Recreate 1800's Old-style photographs

<p>I have searched all over the internet for techniques to recreate/reproduce old-style studio portraits, such as those of the Civil War studios. I have a 4x5 field camera (with a couple lenses) and extensive studio lighting. It looks like I should use my 4x5 to recreate the tack-sharp image, as well as a shallow depth-of-field & diffused-high-key lighting. I'm open to either film & darkroom or digital camera & digital darkroom processing. I'll try to attach a sample photo. Any advice?<br>

Thanks,<br>

Josh</p><div></div>

<p>Is the photographer a relative Joshua?</p>

<p>re wiki:<br>

The <strong>collodion process</strong> is an early <a title="Photography" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography" title="Photography">photographic</a> process, which was replaced at the end of the 19th century with dry plates - glass plates with a photographic emulsion of silver halides suspended in gelatin. The gelatin had the effect of greatly increasing the speed of the plates enabling shorter exposure times.<br>

The wet plate collodion process was still in use in the printing industry in the 1960s for line and tone work (mostly printed material involving black type against a white background) as for large work it was much cheaper than gelatin film.<br>

The process is said to have been invented, almost simultaneously, by <a title="Frederick Scott Archer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Scott_Archer" title="Frederick Scott Archer">Frederick Scott Archer</a> and <a title="Gustave Le Gray" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Gray" title="Gustave Le Gray">Gustave Le Gray</a> in about 1850. During the following 30 to 40 years it was popular, and many photographers and experimenters refined the process.</p>

<p>The effect in your studio, i'm thinking, may be achievable using a grid spot above camera, and a down light for the hair, a fore an unbleached canvas background.</p>

<p>Let's stat by talking about how the civil war era photos were taken. The photographer would have used the wet plate, collodion process. Wet plates are sensitive to UV and the extreme blue end of the spectrum. The photos were probably taken in a daylight studio, a studio with large north facing windows to let in the sun light. Hence the "soft" diffused lighting and shallow depth of field. Also, most cameras of that era used very simple lenses with wide apertures. A wet plate has an effective ISO of around 1, so they needed a lot of light to make an exposure without movement or blur. (The photos also could have been taken outside, with a backdrop and a canopy over the subject to diffuse the light. Richard Avedon used a similar set up in his American West shoot. Although, the example you posted looks like it was in studio.) </p>

<p>Now, how can you recreate the above. One way would be to actually shoot wet plate collodion. I do this and the results are unique, but the process is time consuming and there is a long learning curve. Studio lights are worthless for collodion, however. You would need sunlight.</p>

<p>Another way to get close to the look is to shoot ortho or lith film, a film that is only sensitive to blue light. Freestyle has these types of film in stock and their website has instructions for developing the film to get a full scale negative. This film will get you close to the tonality of the wet plates. Combine that with a period lens and very soft lighting and you should get close. Using studio lights, you will need to make them as big as you can, very large soft boxes at a minimum. or you could bounce light off the walls and ceiling if you have white walls. The windows in civil war studios usually covered the whole wall and were angled back at the top to take up part of the ceiling.</p>

<p>The next step would be to print the negative in a manner similar to that used during the civil war. The photos from that time would have been either tintypes, a direct positive on a sheet of tin covered with an asphalt like substance, or a paper print made on albumen paper. The albumen paper has a very distinct look. Untoned, it has an orange cast, toned with gold it will go toward black or purple. You can get close to the look of albumen paper with Ilford warm tone paper toned in selenium. Ilford paper will go toward brown and purple with a strong toning bath and an extended toning time. The tintypes have a coloring similar to modern enlarging papers. </p>

<p>Wet plates also had a very long tonal range. My wet plate negatives print well on platinum or print out paper. To duplicate the look, you will need to develop your film to a long tonal range and print on a soft grade of paper, say grade 0. </p>

<p>Hope that helps. </p>