ON THE CORRECTNESS OF PHOTOGRAPHS. 713 



dicular to the surface of the picture S S, as at JB, the picture appears 

 a circle. I admit that this defect only occurs when the field of view 

 of the lens is very large, and the balls are situated very near its rim. 



A photographer brought to the author the picture of a castle hav- 

 ing a row of statues in front of it, which he had taken with a lens 

 having a large field of view. Singularly, the heads of the statues 

 toward the margin became continually broader, and similarly their 

 bodies ; and the slim Apollo-Belvedere, who unfortunately stood on 

 the very edge of the margin, had such full-blown cheeks and so pro- 

 tuberant a paunch that he looked like Dr. Luther. 



But, quite independently of these considerations, there is another 

 point that must materially affect the accuracy of photographic repre- 

 sentation. Photography generally gives the light parts too light, and 

 exaggerates the dark shadows. This is a fundamental error which is 

 associated with their very nature, and which it is very difficult to 

 avoid. It is seen in the most evident manner in taking objects lighted 

 by a brilliant sun ; for example, a statue. If the exposure is short, a 

 detailed picture is obtained of the light side, but the shady side is a 

 black daub or blotch. If the exposure is long, the shady side is full 

 of detail, but the light side exposed too much, and so thickly covered 

 that the details are wanting in it. Hence photographers are often 

 driven to subterfuges if they wish to obtain a correct picture ; they 

 are obliged to mitigate the contrasts to make the light more toned 

 down, and the shades lighter than painters are wont to make them. 

 The latter often exclaim when they see the photographic exposure of 

 a model, and wonder if the picture will be correct. And no doubt, in 

 the case of landscapes and architecture, the results are not always 

 satisfactory. 



The author once took a photograph of the interior of a laboratory. 

 It presented the appearance of an ordinary vaulted hall. All was 

 quite excellent. The tables, stones, retorts, lamps, etc., were all seen, 

 only the vaulted ceiling was quite dark. New attempts were made, 

 with exposures of twenty, thirty, or forty minutes. At length a trace 

 of the vault appeared ; but now the objects in the vicinity of the win- 

 dow were suffering from too much exposure ; that is, they had become 

 as white as if they had been snowed over. This circumstance of pho- 

 tography exaggerating the dark parts appears again in very simple 

 matters, such as the reproduction of copper-plates. A photographer 

 once reproduced a painting of Kaulbach's " Battle of the Huns." He 

 produced a charming photograph, but the city in the background ap- 

 peared too thick and black, and not sufficiently toned off. The cus- 

 tomer refused the photograph and demanded another. The photog- 

 rapher made another attempt, giving a longer exposure, and now 

 the distance appeared softened down ; but, unfortunately, the objects 

 close at hand, which had to appear black and clear, turned out gray. 

 In the end, the photographer escaped from the difficulty by negative 



