62 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



hope of the distant future, when the coat 

 shall be finished. Why not let the nat- 

 uralist see the "coat" of a frog or other 

 animal or a specimen of plant life in the 

 same manner? A photograph before a 

 mirror will show at least two sides, and 

 in such an object as a butterfly or moth 



BOTH SIDES OF ONE BOUQUET. 

 Photographed in Mirror. 



this is all important because it shows 

 "over" and "under" in one view. 



Everyone has noticed the increased 

 loveliness of a bouquet when set in front 

 of a large mirror. This enhanced at- 

 tractiveness can be made permanent by 

 the "eye" of the camera. Real beauty 

 is not more than "skin deep," but it is 

 beautiful all the way around. It seems 

 a shame in photographing a beautiful 

 bouquet to slight more than half of the 

 flowers. This injustice is spared by a 

 photograph in a mirror. 



The only real difficult) in mirror photo- 

 graphy is to put into the mirror any color 

 of background to suit the subject. But 

 this is not' so difficult as it may at first 

 seem. Set the object to be photo- 

 graphed in front of the mirror as if the 

 mirror were the background. Then put 

 the proper background at the side of the 

 object and the mirror as far as possible 

 from the source of light. Carefully 

 swing the mirror, from the end next to 

 the light, till it reflects the background 

 at the darker side into the mirror. Then 

 the original not only is "doubled," but 

 both views stand out as if against a back- 

 ground. I have found it best to use 

 non-halation plates, as these plates pre- 

 vent any reflection halos. 



I cordially advise nature lovers to use 

 this form of photography for especially 

 beautiful or interesting objects. 



In photographing a series of speci- 

 mens I have found it most convenient to 

 lay the mirror fiat in front of the row 

 and then slightly tilt the front of the 

 mirror till the background shows. Then 

 the real background is back of the orig- 

 inals and the reflected background is back 

 of the reflections. This, of course, is 

 the usual method in water photography. 

 The real sky is the background back of 

 the real object and the reflected sky or 

 clouds back of the reflection. 



"The Guide to Nature" cordially in- 

 vites contributions of mirror photo- 

 graphy and will buy any that prove 

 available to show further advantages in 

 this interesting branch of nature photo- 

 graphy. 



INTERESTING ATTITUDES OF YOUNG CEDAR WAXWINGS. 



Photograph by Edmund J. Sawyer. 



