The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPhotogravureThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: PhotogravureAuthor: Henry R. BlaneyEditor: W. I. Lincoln AdamsRelease date: June 17, 2011 [eBook #36446]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHOTOGRAVURE ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: PhotogravureAuthor: Henry R. BlaneyEditor: W. I. Lincoln AdamsRelease date: June 17, 2011 [eBook #36446]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)
Title: Photogravure
Author: Henry R. BlaneyEditor: W. I. Lincoln Adams
Author: Henry R. Blaney
Editor: W. I. Lincoln Adams
Release date: June 17, 2011 [eBook #36446]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHOTOGRAVURE ***
No. 1. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC AMATEUR.ByJ. Traill Taylor. A Guide to the Young Photographer, either Professional or Amateur. (Second Edition.) Paper covers.$0 50
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No. 27. LETTERS ON LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY.ByH. P. Robinson. Finely illustrated from the author's own photographs and containing a Photogravure frontispiece of the author. Cloth bound.1 50
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We have made arrangements with theNew York Photogravure Companyby which we are enabled to offer a series of magnificent Photogravures at a very low price.
The first is that which has been already published and described by us, being the "COURT OF HONOR," at the World's Fair. The companion to this is in preparation, and will shortly be ready. It represents a view of the "ADMINISTRATION BUILDING AND COURT OF HONOR," looking up from the Peristyle. These two pictures form a magnificent souvenir of the World's Fair, and imperishable ones, which have not been approached in artistic or technical excellence. Each measures about 18 x 22 inches, and they are printed in the best style, on paper 24 x 32 inches.
The next two pictures are photogravures from negatives made by Mr.John E. Dumont, of Rochester, and form admirable companion pictures. Their titles are, "NO DOUBT," and "IN DOUBT," and represent, in one case, a monk with a winning hand of cards, and having no doubt what his play is to be. In the other, a monk holding a hand of cards which evidently is a losing one, and, as evidently, he is in doubt as to what to play.
The story of these pictures is admirably told, and with all the well known skill of Mr.Dumont.
The next in the series is a "LANDSCAPE WITH SHEEP," by Mr.Robert S. Redfield, of Philadelphia, and can well pass for a reproduction of a painting byVerbeck Hoven, not that it is in any sense a copy of any picture, being entirely original, but in sentiment and feeling equaling the best and most artistic work of the painter. As a companion to this, "A STORM AT BRIGHTON" is published. This was one of the prize pictures at the recent exhibition of the joint Societies of Amateur Photographers of Boston, Philadelphia and New York. It is exceedingly effective as a study of cloud and motion of water, and forms an admirably suggestive study for artists. It is from a negative by Mr.Ernest Edwards, President of the New York Photogravure Company.
The well-known picture of "Flirtation" has also been engraved for this series, and will be very popular. This picture (it will be remembered) appeared in the American "Annual of Photography" for 1892.
With the exception of the two first, all these pictures measure about 16 x 12 inches for size of work, and are printed on etching paper, 22 x 28 inches.
The uniform price of all is $2.00 each. For sale by all dealers.
Other subjects will follow, from time to time.
These Photogravures will be sent, post-paid, by mail, carefullypacked, on receipt of price.
A Collection of Photogravures from the Best Representative PhotographicNegatives by Leading Photographic Artists.
COMPILED BY W. I. LINCOLN ADAMS.
THE COLLECTION INCLUDES"Dawn and Sunset,"H. P. Robinson."Childhood,"H. McMichael."As Age Steals On,"J. F. Ryder."A Portrait Study,"B. J. Falk."Solid Comfort,"John E. Dumont."Ophelia,"H. P. Robinson."No Barrier,"F. A. Jackson."El Capitan,"W. H. Jackson."Still Waters,"J. J. Montgomery."Surf,"James F. Cowee"A Horse Race,"George Barker."Hi, Mister, may we have some Apples?"Geo. B. Wood.
Printed on Japan Paper, Mounted on Boards. Size, 11 × 14, in ornamentalPortfolio and a Box. Price, $3.00.
Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price, by
These plates were made from photographs taken direct from nature. They have been most beautifully reproduced by the highest grade (copper-plate) process of the New York Photogravure Company. The plates measure 6 x 8 inches, but are printed on extra heavy plate paper 11 x 14 inches in size. Each picture is printed in a tint especially appropriate for the season which it represents, and the entire set of photogravures are in every wayworthy of framing.
The negatives were photographed from nature by Mr.W. I. Lincoln Adams, and they have beenenthusiastically praised wherever shown.
WhatGeorge Inness, America's greatest landscape painter, says of these photogravures:
"They are very charming, and should prove extremely useful in the development of the landscape art of our country."They are sold singly or in sets.Price, per copy$0 50The Set of Four1 50
"They are very charming, and should prove extremely useful in the development of the landscape art of our country."
They are sold singly or in sets.
Price, per copy$0 50The Set of Four1 50
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From the many years we have dealt in this class of supplies, we claim to be leaders in this branch of the drug trade, and by constantly replenishing and increasing our stock, and at once procuring or manufacturing all new chemical products, we are able to do full justice to all orders.
Bromide of Potassium.Bichromates.Ammonium, Potassium and Sodium.Powdered Dragon Blood, Light Colored and Dark.Metcalf Powdered Bitumen of Judea.:: ALSO ::Syrian Asphaltum.Benzole, Chemically Pure,By Can or Barrel.Etc., Etc., Etc.
The object of this book is to present to the constantly increasing number of persons seeking after practical knowledge in the art of process engraving, a comprehensive and totally reliable text-book. The book has been written with a view to instruct the amateur as well as the professional, and the writer has always had in mind the beginner, counting no detail too trivial to be fully described.
It has been written for the most part in the leisure hours, after practical service during the day in a photo-engraving establishment, so that the instruction goes directly from the shop to the pupil. It has been the author's hope, in writing this book, to so carefully describe every branch of work connected with the subject, that the beginner, who knows absolutely nothing about it, may become a practical photo-engraver from a careful reading of the work.
Chapter I.—Drawings for Photographic Reproduction. The Materials Required.Chapter II.—Chemicals used in Photo-Engraving.Chapter III.—Apparatus and the Workshop.Chapter IV.—Photographic Processes as Employed in Photo-Engravings. Preparation of the Chemicals.Chapter V.—Causes of Failure. Remedies.Chapter VI.—The Half-Tone Process. Screen Plates.Chapter VII.—Zinc Etching. Preparation of Chemicals Used in Zinc Etching.Chapter VIII.—Etching in Half-Tone.Chapter IX.—Blocking and Finishing. Tools and Materials.Chapter X.—Swelled Gelatine Process of Photo-Engraving.Chapter XI.—Lithotype Engraving for Color Work.Chapter XII.—Photographing on Wood and Other Processes.Price, in paper covers$2 00" cloth bound (Library Edition)2 50
Chapter I.—Drawings for Photographic Reproduction. The Materials Required.
Chapter II.—Chemicals used in Photo-Engraving.
Chapter III.—Apparatus and the Workshop.
Chapter IV.—Photographic Processes as Employed in Photo-Engravings. Preparation of the Chemicals.
Chapter V.—Causes of Failure. Remedies.
Chapter VI.—The Half-Tone Process. Screen Plates.
Chapter VII.—Zinc Etching. Preparation of Chemicals Used in Zinc Etching.
Chapter VIII.—Etching in Half-Tone.
Chapter IX.—Blocking and Finishing. Tools and Materials.
Chapter X.—Swelled Gelatine Process of Photo-Engraving.
Chapter XI.—Lithotype Engraving for Color Work.
Chapter XII.—Photographing on Wood and Other Processes.
Price, in paper covers$2 00" cloth bound (Library Edition)2 50
For sale by all dealers in Photographic Materials, and sent, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the publishers,
E. EDWARDS PHOTO.N.Y PHOTOGRAVURE CO.A ROADSIDE COTTAGE IN THE CATSKILLS.A Roadside Cottage in the Catskills
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A Roadside Cottage in the Catskills
PAGEIntroduction by the Editor.—Early History of Photogravure—Woodbury's Process—Other Methods,5Chapter I.—The Negative.—Quality best Suitable.—Necessity for Reversing.—Methods of Obtaining Reversals.—The Powder Process,9Chapter II.—The Transparency.—The Carbon Process.—Cutting up the Tissue.—Sensitizing.—Drying.—Exposing.—Continuing Action of Light.—Development.—Carbutt's Transparency Plates,15Chapter III.—The Carbon Tissue.—Sensitizing and Exposing.—The Actinometer,22Chapter IV.—Cleaning and Graining of the Copper Plate Plate—Grade of Copper Necessary.—Where and How to Buy it,25Chapter V.—Development of Negative Resist on the Copper Plate.—Preparation for Biting with Acid through the Gelatine,29Chapter VI.—The Acid Baths.—How to Make Them and Method of Biting through the Gelatine,32Chapter VII.—Cleaning and Polishing the Plate, with Tools Necessary for Retouching,37Chapter VIII.—Printing from the Plate.—Steel Facing,39Chapter IX.—Materials Necessary for Photogravure—List of Firms Supplying Them,41Chapter X.—Books and Articles on Photogravure, 1888-1893,44
About the year 1820 Nicéphore Niepce made the discovery that bitumen, under certain conditions, was sensitive to light. He dissolved it in oil of lavender, and spread a thin layer of the solution thus obtained upon stone. This he exposed under a drawing (making the paper transparent by waxing), and after sufficient exposure, oil of lavender was poured on. Those portions of the bitumen which had been exposed to the action of the light had become insoluble, and so remained while the lines which had been protected by the drawing were dissolved away. By treating the stone with an acid these lines were bitten or eroded, and could be printed from. Niepce afterward employed metal plates instead of the stone.
Here we have the foundation for a number of printing processes of the present day, including photogravure.
For many years, however, progress in processes for intaglio printing was very slow. In 1852 Talbot introduced a process termed photoglyphy, and in 1854 Paul Pretsch, of Vienna, patented a process which he termed photogalvanography. In 1870 the late Walter B. Woodbury, inventor of the Woodburytype process, suggested to M. Rousselon, of M. M. Goupil & Co.,[A]a process which he had discovered, and which he describes[B]as follows:
"The method, as perhaps many of your readers know, is based on the fact that some pigments used in carbonprinting have an unpleasant habit of granulating when mixed with gelatine and bichromate, destructive to their use in carbon printing and Woodburytype, but bearing the essence of success in an engraving process where grain is necessary. The origin of this method was simply owing to my getting some bad reliefs, in which this effect was first noticed. Out of this arose the photo-engraving process which, as I said before, is now claimed as the invention of a Frenchman. But I am digressing.
"This relief, possessing a suitable grain, could, by hydraulic pressure, be made to transfer its minutest details to metal without any loss to fineness, so giving a plate possessing all the properties of a mezzotint. The methods hitherto used of electrotyping would have proved useless, as all detail would have been lost. The same thing applies to the new method I am now about to bring before your readers. The latter process of getting the grain transferred to a hard metal remains the same; but the novelty is in the method of producing the grained plate. To those who have practiced the process of enameling, as used by Geymet and Alker, and others, my description will be better understood.
"I first coat a thin, polished steel plate (zinc will answer) with a very thin coating of gum, glucose, and bichromate as used for enameling. This I dry rapidly, and, while still warm and desiccated, expose under a glass positive. On removal from the frame after exposure the plate is made to take up a slight amount of moisture by breathing on it.
"During this stage I brush or dust over it any hard powder, such as emery, powdered glass, etc, but these I keep of different degrees of fineness or coarseness. No. 1, is of a coarse quality, and is used first; No. 2 is finer; and No. 3 is of the finest grain obtainable. These are obtained by passing through muslin of different degrees of fineness. Having in the first stage of moisture used the No. 1, or coarsest,powder, after a time No. 2 is dusted over and adheres to the middle tints, while the very finest tones, which have almost lost their sticky qualities by the exposure to light, are treated to No. 3.
"Now we possess a granular picture having all the true qualities required in a photo-engraved plate, or, rather, such as will give a reverse in metal having these qualities. The steel or zinc plate is then to be exposed to light to completely harden the mixture all over, and is then treated exactly as in my other engraving process; that is, pressed into soft metal by hydraulic pressure, electrotyped, and then the surface is aciercised or coated with steel. The dark parts are thus represented by a coarse grain, the middle tints by a medium grain, and the finest shades by the most infinitesimal particles, thus meeting all requirements necessary to a successful photo engraving process."
This process was taken up by a Frenchman and claimed by him as his own invention. The chief difficulty with it was that the plates before being perfect require the work of a skillful engraver, sometimes for weeks. They were therefore very costly, six dollars per square inch being charged for the making of the plate alone.
Klic's process, 1886, was the next important improvement in photogravure or intaglio printing, and since then many other processes and improvements have been introduced by Obernetter, Waterhouse, Colls, Zuccato, Sawyer and others.
In the following chapters Mr. H. R. Blaney gives a working description of the process as practiced to-day by many of the leading firms in this and other countries. This originally appeared in the columns ofThe Photographic Times, but I have made many additions that I have imagined may be of value to the student. A dividing line will be found between Mr. Blaney's writings and my own additions.
THE EDITOR.
Any negative may be used for photogravure, that is, taken from nature, or from a painting or engraving, provided it is reversed, and, in the case of paintings, should, in addition, be on an orthochromatic plate. The negative should be soft and brilliant, well exposed, and not hard or under-exposed. A reversed negative is always necessary if the print from the copper plate is required to be similar in regard to right and left, or if no other means are to be taken, to reverse the image upon the copper plate. Professionals use stripping plates especially made for this purpose for small work, or the reversed negative may be made in the copying camera. A fairly good reversed negative can be made by contact in the printing frame from an albumen print from the original negative, the print made transparent with white wax by being placed on a piece of warm, clean metal and the wax rubbed over the face. To have the negative reversed, the print should first be placed, face out, against the glass of the printing frame, with its back against the sensitive surface of the transparency plate, the back closed in and exposed to a large lamp for about five seconds. Every care must be taken that you use the best of negatives, carefully retouched if necessary, as the professional photographic etchers have informed me that (from their standpoint) the success of the whole process depends on the quality of the original negative and the care taken in artistic retouching.
It will often happen in commercial photogravure work that plates have to be made from all kinds of original negatives. In cases where these are flat from over-exposure it is well to make a carbon transparency; intensifying the image with a strong solution of permanganate of potash, and from this make a fresh negative upon a slow or Carbutt transparency plate.
Mr. Horace Wilmer says: "The class of negative most suitable is such as gives a good result by any of the printing processes. A bright sparkling negative will always give a good plate, but I do not find that any satisfactory results can be got from a soft flat negative. The negative should be as perfect as possible. It is absolutely useless to work from a faulty negative. Contrasts on it may be increased by retouching. Such contrasts are desirable because the tendency of the etching is to reduce them somewhat."
Perhaps the simplest way of obtaining a reversed negative is by placing the dry plate in the slide film inside and exposing through the glass, of course after allowing in focusing for the thickness of the glass plate. With the wet-collodion process, usually the method employed by large photomechanical printers, this method can be used because it is a simple matter to carefully examine the glass plate to be employed, but it will be obvious that with the ordinary dry plate all the imperfections of the glass, such as dirt, scratches, air-bubbles, etc., will be clearly reproduced in the image.
Another method largely employed to produce reversed negatives direct, is by means of a mirror or prism placed either before or behind the lens. The prism is the more convenient, but if large sizes are used it becomes a costly piece of apparatus. The mirror, which should be a plane of glass silvered on its surface, is a less expensive affair. By either of these means the reversed negatives can be made direct without suffering the least in quality.
With celluloid or other flexible films, printing can, of course, be done from either side. Practical men, however,say that, except with the very thinnest films, there is an undoubted loss of sharpness in the grain when these films are reversed and with some mechanical processes.
Against this, however, it may be said that better contact can be obtained in printing than if the film were upon a piece of uneven glass, as is often the case, for by backing it with a piece of plate-glass perfect contact is ensured everywhere.
We come now to the method of stripping the film from the glass. If the negative is made by the collodion process the matter is a simple one. The glass is treated with French chalk previous to collodionizing. After the negative is made and dried it is laid on a leveling stand and a solution of gelatine poured on it. When dry, it is readily stripped by running a knife all round. With ordinary dry-plates the method usually recommended is to immerse them in dilute hydrofluoric acid. The difficulty often experienced here is in the lateral expansion of the film. This will largely depend upon the plate, or rather the quality of the gelatine used. There are, however, two methods of securing the films to some medium unaffected by moisture, and so prevent expansion or distortion. The first is that recommended by Mr. A. Pumphrey and the second by Mr. H. J. Burton, modified descriptions of which are given in a recent number ofThe British Journal of Photography. If the negative is varnished this is removed. A thin film of gelatine is moistened in a dilute solution of hydrofluoric acid, one part of acid to sixty of water. This gelatine film is secured on paper by a coating of india-rubber.
The action of the dilute acid is to soften the gelatine, making it very adhesive. It can, in this state, be readily attached to the negative by squeegeeing. The acid in the film passes through the negative, and releases it from the glass. It can then be lifted off and pinned to a flat surfaceto dry. The paper can afterward be stripped off, when dry, by moistening the back with a little benzole to dissolve the india-rubber. In this manner we get the stripped negative in exactly the same size as when on the glass, to which it can be restored at any time desired.
Burton, in his method, employs collodion in place of paper as the support. The negative is first coated with a thick collodion, and this is allowed ten minutes or so to set. It is then immersed in plain water until the film loses all appearance of greasiness. A few drops of hydrofluoric acid are added to the water, and the dish gently rocked. The film will soon detach itself, when the plate should be at once rinsed. Another plate previously coated with gelatine, and dried, is placed in the dish, and the released film, after reversing, is floated upon it, the two removed together, and allowed to dry.
So far we have only treated upon reverse negatives, either obtained at once or reversed afterward. It often happens, however, that we have an ordinary negative, which is required to be reversed. This negative may be a valuable one, and the risk involved in stripping it be too great.
Another simple method of obtaining a reversed negative is by means of the powder process. Although this process is an old one, it appears to be but little known, for what reason we have never been able to define. It is by no means difficult, and by its means a negative can be obtained direct from a negative without the intermediate positive transparency.
The principle of the process is this: An organic tacky substance is sensitized with potassium dichromate, and exposed under a reversed positive to the action of light. All those parts acted upon become hard, the stickiness disappearing according to the strength of the light action, while those parts protected by the darker parts of the positive retaintheir adhesiveness. If a colored powder be dusted over, it will be understood that it will adhere to the sticky parts only, forming a visible image, the same being a reproduction of the positive printed from. The process is very useful for the production of lantern slides and transparencies, or for the reproduction of negatives. Any of the following formulæ may be employed for the manufacture of the organic substance:—