Handbook of American Daguerrotype | Page 9

natural, easy position, and placing the hands closely to the
body, thus preserving a propel proportion, and giving a lively familiarity to the general
impression. It is not an uncommon fault among our less experienced operators to give a
front view of the face of nearly every individual, regardless of any particular form, and
this is often insisted upon by the sitter,* who seems to think the truth of the picture exists
principally in the eyes staring the beholder full in the face.
* I might here picture some curious scenes experienced by our operators Every one is
familiar with a certain class of our community whose ideas of the importance of a free
and easy position of the body are too closely confined with stays, attention to toilet,
tightly fitting dress coats and the like, to admit of being represented as if nature had
endowed them with least possible power of flexibility. To such we would suggest the
following, to be well learned and retained in the mind while presenting themselves before
the Daguerreotype camera:
"The experience of one who has often been Daguerreotyped, is, to let the operator have
his own way."
Nothing, in many instances, can be more out of place in a Daguerreotype portrait than
this, for let a man with a thin, long, defeated-politician-face, be represented by a directly
front view, we have, to all appearances, increased the width of the face to such an extent
as to reveal it flat and broad, losing the characteristic point by which it would be the most
readily recognized. The method we should adopt in taking the likeness of such an
individual as above, would be to turn the face from the camera, so as to present the end of
the nose and the prominence of the cheek bone equally distant from the lenses, and then
focusing on the corner of the eye towards the nose, we cannot in many cases, fail to
produce an image with the lips, chin, hair, eyes and forehead in the minutest possible
definition.
It should be the study of every operator to notice the effect of the lights and shades while
arranging the sitter, and at the same time be very particular to give ease in the position.
No matter how successful the chemical effect may have been, should the image appear
stiff and monument-like, all is lost. "In the masterpiece, grace and elegance must be
combined."
I will here use the words of another, which are very true:
"So great is the difference in many faces, when inspected in opposite directions, that one
of the two views, however accurately taken, would not communicate the likeness-- it not
being, the usually observed characteristic form. When the right view of the head is
obtained, it is first necessary to consider the size of the plate it is to be taken on, so as to
form an idea of the proportion the head should bear to it. The mind must arrange these

points before we commence, or we shall find everything, too large or too small for the
happy proportion of the picture, and the conveying of a just notion of the stature. The
work will have to be done over, and time sacrificed, if this is not attended to. The
adjustment of the head to the size of the plate (as seen from the margin of the mat), is not
to be taught: everyone must bring himself, by scrutinizing practice, to mathematical
accuracy; for something will be discovered in every face which can be surmounted only
by experience.
"The eye nearest the camera, in a three-quarter-face, is placed in the middle of the
breadth of the plate; the chin, in a person of middle stature, in the middle of the length,
and higher according to the proportional height of the person."
In regard to the proper elevation of the camera, it may be here stated that I have found it
best in taking portraits where the hands are introduced, to place the camera at about equal
height with the eyes of the sitter, in order to bring the face and hands equi-distant from
the tube. It will be found, if the above be followed, that by attaching a string to the
camera tube, and making a semi-circle, that the face and hands of the sitter will occupy a
corresponding distance, and the consequence is that the impression will appear without
the hands being magnified. It has been found that a person with a freckly face can have as
fine, fair, and clear an impression as the most perfect complexion; this may be done by
the subject rubbing the face until it is very red. The effect is to lessen the contrast, by
giving the freckles and skin the same color and the photogenic intensity