The Picture's The Thing

[Music] Our Story begins 93 million miles away on the surface of the Sun every instant light leaves from here and a few minutes later it lands on the Earth from any object you look at it reflects back into your eyeballs and by a wonderful instantaneous nerve process a picture forms on a screen in your brain the image is translated upside down but a further refinement of the process flips it right side up so fast you never know the difference as long as you keep looking the picture is there but if you shut your eyes it is gone for centuries people had no other pictures than the reflected images of life in trying to figure some way of recreating the things they saw they invented Art In Time art developed but it was stationary crowds used to gather when the Old Masters were exhibited so hungry were they to see pictures then in 86 13 years before the introduction of Photography a process pictures was in invented this look on New Stand today and see the results of that obscure invention 1826 look around you at the civilization of the 20th century and see its effects a picture introduces you to the inventions and developments you will want next the manufactur and distribution of products is the heartbeat of modern business the use of photo engraving has done more to create modern business than any other single agency it is one of the commonplace Miracles but one of the greatest of all human inventions here may be the picture of the next refrigerator you own or a picture of the cake you'll be eating for dinner tomorrow this may be your next pair of shoes here a thirst quenchy sometime today pictures of things created for you by your fellow Americans how would we communicate with each other if it were not for advertisements what would advertising be without pictures it looks like an everyday scene somewhere in the USA you get the feeling of sunlight and air maybe it takes you back the air the sun The Nostalgia are really compounded of ,000 infinitesimal dots dots that pick up ink in the press and transfer them to paper this is a halone photo engraving close up this is what an engraver has to think in terms of dots the principle isn't hard to explain it's the work that takes a lot of doing the copy is photographed with a glass screen in front of it glass etched with up to 133 or more perfect lines to the inch this forms the picture in a pattern of dots the picture is photo printed on a metal plate the plate has been treated so the image can be turned to an acid resistant Surface by Heating the rest is etched Away by acid this cuts out everything but the dots which can thus pick up ink and print the same is true for four color pictures except that you have to have a plate for every color and they must register one on top of the other weeks or months before you see an ad in print the picture begins as a photograph a drawing or a painting which is finally ready as copy for the engraver the captured scene is starting on its journey to millions of printed Pages the plate is first of all a negative for a lot of jobs they still prefer to make wet plates hand craftsmanship shows up at the very beginning try juggling a clear glass while you flow on codeon as a base and finally the light sensitive nitrate of silver for other jobs commercially produced plates or strip film are used if it is a line drawing to be photographed the lines themselves will print after the surrounding metal has been etched away so no screen is necessary but for half te work the screen is the device that makes possible the texture the lights and shadows to give a picture life for a black and white half tone only one negative is needed but for four-color work there must be a negative for each color one is shot through a filter that subdues all but the yellow tones there is another for the blue one for the red and one for the black plate the half tone screen is angled differently for each color negative so that the dots will not superimpose each other it is all worked out on a Precision basis scaling is another measure of accuracy the negatives must be the exact size of the final plates the picture as you see it the photo engraver needs skill and knowhow developed carefully over long years of practice and a host of elaborate equipment things like this help bring you the pictures that introduce you to new facets of life every day special prisms for reversing the negatives as they are exposed because the plates have to read backwards for printing Impressions a great collection of finely etched haltone screens that produce big dots for grades of paper like newsprint fine dots for fine papers special equipment for photographing color transparencies Gallery cameras dock room cameras all of it represented in the pages you look at every day but when the negatives are produced the really detailed work has only begun now it is the job of the strippers the picture is a thin sheet of codeon and it is p heeld off the glass working with the layout the key drawings and copies the stripper builds up the final negative from the codian components which he cuts out with a knife as sharp as a scalpel when you look at an ad think of these fellows and their work one of the basic jobs of civilization and you may not have known that it existed different types of plates call for different operations but when you see the final result of any of them it may introduce you to new possessions maybe a week or more has gone by up to this point and now comes the operation of printing the negative on metal the plate has to be coated with a B chromate solution that will fix the image on metal the plate is dried in a special whirl dryer this is like making a photographic positive print only the by chromate or Emulsion is so slow it requires a long exposure under Ark lights water develops out the image and if you need to check it at this point an Lind D will bring it up the burning operation hardens the image to produce an enamel that is acid resistant in general etching will take place between the dots and wherever the metal is be half tones black and white or color are made on copper now you might say that the job is just properly begun etching is the next step and the plates move to another crew of craftsmen who have to be able to read dots as easily as you read the headlines in the etching machine which works just the opposite to electroplating in that it eats away metal they make the first bite just barely enough this time to see how things are going and get a little depth in the plate this is what they call staging because the work requires so many stages after the plate has been powdered they work it over with a special acid resistant ink they regulate tones and effects by holding back certain spots and areas then hardening of the ink on the gas burner etching some more in the iron solution repowering preparing for another stage keeping up the process as they translate what they see in the copy into the effects on metal that will eventually produce a perfect reproduction it may take several days of this tedious work before the etcher feels he has captured the picture on metal in color plates there are tricky DEC decisions to make like bringing up the yellow under all the colors that call for solid yellow undertone but black and white plates aren't easy either this is one modern operation which cannot depend on Machinery there is still the Deep edging operation and the process that involves dragon's blood an acid resistant substance made from a melean palm tree as the bite goes deeper there is a chance of undercutting so they build up the sides by brushing on this special red powder one Brushing in each Direction and sometimes more after a plate is etched deep enough it still isn't finished this is the job of the finishes for ease of handling they hold the plate on a little leather bag of sand and go to work with an array of delicate tools patience is another tool you begin to notice as the slow hours go by patience and skill KN how in all its Glory this means really intimate work with the dots look at a half tone reproduction with a magnifying glass get right down among the dots that are organized to do things to your imagination with pret Inc these boys can clear out dots that are clogged or they can bring up lost dots with the point of a tool and delicate muscle coordination the tools have efficient names lining tool angle tint tool dot razor flat Chaser shooter and a lot more at first we taught the basic idea of photo Engraving it looked simple but what we have seen of the actual work are only the highlights there is still excess metal to be routed out this is done by Machinery but it isn't automatic the machine has to be carefully Guided by hand with smaller tools for the very close work to accommodate some types of presses some of the plates are mounted on selected Cherrywood after about a week the plates are ready for proofing how does it look here is another inspection it may have to go back again to the etchers and finishers for the fine points of perfection color proofs involve critical registration and Corrections on as many as four plates that have required up to 4 weeks to produce it has taken a long time a progressive proof shows the impression from each plate proofed in its own color and how the colors print over each other in the proper rotation producing the finished forc color proof the job has involved things like special handmade negatives a host of chemicals most people never hear of gas burners dragon's blood razor sharp knives Ark light staging ink and acid baths to say nothing of Shooters and draw tools but also it has involved a feeling for highlights Shadows tones and textures it has involved steady hands Keen eyes patience critical microscopic inspections to see if the plates are etched deeply and cleanly enough and something that is acquired slowly over long years know how a Mastery of lines and dots to create pictures for in advertising the heartbeat of modern business the picture is the thing [Applause]