Nov. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



501 



PHOTOGRAPHIC COBKESPONDENCE. 



Clouds in Photographs (Vol. viii., p. 451.). — 

 Your correspondent on this subject may easily 

 produce clouds on paper negatives by drawing in 

 the lights on the back with common writing ink. 

 There is usually some tint printed with all ne- 

 gatives, therefore the black used will stop it out. 



It is at the same time unfair and untrue to the 

 art, because clouds cannot be represented in the 

 regular mode of practice. If they appear, as they 

 do sometimes by accident, it is well to leave them ; 

 but in no art is any trick so easily detected as in 

 photography, and it cannot add to any operator's 

 credit in expertness to practise them. W. T. 



Albumenized Paper. — In a late Number of 

 *'N.^ & Q." you published an account of albu- 

 menizing paper for positives by Mk. Shadholt. 

 Having considerable experience in the manipu- 

 lation of photographlcal art, I have bestowed great 

 pains in testing the process he recommends ; and, 

 I regret to say, the results are by no means satis- 

 factory.^ I -well know the delicacy which is re- 

 quired in applying the albumen evenly to the 

 surface of the paper, and am therefore not sur- 

 prised to find that each of his "longitudinal 

 strokes" remains clearly indicated, thereby en- 

 tirely destroying the efiect of the picture. 



He also advises that the paper should not be 

 afterwards ironed, as it is apt to produce flaws and 

 spots on the albumenized surface ; and he believes 

 that the chemical action of the nitrate of silver 

 alone is sufficient to coagulate the albumen, with- 

 out the application of heat. This I have found in 

 practice to be incorrect : for when I have excited 

 albumenized paper, to which a sufficient heat has 

 not been applied, I have invariably observed that 

 a portion of the albumen becomes detached into 

 the silver solution, making it viscid, and favouring 

 its decomposition. Consequently, the sheets last 

 excited seldom retain their colour so long as those 

 •which are first prepared. But even laying aside 

 the question of the coagulation of the albumen, 

 the paper, unless it is ironed, remains so " cockled 

 up," that it is not only unsightly, but very diffi- 

 cult to use. 100-grain solution of nitrate of silver 

 (T presume to the ounce) is also recommended. 

 In a kte Number, I find Dr. Diamond uses a 

 40-grain solution with perfect success ; and my 

 own experience enables me to verify this formula 

 as being sufficiently powerful :— no additional in- 

 tensity of colour being obtained by these strong 

 solutions, it is a mere waste of material. Therefore 

 I think your correspondent fails in efiecting either 

 economy of material or time. 



However painful it may be to me to offer re- 

 marks at variance with the opinions of your kind 

 and intelligent correspondents, yet I consider it 

 a duty that yourself and readers should not be 



misled, and so interesting and elegant an art as 

 photography brought into disrepute by experi- 

 ments which, however well intentioned, plainly 

 indicate a want of experience. K. N. M. 



[Mr, Shadbolt's scientific acquirements appeared to 

 us to demand that we should give insertion to his plan 

 of albumeniziiig paper : although ive felt some doubts 

 whether it did not contain the disadvantages which our 

 correspondent now points out. We had met with such 

 complete success in following out the process recom- 

 mended by Dr. Diamond in our 205th Number, that 

 we did not think it advisable to make any alteration. 

 For our own experience has shown us the wisdom, in 

 photography as in other matters, of holding fast that 

 which is good Ed.] 



^ Stereoscopic Angles. — Notwithstanding the space 

 you have devoted to this subject, I find little 

 practical information to the photographer : will 

 you therefore allow me to presume to offer you 

 my mode, which, regardless of all scientific rules, 

 I find to be perfectly successful in obtaining the 

 desired results ? 



My focussing-glass is ruled with a few perpen- 

 dicular and horizontal lines with a pencil, and I 

 also cross it from corner to corner, which marks 

 the centre of the glass. These lines always allow 

 me to place my camera level, because the perpen- 

 dicular lines being parallel with any upright line 

 secures it. 



Having taken a picture, I note well the spot of 

 some object near the centre of the picture : thus, 

 if a window or branch of a tree be upon the spot 

 where the lines cross X , I remove the camera in 

 a straight line about one foot for every ten yards 

 distance from the subject, and bring the same 

 object to the same spot : I believe it is not very- 

 important if the camera is moved more or less. 

 This may be known and practised by many of 

 your friends ; but I am sure others make a great 

 difficulty in effecting those satisfactory results 

 which, as I have shown, may be so easily obtained. 



H. W. D. 



Photographic Copies ofMSS. — I am glad to find 

 from your Notices to Correspondents in Vol. viii., 

 p. 456., that the applicability of photography to 

 the copying of MSS., or printed leaves, is begin- 

 ning to excite attention. The facility and cheap- 

 ness of thus applying it (as I have been informed 

 by a professional photographer) is so great, that I 

 have no doubt but that we shall shortly have it 

 used in our great public libraries; so as to super- 

 sede the present slow, expensive, and uncertain 

 process of copying by hand. And It is in order to 

 help to bring about so desirable a state of things, 

 that I send these few lines to your widely-circu- 

 lated journal. M. D. 



