Before photos were digitally edited, they were edited using light-sensitive emulsions that would react when exposed to light to change the color of the image. The two most common emulsions changed the color of the image to cyan and sepia respectively. In this project, I digitally emulated these emulsions on photoshop to make the images seem old.
In order to make a daguerrotype a silver-colored plate was exposed to iodine gas which would cause a light sensitive to appear on the surface of the silver plate. The silver plate was then placed in front of the camera and the plate was exposed to the projected image, which would react with the light sensitive layer of the plate causing the image to appear on the plate. Gold chloride would then be added to the image to give it a warmer tone.
In order to make a cyanotype, which was created long after the creation of the daguerrotype, a mixture of Potassium Ferrocyanide and Ammonium iron citrate is painted onto an image. This mixture, when exposed to UV light, turns the image a blue-cobalt color.
