18thVirginia
Major
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2012
So, I looked at various articles on how to care for your old photographs.
Let's start with daguerrotypes. Let me say first that I always expected my daguerrotype images to fade and not be restorable. Someone at my college did restore one, but it involved mercury vapor or other strange things that seemed beyond my abilities.
First, daguerrotypes were generally made from 1840-1855 and the image is on polished silver, which is why they're reflective. And why they're subject to tarnish. They came in hinged cases, but only one of mine is in half a case. They are normally a reversed image.
Care of the daguerrotype:
1. Do not take the cover glass off the image.
2. You may want to photograph using a tripod.
3. You might want to use you Iphone with a scanner app.
4. The Daguerreian Society says you can use a scanner, but DON'T TAKE THE GLASS OFF. You make take it out of its case, but don't remove the gold binding or the fragile tape.
And if as an unknowledgable person you did that,, rewrap it with acid free paper and tape on the acid free paper with special tape like Filmoplast P90, available from archival suppliers.
5. Keep out of the light, in a drawer, face down.
6. Keep where there aren't extremes of humidity, like not in a basement or attic. Living in Florida and Louisiana, I will never have the recommended humidity levels. You can keep your daguerrotypes in a bank vault, which would have the correct temperature and humidity. However, mine have survived pretty well in drawers in the humid Gulf Coast.
These instructions come from The Daguerrean Society: http://daguerre.org/dagfaq.php
Ambrotypes date from 1855-1865, but were a photographic emulsion on glass, so they don't tarnish, but the emulsion may flake off. Keep them in their cases in the same environment as the daguerrotype. The Daguerrean Society doesn't mention how to photograph/scan them. In a very safe place, I have an ambrotype...and if I ever locate that safe place again, I'll reproduce it for you.
Tintypes were printed on tin from 1865 through the turn of the Century. They had the same emulsion as ambrotypes but painted on tin and then exposed. Some of them were in cases, but many were not. Keep them within acid-free paper and use whichever photographic process you feel comfortable with.
I have a higher quality scanner than just an ordinary flat bed printer and the difference in quality is noticeable, so if you're going to risk scanning, you might want to consider how good a scan you can get.
As I mentioned on the other thread, you can now use your Iphone or Android phone as a scanner. You can use Shoebox at ancestry.com if you have an ancestry account, which will allow you to upload directly to your account--or so they say.
Let's start with daguerrotypes. Let me say first that I always expected my daguerrotype images to fade and not be restorable. Someone at my college did restore one, but it involved mercury vapor or other strange things that seemed beyond my abilities.
First, daguerrotypes were generally made from 1840-1855 and the image is on polished silver, which is why they're reflective. And why they're subject to tarnish. They came in hinged cases, but only one of mine is in half a case. They are normally a reversed image.
Care of the daguerrotype:
1. Do not take the cover glass off the image.
2. You may want to photograph using a tripod.
3. You might want to use you Iphone with a scanner app.
4. The Daguerreian Society says you can use a scanner, but DON'T TAKE THE GLASS OFF. You make take it out of its case, but don't remove the gold binding or the fragile tape.
And if as an unknowledgable person you did that,, rewrap it with acid free paper and tape on the acid free paper with special tape like Filmoplast P90, available from archival suppliers.
5. Keep out of the light, in a drawer, face down.
6. Keep where there aren't extremes of humidity, like not in a basement or attic. Living in Florida and Louisiana, I will never have the recommended humidity levels. You can keep your daguerrotypes in a bank vault, which would have the correct temperature and humidity. However, mine have survived pretty well in drawers in the humid Gulf Coast.
These instructions come from The Daguerrean Society: http://daguerre.org/dagfaq.php
Ambrotypes date from 1855-1865, but were a photographic emulsion on glass, so they don't tarnish, but the emulsion may flake off. Keep them in their cases in the same environment as the daguerrotype. The Daguerrean Society doesn't mention how to photograph/scan them. In a very safe place, I have an ambrotype...and if I ever locate that safe place again, I'll reproduce it for you.
Tintypes were printed on tin from 1865 through the turn of the Century. They had the same emulsion as ambrotypes but painted on tin and then exposed. Some of them were in cases, but many were not. Keep them within acid-free paper and use whichever photographic process you feel comfortable with.
I have a higher quality scanner than just an ordinary flat bed printer and the difference in quality is noticeable, so if you're going to risk scanning, you might want to consider how good a scan you can get.
As I mentioned on the other thread, you can now use your Iphone or Android phone as a scanner. You can use Shoebox at ancestry.com if you have an ancestry account, which will allow you to upload directly to your account--or so they say.
Bringing the