Chapter 585 An Incredible Birthday Gift
It was a sunny day today. Edwards, the Grand Duke of Milan, was chatting with some old friends in the garden. His grandson Gianni and his fiancée Anita were also present.
These old friends are all veteran nobles of the Kingdom of Sardinia. They have known Edwards for many years, and Jenny can only consider himself a junior in front of them.
As soon as Edwards heard that Frederick was about to deliver a birthday gift, he immediately called him in.
Frederick brought a large group of people, many boxes, and a large tent.
Edwards was waiting for Frederick's men to set up the tent and prepare their things. He saw someone placing a large black box on a tripod and asked curiously: "What, you want to paint a portrait of me?"
< br>The technique of using small holes to form reflections and a camera obscura is already very mature, and Edwards also used it several times.
Frederick smiled and said: "This time is different, please take a good posture."
There was a wisteria flower wall in the garden, and the servant moved a chair to the front. Edwards adjusted his clothes and sat on the chair to position himself skillfully.
Frederick watched with interest as a photographer man was tinkering. This was the same guy who had taken a photo of himself and a pig.
The camera they used was similar to the one they used on the day they took the photos of Frederick and the pigs. It was about the size of a microwave oven. One side was a lens, this time with an aperture, and the other side was translucent snow-white silk. Edwards's reflection appeared on the silk. .
After the adjustment is completed, the photographer adjusts a small mechanism next to the lens, confirms that the light shield covers the lens, then pulls out the iron frame with white silk, replaces it with an iron plate film, and then pulls out the film Front visor.
The steps are written on the side of the camera. There is a small slide behind each step. After completing the steps, move the slide to the "Complete" position to ensure that no steps are messed up or missed.
The photographer said to Edwards: "Sir, please look at the camera. After I count down to one, please don't move for five seconds."
Edwards didn't know what they were doing. Ghost, but still nodded in agreement.
"3...2...1..."
The countdown is over. The photographer turns the lever to open the mask behind the lens. At the same time, he counts the time with his pocket watch. As soon as the time goes down, he moves the lever to close the mask. .
He inserted back the light shield of the iron plate film and immediately sent it to the tent next to it.
Frederick told Edwards with a smile that it was done and that he should hurry up and bring up the delicious snacks.
The leader is eating and drinking, and his subordinates are busy non-stop.
They first developed and etched the film, then printed the image on a transparent film with water-soluble black dye, and then transferred the image to a larger iron plate film through optical instruments, and then developed and etched the large film. Finally, ten black and white paintings were printed.
This method of enlarging printing works well. When I explained it to Frederick this morning, there was an image of him taking a photo with a pig. Not to mention Frederick, the wrinkles on the pig's nose were clearly visible.
“It’s wrong to draw so fast...”
Edwards thought it was a painting, but he noticed something wrong at a glance. Not to mention himself, the strings of wisteria flowers in the background were It's the same in every painting.
They also took it to the site for comparison and found that they were all exactly the same.
If these places were drawn by hand, it would be impossible to draw them in a short time.
Edwards asked Frederick: "How is this done?"
Frederick said: "I don't know the details, I just know a rough idea."
He really didn’t understand some details of this camera, especially the lens, which accounted for 80% of the price of the entire equipment, and the other 15% was the film enlargement equipment.
No one understood Frederick’s explanation.
He simply ignored it and turned to ask Jenny: "Now is an opportunity. Would you like to take a photo with Anita, print it out and send it home to show His Majesty the King and the Queen?"
Jenny I had thought about it for a long time and agreed immediately. Anita had already gone to bring the chair.
After Edwards learned that these photos could be printed just like copper plate paintings, he signed all ten photos and gave them to his old friends as a souvenir.
In order to eliminate the influence of his group photo, Frederick said on the sidelines: "These portraits are unprecedented and have historical value. If you collect them, they will be sold for thousands of gold coins in a few hundred years."
Everyone thinks it makes sense.
Edwards asked Frederick: "Can it be printed in color?"
Frederick replied: "For one or two pictures, you can find someone to color the base plate alone. Large-scale printing requires special tools. This requires "For a while."
He only found out today that someone wanted to sell Frederick's photo. It was normal to hang portraits of kings and lords at home, but Psyche suppressed the matter. It's very simple. Every household in the Duke of Wesson hangs a black and white portrait of Frederick. Psyche doesn't dare to think about how Frederick's face will react when he comes back.
If you want to take color photos, you can only start with coloring. We are currently researching it and the results are expected to be available soon.
Frederick continued: "I gave you this set of equipment. You can arrange some smart people to learn from it."
Edwards's face smiled as brightly as the sun in the sky, waiting for Jenny I took a few photos with Anita, invited old friends to come over to take photos, and then invited Frederick to take a group photo.
Finally, Edwards called the whole family to take the world's first family photo of more than two people.
He couldn't put it down now. He held a buffet dinner in the garden that night. Not only did he display the large photos during the day, he also took photos with several senior parliamentary officials.
The painter, with the assistance of the photographer, colored the iron negative and printed a huge color photo.
The guests were amazed, many of them were enlarged, and many young girls and young wives kept nuzzling towards Frederick.
Now Frederick was busy thinking about how to make money and had no energy to pay attention to them.
At this time Edwards came over and joked about Frederick's beauty, and then asked: "I want to open a shop to take pictures of people, is that okay?"
This equipment is Philip's It was a gift from Te Lie. He wanted to use it to make money, so he naturally had to ask clearly.
As the saying goes, photography is poor for three generations. At present, it is not about self-deprecation and ridicule. Only nobles can afford it.
He also understood that people would not give away forage when they gave a horse. He asked about the price of the consumables, and then waved his hand and bought them according to the car.
If you do not keep the iron negative but keep the transferred rubber negative and recycle the iron negative, the cost of photography will not be ridiculously high.
After calculating the cost of a photo, he thought it could be used to make money.
Frederick laughed. Cameras had to be sold, and the smooth and flat iron negatives and consumables such as photosensitive and developing materials were the main source of profit.
He replied: "No problem, Weissenburg is also planning a photo studio."
"Let me tell you, photo studios make money very quickly."
"For example, if a child takes a picture when he is born, and then takes a picture every year on his birthday, that is not very good. "It's a commemorative thing."
"Also, like the photo of your family just now, which was taken today, whoever gets married or has a new child born in a few years, will they have to take it again?" "
"And those schools, after everyone graduates, do you want to take a group photo as a commemoration?"
"When Adele and Jenny got married, the bride and groom were Don’t you want to take a photo as a souvenir?”
"Ordinary people don't need such big photos. It's much cheaper to take a palm-sized one, so you can take a lot."
"You can also learn how to use stage curtains and paint scenery from various places indoors. You can take a lot of backgrounds, what do you think?”
“And those businessmen, don’t you have a newspaper? You can decide how much you charge for taking a photo of your product and advertising it in the newspaper?” "
After hearing this, Edwards sighed: "I used to think that you would make money because you stole other people's ideas. Now I am convinced. You are really a money-making genius. You have thought of this in a short period of time. There are many ways.”
Frederick smiled, and that was right.
Then someone asked him if he could buy a set.
During the day, Jenny asked the griffin knight to send the photos of himself and Adele back to his father and mother in Di Baili City immediately. Not long ago, an urgent telegram came over: "I want it too. !”
Frederick called back: “Please wait half a year!”
More than a dozen sets of photographic equipment were made. The key is that the yield rate of the lenses is too low. Now one set is sent out, Han The 1st Division on the front line of Macheng and the 3rd Division heading to the Kingdom of Tarago each had three sets, and the rest stayed in Weisenberg City to open a photo studio to collect funds.
So Frederick replied regretfully: "I'm sorry, the lens for the camera is extremely troublesome to make, and it will take at least half a year before we can get a new machine."
"Even so, it is still a question whether we can sell some machines here at that time."
(End of this chapter)