There may be many, however, who, having made a promising commencement, would like to proceed farther and acquire a knowledge of former photographic processes, as well as those which succeed the making of the negative, such as printing, toning, fixing, etc., and in fact, learn how to make a finished photograph.
To such, particularly, and to all photographers, this book is offered, in full confidence that it will be a useful companion in the studio and in the field.
To accomplish this end we will take the reader as an apprentice, and commencing at the beginning, instruct him in that knowledge he would have to acquire were he an actual apprentice in a photographic studio, p9 working the wet collodion process, after which an equally full course of instruction will follow for the dry plate and other new processes, both for negative making and for printing.
In the following pages, also, will be found many useful formulæ that have been carefully culled from a mass of published contributions, from many of the leading spirits in photography, most of which have been verified practically by the author, and others bear on their faces so plainly the impression of their practicability as to need no assurance that they are reliable.
In getting up this work I have availed myself of information from any and all sources at my command, giving credit where possible, and endeavoring to make everything clearly understandable, and neglecting no details necessary to the successful working of every formula, even by the youngest learner. p10
[GLASS.]
[QUALITY OF GLASS SUITABLE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES AND HOW TO PREPARE IT.]
Mr. Hardwick, than whom there can be no more faithful or competent guide, says that much care should be taken in the selection of glass to be used in the production of photographic negatives.
Window glass is always unsuitable, because of its inferior quality, having scratches upon its surface and air bubbles in its substance, each of which causes irregularities, as well in the negatives as in the subsequent printing; also the squares are seldom flat so that they do not lie true in the holder, and hence a part of the image may be out of focus; and also they are extremely liable to be broken by compression in the printing frames.
Formerly many photographers used a thin plate glass of very fine quality, but of late years the great demand for glass suitable for such purposes has made it possible for the manufacturers to prepare a cheaper quality, well adapted to the uses of photography.