The Nanotechnology of the Daguerreotype

I recently found this interesting article about how early photographs used high tech nanotechnology!

New Portable Scanner
 

We can now visit you at your place to scan your documents, photos, 35mm slides and negatives!

We have a number of different specialised scanners that enable us to capture images at different resolutions.  Scanners are specialist machines and some are not easily transportable.  While our negative/ slide scanner and book scanner are highly portable our specialist large media scanner is not.
 

There are a number of small scanners on the market - many of these have inbuilt automatic functions which cannot be turned off and they do not have the ability to be colour profiled. This limits their suitability for photographic restoration.
 

Recently we found a good solution, a small portable Epson scanner with professional features and we can now scan your photos in your own home. In professional mode the Epson offers all the features required to capture a good image suitable for a large number of restoration purposes.  Our large scanner is used for images that require more extensive work, large negatives and glass-plate negatives.

A piece of family history discovered

 

 

 

So often we only know part of the story behind a family photo.  One of the advantages of digitisation is the ability to reproduce and share our photos, not only with family members but others in the community....this can lead to interesting discoveries.....

 

Recently I scanned and restored some photographs from a photograph album belonging an early Wellington family who settled here in the later part of the 1800s.  A family album dating from the late 1800s to early 1900s contained a number of beautiful sailing boat images, including one of a large ship stranded on the beach.  Neville, the photograph album owner thought the ship was wrecked somewhere down south, but knew nothing of its history.  I used this image recently, with Nevilles permission, in a pamphlet about my work, which I  took along  with me to a recent open day of the Southern Heritage Group,  held at the Island Bay Community Centre. When Marion from the group saw my brochure she instantly recognised the image and said “that’s the Bella, which was stranded at Owhiro Bay”.  She pulled out a file full of newspaper articles and including an image similar to, but not the same as the image I had scanned and restored from Neville’s album.  It was indeed the Bella.   I was delighted as I knew Neville did not have any information on the ship, its name, the date or where the stranding occurred so I was able to copy this and pass this information to Neville.  Neville was thrilled to discover new information about a piece of his family history.

 Copyright Carterworks NZ

Portrait retouching and manipulation is nothing new

Photographic editing, retouching and restoration with Photoshop is something we associate with modern high end fashion photography and advertising in the late 20^th century.  I was fascinated to read recently that photographic retouching is not a new process. As early as the 1850s as a matter of general practice photographers not only hid a subjects defects by skilful posing and lighting but also retouched or “beautified” photos removing blemishes and adding points of beauty because “the camera represented the countenance too truthfully”.  Beautification involved the “manual interference with the negative or print and the photographer then leaves his proper domain of drawing with light and becomes that curious hybrid, the painter- photographer.” 

“… Indeed, the case with which anyone with a little skill could add to or take away from parts of the picture, presented a dangerous temptation to photographers to give way to the sitter’s desire for a flattering portrait, or to obtain ‘artistic’ effects. As the practice was so widespread many photographic societies refused to accept coloured photos or required the photographer to also show the original negative next to the print.  The Colourist, a photographic publication of the time instructed that the photographer

 ’may correct with his brush defects which, if allowed to remain, spoil any picture.  For instance, where a head is so irregular in form as to become unsightly, soften those features which are the most strikingly deformed, and reduce the head to greater semblance of beauty.  Try to discover what good points there are – for all heads have some good points – and give these their full value.  In his aspirations towards the Victorian ideal the photographer would try to make his sitter’s features conform to some such description as the following (with what result, may be left to the imagination):

(For women).  A handsome face is of an oval shape, both front view and in profile/  The nose slightly prominent in the centre, with small, well-rounded end, fine nostrils; small, full, projecting lips, the upper one short and curved upwards in the centre, the lower one slightly hanging down in the centre, both turned up a little at the corners, and receding inside; chin round and small; very small, low cheekbones, not perceptibly rising above the general rotundity.  Eyes large, inclined upward at the inner angles, downwards at outer angles; upper eyelids long, sloping beyond the white of the eye towards the temples.  Eyebrows arched, forehead round, smooth and small; hair rather profuse.  Of all things, do not draw the hair over the forehead if well formed, but rather up and away.  See the Venus de Medici, and for comparison see also Canova’s Venus, in which latter the hair is too broad.

(For men) An intellectual head has the forehead and chin projecting, the high facial angle presenting nearly a straight line; bottom lip projecting a little; eyebrows rather near together and low (raised eyebrows indicate weakness).  Broad forehead, overhanging eyelids, sometimes cutting across the iris to the pupil.

 As to the most important part of the woman’s figure, the waist, one instruction interpreted photography rather generously :’the retoucher may slice off, or curve the lady’s waist after his own idea of shape and form and size’.”

Extract from Helmut Gernsheim: The Rise of Photography 1850 – 1880.

How Civil War-Era Tintype Photographs Were Made

I recently discovered this YouTube video showing how early Tintype photos were made. As the site where I originally saw this posted said, it makes you appreciate digital!

Kelburn Normal School Historic photos for a play

Earlier this year I was asked to supply a number of restored historic photos which were used as the backdrop for a school play featuring views of the school's history.  Some of the photos used are shown below:

      The school hallway 1920s

Junior school 1920s

Influenza epidemic

The top playground

Time capsule

Teacher trainees observing class

The junior school in Ngaio Road

  Kelburn School from the Glen



An early NZ Panorama

Some time ago I was asked to restore a very large old image of a Scout gathering in Carisbrook Dunedin taken in 1931. The image is fascinating as it has so much happening in it - there are troops of boys building things, standing, climbing as well as a large audience watching.  If is also interesting as an example of an early panorama taken long before images could be digitally stitched together in Photoshop or by the push of a button in your camera.  The image is for a book by Owen Rogers on the History of Scouting in NZ entitled Adventure Unplugged.   

This proved to be a fun challenge!  Not only did the original image have the usual problems of foxing and fading but it was originally taken as two images and joined together!  (I suspect the original two photos may have been manually cut).  At some stage someone had placed a round object directly onto the photo which proved to be the hardest part to fix as I also needed to bring out details in the background at the same time and get rid of the circle shape.  But I love a challenge.  After numerous layers of work I can say that I am really pleased with the final result, Owen was too.

Copyright Carterworks NZ