro, ferrous oxalate, hydroquinone developer, intensifiers and reducers and all the basic black and white chemistry that still work on modern materials.

If you would like to make your own gelatin dry plates, this is essential historical background material. After all, these were the reports from the very people that were making the advances in photochemistry through experimentation, people not unlike you and me. You must remember, though, that they were using photoactive gelatins. Today we use inert photo gelatin, although food gelatin, or a mixture of the two will simulate the gelatin available back then.

Interesting stuff. Many ideas for making emulsion. Many ideas for those who like to mix up their own photographic chemistry and experiment with ancient processes. Reading this is like listening to the earliest aviators or earliest radio operators swap stories.

Consider it carefully. 6x9 softcover 111 pages

No. 23721 ... $11.95

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Old Photographic Processes

I have thousands of photographs taken before 1880. Almost all are albumen prints: paper covered with egg whites holding light sensitive chemicals. Almost all of my photographs have yellowed and cracked. I wondered constantly what they must have looked like when new. So I set out to make my own.

It was a lot of work, but like anything else creative, satisfying. And the results were far better than anything I expected.

But before I could make quality prints I had to make the proper negatives. Albumen paper is very, very low contrast. You need a very high contrast negative to compensate. Modern negatives will not work.

You can make wet plate negatives, but since I like to take historical photos of street scenes, railroads, buildings, etc, taking a darkroom with me everywhere didn't sound appealing. I started making gelatin dry plates, the way George Eastman (Eastman-Kodak) and John Carbutt manufactured them in the early 1880's.

You mix up a warm, melted solution of gelatin and a salt similar to table salt. In another beaker you create a solution of ammonia and silver nitrate. In the darkroom you mix the two solutions together, cool them down to make them gel into a solid, wash out the impurities, and then cook again to increase sensitivity. Then you coat glass plates. Mine are cut from old storm windows.

I expose in homemade cameras from 4x5 to 8x10, process in modern M-Q developers, use conventional fixers and end up with very high contrast negatives that are blue sensitive and have an antique look to them.

The illustrations shown here are done digitally. And digital is great for publishing. But when it comes to photography as an artistic pursuit, "real" photography is chemical... what we call analog these days.

Making gelatin emulsion is not easy, but there seems to be a growing interest. I've been at it for a number of years, and am working out the bugs. It takes time, chemicals and equipment.

If you think an oil painting of Elvis on velvet is great art, then you won't understand this. But if you have an interest in photography, try some alternative processes. Jump in anywhere and get started.

Books? I recommend John Coffer's wet plate book for practical details on albumen printing together with the classic by Reilly: Albumen & Salted Paper Book.

When it comes to calotypes and building cameras and equipment, you must have Alan Greene's Primitive Photography (expensive, but worth it).

For making gelatin emulsions we have Burbank's Photographic Negative and Wilson's book. Photographic Emulsions by Wall, and Photograph Emulsion Technique by Baker are classics. One excellent modern book is Silver Gelatin by Reed & Jones.

Once you've absorbed the info in these books you can become an 19th century photographer.