Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Research Center for Conservation of Cultural Relic (RCCCR), Tehran,Iran.
Abstract
The present research has been carried out following extensive studies and investigations on glass plate negatives available in several important historical archives and libraries in Iran, including the Golestan Palace, the Shahr Photographic Museum, and the library of the Iranology Foundation. The investigated glass plate negatives generally belong to the 19th and early 20th centuries, mostly Qajar and first Pahlavi eras. This research aims to show the importance of retouching in glass plate negatives and their preservation through studying and investigating this phenomenon.
In this study, retouching is defined as:
“Photographic retouching is a phenomenon that is used to correct the results of incomplete spectral sensitivity and poor technical manipulation or improve the general appearance of the subject.”
It is important to note two issues: 1. Although, coloring is related to retouching but it is solely an aesthetic application and it is not discussed in this research; and 2. the intended retouching in this research is historical retouching that either happened at the same time as the creation of the work or within a short time after.
The purpose of this research is to draw more attention to the retouching in glass plate negatives, as an important and integral part of these art works, and raising awareness in an attempt to try and preserve them as a result. This will not be achieved, unless a light is shed on the importance of investigating the retouches in these works and getting familiar with the information that can be extracted from these studies.
The research conducted is of an applied, descriptive-analytical type. The material presented in this research is the result of a qualitative review of the observations made from the study of historical retouching samples of glass-based photographic negatives available in several historical image document repositories. In addition, the obtained primary data has been adapted to the information available in the related historical sources.
This research has starts with a review of the history of retouching in early photographic works. Retouching, which had become common, and in some cases necessary, since the beginning of photography, continued to be popular in the glass-based photography processes (collodion and gelatin dry plate). Since glass provided a very suitable surface for manual retouching, glass negatives can be considered one of the most important examples of manual negative retouching in the history of photography. Therefore, investigating this phenomenon in this category of historical photography works can be very beneficial.
The reasons for retouching glass plate negatives briefly include the following: 1. light and contrast corrections; 2. High sensitivity of some photographic emulsions to blue and violet colors, and their insensitivity to other colors, especially red; 3. Image modification due to the recording of microscopic details by the camera lens; 4. Removing some unwanted items in the image, such as posing stand/headrests; 5. Poor appearance of negatives due to the multiplicity of materials and stages of development and fixing process; 6. Changing the statement of the photographer; 7. Changing the subject; 8. Composition promotion; 9. Fixing general defects such as scratching, and emulsion shrinkage; 10. Improving facial beauty; 11. Combining two or more successful shots of the same subject for various reasons (photo Combination); 12. Combining two or more shots of different subjects belonging to different times with multiple goals. (photo montage)
In order to investigate different types of retouching in glass plate negatives, it is necessary to use several different types of light radiation: 1. reflected light with an angle between 30 and 45 degrees, from both sides. (for observing paint, dye and paper retouching); 2. raking light which is a reflected light with an angle between 15 and 30 degrees from one side (for observing pencil retouching and preliminary retouching); and 3. Straight transmitted light (for observing abrasive, dye, and paint type retouching). All of the lights should be day light color light.
The reasons for the importance of retouching in glass plate negatives, which is the main subject of this research, are somehow directly related to the reasons for retouching. In the way that the main reasons for the importance of retouching are the same reasons for retouching in these works. This means that retouching in these works, along with the art used in doing them, always carries a hidden truth. This can be related to the technical characteristics of the image, or the characteristics of the face of a historical person in the image, or truth and facts about a historical event, or anything that can be tampered with by retouching.
Everything that we have in retouching today has been done to a large extent in historical retouching as well. The reasons that the article lists for the importance of investigations of retouching are as follows:
In some cases, retouching was used to compensate for the defects and technical shortcomings of the photography methods of that era. Examining the negative with awareness of this issue, and if possible, comparing it with the old printed version, can provide useful information regarding the negative technique, and even the approximate time of that the work. In addition, since the use of retouching has also been applied to fix the damage caused to the negative (sometimes even in the form of spotting), the possibility of mistaking retouching paint as damage to the work, and then trying to remove it exists (as it has happened in some cases). Knowing this will be very useful in protecting these works.
Retouching is also used to remove or add people or objects to the image, depending on the photographer's intention and purpose. Knowing that such a possibility existed at that time, and the fact that traces of it can only be found in the surviving negatives, can further reveal the importance of preserving retouches in glass-based photographic negatives.
Another use of retouching, which can be one of the reasons for its importance, is to use it to make one's face more beautiful. This type of retouching requires adequate knowledge of light and skills painting of the retoucher. In fact, the artistic aspect of retouching is more demonstrative in this type of retouching, and also in retouching that intended to create an unreal scene or world, or in a bad scenario, to falsify the history.
Awareness of the possibility of image manipulation with the aim of creating an artistic work, unattainable in the real world, or falsification the historical events by retouching, in the era of glass plate negatives, is another reason for the importance of studying retouching in glass plate negatives.
Another reason for investigating the retouching and trying to record them is the risk of their loss. Part of which is related to the lack of awareness of the phenomenon of retouching in glass-based photographic negatives, and another part is related to the vulnerable nature of the materials used in them.
In this article, an attempt has been made to discuss the most important issues that can shed light on the significance of retouching on glass plate negatives. According to the issues discussed in this research, it is possible to understand how multifaceted and important it is to study this integral and partially neglected part of historical glass plate negatives; and subsequently, their documentation and preservation.
Keywords
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