Very good quality Cvil War photos

[N2RJ]

I always marvel at how photographers back then who took photos for serious purposes took time to take photos that were beautiful and artistic.

Today everyone just goes out with a digital camera and just goes snap snap snap and the pictures are boring and bland.

[kf0rt]

I always marvel at how photographers back then who took photos for serious purposes took time to take photos that were beautiful and artistic.

Today everyone just goes out with a digital camera and just goes snap snap snap and the pictures are boring and bland.

Back then, if you took pictures at all, you were doing it for "serious purposes." Shooting on glass plates wasn't easy.

As for boring and bland -- yeah a lot of it is just that (comes from everyone having access). But the professionals today are better than ever and the tools have never been better.

[NQ6U]

At the time of the, ah, unpleasantness, my great-etc.-grandparents were being opppressed by the Czar, so I have no stake in the matter!

Same here, only mine were in Sicily, no doubt trying to escape the attentions of the Arma dei carabinieri. They didn't arrive in the U.S. until about twenty years after the Civil War.

[KK4AMI]

Back then, if you took pictures at all, you were doing it for "serious purposes." Shooting on glass plates wasn't easy.

As for boring and bland -- yeah a lot of it is just that (comes from everyone having access). But the professionals today are better than ever and the tools have never been better.

I have a strange collection of antique cameras including two Blair Cameras (one box and one view camera) from that era. I have the glass plates. I used to get a can of spray B&W emulsion to coat the plates then put them in their holders. It was fun making 4x5 plates then just contact printing them for an antique look with sepia toner. Now they sit on my shelf collecting dust. I don't even know if they make the emulsion anymore. Maybe I'll get a 4x5 digital back :)

[kf0rt]

I have a strange collection of antique cameras including two Blair Cameras (one box and one view camera) from that era. I have the glass plates. I used to get a can of spray B&W emulsion to coat the plates then put them in their holders. It was fun making 4x5 plates then just contact printing them for an antique look with sepia toner. Now they sit on my shelf collecting dust. I don't even know if they make the emulsion anymore. Maybe I'll get a 4x5 digital back :)

Good luck finding a banker to fund that 4x5 digital back. ;)

I'm not seeing anything in a brief search for spray emulsion, but liquid emulsion is still pretty widely available (it's positive, not negative however, and rather expensive). Interesting stuff, but as a "snapper of the bland and boring" I'll be okay if I never smell Dektol again.

Here's a short article on the process used during the Civil War: http://www.civilwar.org/photos/3d-ph...civil-war.html

There's even a non-profit organization devoted to Civil War photography: http://www.civilwarphotography.org/

Fascinating stuff. Beyond the "artistry" I'm amazed at how good the exposure and focus is on many of these. B&W photography 100 years later wasn't much better.

[NQ6U]

You can always make your own emulsion. Here's one site that has step-by-step instructions; I didn't pay close attention so I don't know how good they are but, if that site is lacking, there are others out there. Just Google "make photo emulsion."

[KK4AMI]

Good luck finding a banker to fund that 4x5 digital back. ;)

I'm not seeing anything in a brief search for spray emulsion, but liquid emulsion is still pretty widely available (it's positive, not negative however, and rather expensive). Interesting stuff, but as a "snapper of the bland and boring" I'll be okay if I never smell Dektol again.

Here's a short article on the process used during the Civil War: http://www.civilwar.org/photos/3d-ph...civil-war.html

There's even a non-profit organization devoted to Civil War photography: http://www.civilwarphotography.org/

Fascinating stuff. Beyond the "artistry" I'm amazed at how good the exposure and focus is on many of these. B&W photography 100 years later wasn't much better.

Big agreement on ever smelling Kodak chemicals again. With the advent of digital photography it wasn't just gays that came out of the closet.

[ka4dpo]

Great pictures but those dummies trying to cross the Patomac at Georgetown on a ferry were dumb as wood. The key bridge is just up the road...

[N2RJ]

But the professionals today are better than ever and the tools have never been better.

Yep. I know this (have some of the tools myself). :)