Sixth Plate

A REAL PALE FACE! I hope that the kid?s retaped sixth plate dag didn?t represent the best effort of his daguerreotypist. If it was . . . well I don?t think the man or woman behind the camera lasted very long in the art of making reproductions on silver. Bright light blasted the boy from the left side of the small room. Fortunately, the operator was skilled just enough to have placed something white on the opposite side to soften what would have been very harsh shadows. The area of softness in the center of the lad?s chest was caused by lens aberration. I know that object peeking out from underneath his formal jacket looked like the butt of a pistol, but really folks, unless he was a ?pocket assassin? it most likely was something else. The daguerreian measles on the surface are so faint that even using a loupe doesn?t really accentuate them. The complete leather case was most popular circa 1844, about 5-6 years earlier than when he was taken.