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Step 4Time to Develop
If you thought that your exposure took a while then you're in for a treat. This step in the process is the main point of deviation from Daguerre's method. Becquerel discovered that you can use a red filter and sunlight to develop your Daguerreotypes. Cool, huh? The downside is that it takes about 2-3 hours of sunlight.
Buy a pad of lithographic sheet called Amberlith (I've never tried Rubylith... let me know if you do). You can get amberlith from any decent art supply store. Tape a sheet of the amberlith over your film holder with light-sealing masking tape. The point of this is that the film can't be exposed to any more white light or else you will fog the image. If you're not using a film holder, you need to invent some kind of carrier out of cardboard or something and transfer the exposed daguerreotype to the developing apparatus in the darkroom. You can do this part under safelight.
Set the aparattus in the sun for about two hours. If you don't have two hours of sunlight, use a tungsten or halogen lamp as close as possible to the red film. Pro tip: get a big box fan or else your amberlith will melt and ruin the daguerreotype and your day. If using a lamp, the developing time will be closer to three hours.
If all went well, your image should start to appear on the surface of the silver plate within 15 minutes or so. If the image takes longer than 30 minutes to appear, you've blown the exposure. Don't worry, I do it constantly. Try, try again.
Buy a pad of lithographic sheet called Amberlith (I've never tried Rubylith... let me know if you do). You can get amberlith from any decent art supply store. Tape a sheet of the amberlith over your film holder with light-sealing masking tape. The point of this is that the film can't be exposed to any more white light or else you will fog the image. If you're not using a film holder, you need to invent some kind of carrier out of cardboard or something and transfer the exposed daguerreotype to the developing apparatus in the darkroom. You can do this part under safelight.
Set the aparattus in the sun for about two hours. If you don't have two hours of sunlight, use a tungsten or halogen lamp as close as possible to the red film. Pro tip: get a big box fan or else your amberlith will melt and ruin the daguerreotype and your day. If using a lamp, the developing time will be closer to three hours.
If all went well, your image should start to appear on the surface of the silver plate within 15 minutes or so. If the image takes longer than 30 minutes to appear, you've blown the exposure. Don't worry, I do it constantly. Try, try again.
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Oct 17, 2009. 7:06 AMarlen specter
says:
Rubylith does work. I'm not sure if there is any difference in developing time or image quality as i don't seem to be able to buy Amberlith from anywhere in the UK. If anyone knows where i can please let me know.
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