The History and Practice of the Art of Photography E-Book

Henry Hunt Snelling

• Herausgeber: Henry Hunt Snelling
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

The object of this little work is to fill a void much complained of by Daguerreotypists--particularly young beginners.The author has waited a long time in hopes that some more able pen would be devoted to the subject, but the wants of the numerous, and constantly increasing, class, just mentioned, induces him to wait no longer.All the English works on the subject--particularly on the practical application, of Photogenic drawing--are deficient in many minute details, which are essential to a complete understanding of the art. Many of their methods of operating are entirely different from, and much inferior to, those practised in the United States: their apparatus, also, cannot compare with ours for completeness, utility or simplicity.I shall, therefore, confine myself principally--so far as Photogenic drawing upon metalic plates is concerned--to the methods practised by the most celebrated and experienced operators, drawing upon French and English authority only in cases where I find it essential to the purpose for which I design my work, namely: furnishing a complete system of Photography; such an one as will enable any gentleman, or lady, who may wish to practise the art, for profit or amusement, to do so without the trouble and expense of seeking instruction from professors, which in many cases within my own knowledge has prevented persons from embracing the profession.

Leseprobe

Henry Hunt Snelling

The History and Practice of the Art of Photography

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Table of contents

PREFACE.

CHAP. I.

CHAP. II.

CHAP. III.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VII

CHAP. VIII.

CHAP. IX.

CHAP. X.

CHAP. XI.

CHAP. XII.

CHAP. XIII.

PREFACE.

The object of this little work is to fill a void much complained of by Daguerreotypists--particularly young beginners.The author has waited a long time in hopes that some more able pen would be devoted to the subject, but the wants of the numerous, and constantly increasing, class, just mentioned, induces him to wait no longer.All the English works on the subject--particularly on the practical application, of Photogenic drawing--are deficient in many minute details, which are essential to a complete understanding of the art. Many of their methods of operating are entirely different from, and much inferior to, those practised in the United States: their apparatus, also, cannot compare with ours for completeness, utility or simplicity.I shall, therefore, confine myself principally--so far as Photogenic drawing upon metalic plates is concerned--to the methods practised by the most celebrated and experienced operators, drawing upon French and English authority only in cases where I find it essential to the purpose for which I design my work, namely: furnishing a complete system of Photography; such an one as will enable any gentleman, or lady, who may wish to practise the art, for profit or amusement, to do so without the trouble and expense of seeking instruction from professors, which in many cases within my own knowledge has prevented persons from embracing the profession.To English authors I am principally indebted for that portion of my work relating to Photogenic drawing on paper. To them we owe nearly all the most important improvements in that branch of the art. Besides, it has been but seldom attempted in the United States, and then without any decided success. Of these attempts I shall speak further in the Historical portion of this volume.Every thing essential, therefore, to a complete knowledge of the whole art, comprising all the most recent discoveries and improvements down to the day of publication will be found herein laid down.

CHAP. I.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ART.

As in all cases of great and valuable inventions in science and art the English lay claim to the honor of having first discovered that of Photogenic drawing. But we shall see in the progress of this history, that like many other assumptions of their authors, priority in this is no more due them, then the invention of steamboats, or the cotton gin.

This claim is founded upon the fact that in 1802 Mr. Wedgwood recorded an experiment in the Journal of the Royal Institution of the following nature.

"A piece of paper, or other convenient material, was placed upon a frame and sponged over with a solution of nitrate of silver; it was then placed behind a painting on glass and the light traversing the painting produced a kind of copy upon the prepared paper, those parts in which the rays were least intercepted being of the darkest hues. Here, however, terminated the experiment; for although both Mr. Wedgwood and Sir Humphry Davey experimented carefully, for the purpose of endeavoring to fix the drawings thus obtained, yet the object could not be accomplished, and the whole ended in failure."