I found I had a daguerrotype in the original wrapping. There are so many fingerprints on it it makes it impossible to recognize the face of the man on it.
Can a person clean a daguerrotype without ruining it?
2006-09-07 12:18:43 · 4 answers · asked by Differently-abled musician 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Photography
Daguerreotypes are something that you dont want to try to clean on your own unless you really know what you are doing. Many a daguerreotypes have been destroyed for the exact same reason that you are writing. They try to clean the dags themselves but little do they realize just how thin the image is on the silver plate hence the reason as to why daguerreotypes are almost always found in a small wood and glass case. You are best to contact one of the preservationist from this website http://www.daguerre.org/ if you cant get anyone from there try the webmaster at newdags.com
I myself am a modern dagguereotypist and am quite familiar with the delicate nature of these photos, sometimes all you have to do is brush up against an abrasive surface and the image is gone. So the idea of using 409 and a terry cloth just isnt going to work, maybe with an ambrotype or tintype, but not with a dag. Not to mention that dags are historical treasures, just consider that person last year who stumbled onto an early dag portrait of Abraham Lincoln, as I recall that portrait sold for a few hundred thousand dollars. Also the other problem with scanning daguerreotypes is the fact that dagguereotypes can only be seen from certain angles, usually when viewed directly it may seem to be a negative or for that matter nothing but silver, so if you scan the image it would most likely appear totally silver or faint and reversed in tonality. On the other hand if you can see your dag from all angles without a problem then you may have a ambrotype/tintype which are far more commonplace than dags.
2006-09-07 19:19:19 · answer #1 · answered by wackywallwalker 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Fingerprints are grease-based. I would try a small test area using a solvent like rubber cement thinner or an even smaller test area using a household solvent like 409. Use a q-tip for these tests.
Another alternative would be to scan the daguerreotype and use an image editing application to retouch.
2006-09-07 13:28:35 · answer #2 · answered by Joe D 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The photograph must be a sparkling photograph unmarked with in user-friendly terms scientific positioned on on the face which includes glass's. The Bindi ought to be misinterpretted as a birthmark or different organic marking (or tatoo). it may enable jointly as a detrimental case one to contest in courtroom that assuming guy or woman commits a criminal offense by way of fact of loss of the mark vs the mark on the id that it shows fake police id. only diverse means blunders interior the way. additionally as its seen a cultural face mark "partly" overlaying the face (i comprehend proper, super minor dot huge deal) others ought to then use the comparable arguement to permit cultural face coverings which includes a partial face mask and at last an entire facial mask like a Burka. Its only a rule to ward off cultural regulations and seperate rules.
2017-01-05 03:48:05 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try denatured alcohol first... it's not quite as nasty (or permanently damaging) as solvents.
2006-09-07 15:27:59 · answer #4 · answered by joyfulpaints 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋