Chapter 791 Cheap Paper Photos
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Luo Chong automatically imagined the crisp shutter sound that didn't exist at all. The camera in front of him was too rustic. The shutter didn't exist at all. Exposure depended on manually removing the lens cap. But for humans at that time, being able to have such black and white photography technology was like being in a fairyland.
Then the family went through a lot of trouble. First, they took a photo of little Luo Lan holding a flower basket in the garden alone. Little Luo Cheng strongly requested to ride his wooden horse and took a photo with his sister holding a wooden sword. Then there was a photo of Luo Chong, Xiao Die and Zhan Ying, a photo of Luo Chong and Tang Yao, a photo of Tang Yao, Xiao Die and Zhan Ying, and Tang Yao took a photo of herself.
Because this silver plate wet photography technology must be developed immediately before the reagent dries up, they can see the finished photos within three minutes after each shot. This instant photo-taking technology greatly increased their interest because they can see the finished product immediately after taking the photo.
Xiaodie and the others were having a blast, but the negatives produced by Qubing and his team were limited. When there were only two photos left, Xiaodie suggested taking a photo of Luo Chong alone, and then the three women took a photo while pushing a bicycle.
At first, Tang Yao wanted to take the photo while riding a bicycle, but the exposure time of the silver plate photography reached at least eight seconds, and during the exposure process, the subject could not move at all, otherwise the photo would be blurred and blurry, and nothing could be seen. In the end, they had to take a photo of the three of them while pushing a bicycle.
The three women who took a bunch of photos immediately started to chatter and discuss which photo was better, and Luo Chong called Zhan Ying over at this time.
"Husband, what's the matter?"
"Come closer." Luo Chong waved to her. Zhan Ying blushed a little when she whispered in front of so many people, but she still went to Luo Chong's side as he said.
"Go prepare some pig skin and bones, and then use lime to do this and that, and then get some egg whites, add some salt, and then go to my study to get some white paper for drawing, and do this and that."
Luo Chong whispered, and Zhan Ying covered her mouth and giggled, and finally stared at Luo Chong with wide eyes in disbelief, "Husband, is this really okay?"
"Why, you still don't believe me?" Luo Chong pretended to be dissatisfied and
asked back. "No, then I'll do it now." Zhan Ying covered her mouth and laughed, and immediately agreed.
"You are pregnant, don't do it yourself, just direct the maids to do it." Seeing her turn around and leave, Luo Chong hurriedly instructed.
"Got it, husband, don't worry."
After the women and children returned to the house, Luo Chong called Qubing and the others to make separate arrangements.
"Ao Fei, go to the wood processing factory in Hanyang City and use the materials there to improve the camera as I said. Make a small handheld camera. Use leather to sew a retractable zoom box on the front, and then make this photo enlarger according to the structure I said.
Wen Nong, you go back to the institute immediately and make the barium sulfate tracer according to my requirements.
Qu Bing, you take 30 horseback guards to the foot of the mountain north of Hanyang City to clean up a shooting range and set up a cordon to prevent people from accidentally breaking in. Also, don't let those who hunt accidentally enter. Then you take people to measure the land and make a mark every ten meters from the shooting position to the middle of the target position. Keep it for us to test the trajectory later."
The three of them immediately bowed and agreed, and then went their separate ways. Luo Chong also found his personal guard leader and asked him to send someone to the Industrial County to urge the equipment and instruments.
Three days later, with many people working together, the things Luo Chong needed were delivered to him one after another.
First, Zhan Ying brought over a large jar of pale yellow translucent gelatin flakes. This was the material that Luo Chong was going to use to make dry film. Gelatin is actually solid collagen with extremely high purity.
It is very nutritious and suitable for children. Luo Chong asked Zhan Ying to extract this material from pig skin and pig bones. First, soak the cleaned materials in lime for a day and a night, then take them out and wash them, and simmer them over low heat for six or seven hours. After obtaining the collagen, they were repeatedly washed and boiled, and finally solid gelatin was formed.
This means that many people may not know what gelatin is, but in fact most people have seen and eaten it. It is the transparent capsule shell of capsule drugs.
The nature of gelatin is relatively stable. It will not change easily under normal circumstances. It is also insoluble in water. It can only be dissolved into a viscous liquid in hot water. This is the base material that Luo Chong is going to make the "negative film".
Since there is a negative film, it is definitely necessary to transfer the photo paper. Luo Chong uses the most popular and cheapest photo paper in the world before the birth of film, egg white photo paper.
The method is to crack the fresh eggs, pour out the egg white, not the egg yolk, and then add salt to make it saturated with salt, then beat it, and then precipitate the clear and pure egg liquid. Finally, this salty egg white water is evenly applied on the paper and dried.
Of course, this is not a finished product. Before use, a layer of silver nitrate must be applied to make the photo paper sensitive to light, because this method of transferring the photo paper from the negative film is actually equivalent to secondary photography. It can also be understood as using a projector to expose the image on the transparent negative film to the photo paper, making the photo paper a photo with a positive image.
Therefore, gelatin alone is not enough to make negative film. Silver nitrate is also needed to make it photosensitive. However, the negative film made in this way does not need to be taken to the darkroom for development immediately. It can be developed together in the darkroom after all the photos are taken. This is dry photography, which is also the technology of the previous stage before the emergence of film. Except that the substrate is not soft film, it is not much different from film cameras.
Ao Fei has also made the first small wooden camera according to Luo Chong's requirements. The wood used is the nanmu that Luo Chong brought back from the Tang tribe. This wood is strong and insect-proof.
The new camera is very small and exquisite. A light-shielding cover connected to folded leather is installed on the front panel. A simple pull-out shutter is installed behind the lens. The middle part inside is the card slot for the viewfinder glass and negative film. At the back of the camera, a small mirror is installed diagonally to reflect the light from the lens to the top of the camera. A small skylight is opened on the top of the camera for looking down at the viewfinder.
It looks about the same size as a common handheld DV, and it is very limited to be a little bigger than that.
There is also a wooden frame photo enlarger, also made of nanmu. Its principle is actually a vertical downward projector. The projector is fixed on a vertical base with wooden gears and racks, so that it can move up and down to focus with the photo paper. The operating table below is an empty box made of frosted glass, in which a calcium carbide lamp can be placed for easy operation. In fact, there is no technical content.
What really surprised Ao Fei and Qu Bing was the new film prepared by Luo Chong. On the afternoon of the third day, a giant eagle flew from the glass workshop on the lake island and brought Luo Chong a wooden box. Inside, there were six hundred flat crystal glasses with a thickness of only two millimeters. The size of each piece of glass was a small rectangle of three centimeters wide and four centimeters long.
Qu Bing looked at this thing and couldn't help being dumbfounded, "Chief, this can't be your film? So small?! Not even as big as an egg."
"Yes, it's because it's small that you can carry more. Look at such a small film, put in a box, can you carry hundreds of them with you? As for the size of the photos, didn't I say that they can be enlarged later?" Luo Chong explained.
"That's right. With such small films, let alone hundreds of them, I can carry a whole box of them. However, we have tried using glass before, and glass cannot preserve images." Qubing nodded in agreement, and then raised his own question.
Luo Chong directly brought out the jar of gelatin, pointed at it and said, "That's because glass cannot produce photosensitivity, even if you apply potion, it won't work, so my solution is to use gelatin to make a transparent photosensitive coating on the surface of the glass. The glass will not leave a picture, but the coating on it can.
You melt this jar of gelatin with warm water, and then evenly apply it on these glass negatives. After drying, use silver nitrate to treat it with photosensitivity, and then put it in the darkroom to dry. Remember, the negatives at this time can be used for taking pictures. Don't expose it, otherwise it will be directly scrapped. So when the negatives are completely dried, you must also store them in a dark box. I have asked someone to make a special dedicated negative box."
Qubing looked at the things in front of him and the solution given by Luo Chong, and couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "The leader is really amazing." It
's impossible not to accept this. Luo Chong actually has a way to realize all the functions he said.
Miniaturized camera, ultra-small negatives, and photo enlargers, thinking of this, Qubing suddenly asked again.
"By the way, Chief, where are the cheap photos you mentioned?"
Luo Chong took out a thick stack of semi-finished photo paper again, "Here, this is it."
Ao Fei and Qu Bing were surprised again, "Paper?! Photos?!!"
"Yes, photos made of paper, how about it, much cheaper than your copper and silver plates, right?" Luo Chong looked at their surprised expressions and immediately became proud.
(End of this chapter)
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