Civil War Glass Negative

[zing]

Greetings,

Looking for advice on this one !
I have a glass negative from the civil war ( about 4 1/2 x 3 1/4" ) depicting soldiers inspecting the huge craters left after Richmond was shelled.

I don't know the complete history of this negative so I have to rely on what the seller told me about the location.

I've tried a few scans on a epson v550 with the negative directly on the glass but so far I haven't gotten good results. I may paint a couple popsicle sticks black to raise it off the glass and mask around it some

I'm going to try and clean it up in photoshop and try printing it too

It's a good thing I'm doing this for the fun of it

Bill

 

[The Hat]

Hi Bill just take your time and don’t for heavens sake damage it, maybe you try a back light, or don’t use the scanner at all if your not getting good results with it.

Make up a back light and mount the negative on that and use a good camera and get a couple of good close ups.

Now that you’ve started this project you’ll have to post up your results on here to show us all how it came out, it will add to the story also..

 

[Roy Sletcher]

Hi Bill just take your time and don’t for heavens sake damage, maybe you try a back light, or don’t use the scanner at all if your not getting good results with it.

Make up a back light and mount the negative on that and use a good camera and get a couple of good close ups.

Now that you’ve started this project you’ll have to post up your results on here to show us all how it came out, it will add to the story also..

Could have good historical content. Not a lot of photography around from that era. Not to mention the cumbersome nature of the procedures could be life threatening in a war zone.

Will be very interesting to see any results.

rs

 

[turbguy]

DO NOT LET THAT GLASS PLATE GET WET!

There are quite a few photos from the Civil War era. Almost all by the wet collodion process, and with a majority taken with stereo (3D) cameras. The Library of Congress' website has thousands. Here's a link to just a few:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q="LC-B815"&st=gallery

Collodion process photographs taken during an actual battle are very rare. Almost all show static and posed scenes. Some photographers were known to re-arrange the bodies of the fallen for compositional purposes! The collodion plates were sensitized on the spot, and has to be exposed and developed while still damp. If allowed to dry, the sensitivity was significantly reduced from the already very low sensitivity (think 1/2 second exposures at f5.6 in bright sunlight). With good technique, the results are quite astounding in gradation and image quality, easily matching or exceeding more modern processes.

Another common photo from the era is the Carte de Visite (a photo calling card of a personage, or even better, the forerunner of collectible sports cards).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_de_visite

In order to make multiple copies quickly, the camera had multiple lenses (four or more) to expose many images on one plate, some simultaneously, then the plate was contact printed onto a single sensitized paper sheet, then cut to produce the "cards". They were termed "multiplying cameras", and are very similar to the more modern Polaroid "passport" camera, which produced four images on one Polaroid print. See this link for some examples:

http://www.antiquewoodcameras.com/multi.html

Some of the simultaneous Carte de Viste negatives are also on the Library of Congress website. Many of those can be arranged for stereo views of personages, which I have done here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/turbguy/albums/72157632880240869

These were all taken in studio. What you can't see (unless you look really close) is the devices, clamps, and braces used to hold the person's head and stance steady for the 5 to 30 second exposures!

 

[zing]

I know its not going to be great image but I couldn't pass it up
I can't imagine ever getting a very good image but you can see enough to know what it is

On a trip to visit in laws in Pennsylvania in the early 80s I saw a greenhouse built using larger glass negatives Out of the hundreds it took, there were a few that a very faint image could still be seen

 

[Roy Sletcher]

DO NOT LET THAT GLASS PLATE GET WET!

There are quite a few photos from the Civil War era. Almost all by the wet collodion process, and with a majority taken with stereo (3D) cameras. The Library of Congress' website has thousands. Here's a link to just a few:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q="LC-B815"&st=gallery

Collodion process photographs taken during an actual battle are very rare. Almost all show static and posed scenes. Some photographers were known to re-arrange the bodies of the fallen for compositional purposes! The collodion plates were sensitized on the spot, and has to be exposed and developed while still damp. If allowed to dry, the sensitivity was significantly reduced from the already very low sensitivity (think 1/2 second exposures at f5.6 in bright sunlight). With good technique, the results are quite astounding in gradation and image quality, easily matching or exceeding more modern processes.

Another common photo from the era is the Carte de Visite (a photo calling card of a personage, or even better, the forerunner of collectible sports cards).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_de_visite

In order to make multiple copies quickly, the camera had multiple lenses (four or more) to expose many images on one plate, some simultaneously, then the plate was contact printed onto a single sensitized paper sheet, then cut to produce the "cards". They were termed "multiplying cameras", and are very similar to the more modern Polaroid "passport" camera, which produced four images on one Polaroid print. See this link for some examples:

http://www.antiquewoodcameras.com/multi.html

Some of the simultaneous Carte de Viste negatives are also on the Library of Congress website. Many of those can be arranged for stereo views of personages, which I have done here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/turbguy/albums/72157632880240869

These were all taken in studio. What you can't see (unless you look really close) is the devices, clamps, and braces used to hold the person's head and stance steady for the 5 to 30 second exposures!

Very interesting post Turbguy. I really like looking at that old stuff and your links give a wealth of information.

rs