The History and Practice of the Art of PhotographySnelling, Henry Hunt
History
The History and Practice of the Art of Photography
Snelling, Henry Hunt
Daguerreotype; Photography
IODURET OF SILVER.--If upon a plate of polished silver we place a small
piece of iodine, and apply the heat of a lamp beneath the plate for a
moment, a system of rings is speedily formed. The first ring, which
spreading constantly forms the exterior of the circle, is of a bright
yellow color; within this, there arises, successively, rings of green,
red and blue colors, and then again a fine yellow circle, centred by a
greyish spot on the place occupied by the iodine. On exposing these to
the light, the outer yellow circle almost instantly changes color, the
others slowly, in the order of their position, the interior yellow
circle resisting for a long time the solar influence. These rings must
be regarded as films of the ioduret of silver, varying, not only in
thickness, but in the more or less perfect states of combination in
which the iodine and metal are. The exterior circle is an ioduret in a
very loose state of chemical agregation; the attractive forces increase
as we proceed towards the centre, where a well formed ioduret, or
probably a true iodide of silver, is formed, which is acted upon by
sunlight with difficulty. The exterior and most sensitive film
constitutes the surface of Daguerreotype plates. The changes which
these colored rings undergo are remarkable; by a few minutes exposure
to sunlight, an inversion of nearly all the colors takes place, the two
first rings becoming a deep olive green; and a deep blue inclining to
black.
The nature of the change which the ioduret of silver undergoes on
Daguerreotype plates, through the action of light, Mr. Hunt considers
to be a decided case of decomposition, and cites several circumstances
in proof of his position. These with other facts given by Mr. Hunt in
his great work on the Photographic art, but to voluminous to include in
a volume of the size to which I am obliged to confine myself, should be
thoroughly studied by all Daguerreotypists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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