Photography: Emulsions and Poseing


Figure 1.--We see more poses with the subjects standing in the 1860s. This early American cabinent card is undated. Because of the mount and clothing, it looks to have been taken in the late-1860s or early 70s. The emulsion was still slow enough that the photographer both uses stands as well as having the boys steady themselves on the table. (Notice that there is no drapery on the table.)

Emulsion speeds are a subject of some interest because they affected posing which can be used to help date images. The early photographic formats like Daguerreotypes had very slow emulssion speeds. This required a person to sit very still. This is why the subject in dags was often posed sitting down. Even so, studios had chairs with head rest to help the person hold his head still. The slow emulsions are why people are no smiling in dags and other early portraits. Smiles are fleeting and in fact can not be mauntained for long periods. There was a major change in posing ith the development of negarive photography and the popular acceptance of CDVs about 1860. Suddenly we see a lot of individuals being posed standing up. This was possible because of faster emulsion speeds, but the speeds were still relarively slow. Thus stanfs were needed to help the standing individul remain still. Stands behind the subjects in 1860s and 70s CDVs and cabinet cards. This became less common in the 1880s as film speeds increased, but we still occassionaly see the stands even in the 1890s.

Emulsion Speeds

Emulsion speeds are a subject of some interest because they affected posing which can be used to help date images. The early Daguerreotypes required an exposure od several seconds. Other early processes like the abmrotypes and tun type also required long exposures--up to 10 seconds. Improvements were made, but exposures of several seconds were required. Emulsion speeds increased substantially with the use of negatives and the development of albumen prints. Louis-Desiré Blanquart-Evrard in France developed the albumen process (1850), but it took several years to perfect the commercial applications. This is why the French is used for the CDV prints. Both CDVs and cabinent cards became very popular in the 1860s. This allowed greater freedom for the photographer and a greater range of different poses. The most common type of portraits were albumen prints. Albumen photographic paper captured the image on the surface instead of embedding it the paper fibers. This was a major advance maling it possible to print very sharp images on paper with a smooth, glossy surface. The term albumen is used because because egg whites were used to help achieve the gloss. The paper is sensitized with a silver nitrate solution. The sentitized paper is then exposed to a negative through a "printed-out"process. The image is produced by the light exposure without any chemical bath to develop abd desinthesize the nitrate salts. This made it highly suspectible to fadeing. Old photograph collectors are very familiar with badly faded albumen CDVs and cabinent cards. Even so, most photographic prints used this process (1860s-1890s). Emulsion speeds improved, but were still relatively slow. We see stands which had to be used to steady the subject, especially during the 1860s and 70s. Substantial increases in emulsion speeds came with the gelatin silver print at the turn of the 20th century. These prints were produced by exposing a negative to paper coated with a gelatin emulsion. This emulsion had light-sensitive silver salts. The gelatin paper was similar to albumen paper in that the images were suspended on the surface rather than being embedded in its fibers. The difference was that silver gelatin paper was "developed-out" rather than "printed-out". The gelatin silver paper captures a latent image which emerges to the eye only when developed in a chemical bath. This developing-out process permits shorter exposure times than the printing out process. It also means that the resulting images are less likely to fade. Gelatin silver printing proved such an improvement that it rapidly became the dominant black-and-white photographic process and widely used until color printing became dominant.

Poseing

Slow emulsion speeds required a person to sit very still. This is why the subject in dags was often posed sitting down. Even so, studios had chairs with head rest to help the person hold his head still. The slow emulsions are why people are no smiling in dags and other early portraits. Smiles are fleeting and in fact can not be maintained for long periods. There was a major change in posing with the development of negarive photography and the popular acceptance of CDVs about 1860. Suddenly we see a lot of individuals bing posed standing up. This was possible because of faster emulsion speeds, but the speeds were still relatively slow. Thus stands were needed to help the standing individul remain still. Some photography historians insist that the serious expresssions were at least in part the result of the seriousness of a formal portrait. This may be a factor, but as can be seen by the stands and poses designed in part to steady the subject that emulsion speed was an important factor.

Chronology

Early photoigraphs using the Daguerreotype process are almost always posed sitting down (1840s-50s). This was necessaey to keep the subject still enough for a sharplu ficused image. The Daguerreotype process could produce brilliant images, but the subject hd to remazin still. The need to hold the subject syeady was also true for ambrotypes (1850s) and early tintypes. This was necessary because the slow emulsion speeds required that the subject remain very still. We first see large numbers of full-length portraits in when the albumen process was perfected and came into commercial use (1860s). The faster speeds permitted a greater range of poses. Even so, stands were almost always used behind the subjects (1860s-70s). CDVs and cabinet cards. This became less common in the 1880s as film speeds increased, but we still occassionaly see the stands even in the 1890s. An example is an American boy in 1891. A German reader has seen stands being used even after the turn of the 20th century. The development of silver gelatin emulsions at the turn-of-the 20th century finally increased emulsion speeds to a point that short exposures were possible. Stands were no longer needed and wider range of expressions could be captured by the photographer.







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Created: 9:32 PM 1/20/2008
Last updated: 6:13 AM 1/21/2008