PHYTOPHOTOGRAPHY— OR PHOTOGRAPHING FLOWERS 



1071 



ture making up the central portion of each flower is 

 entirely lost. This defect could have been easily over- 

 come by someone holding a large, open umbrella at the 

 right distance above the plants, so as to produce the 

 proper amount of shadow for them ; this may be done 

 either by the operator or his assistant. If the former 

 does it, he should have a least eight or ten feet of tubing 

 to his shutter, in that he may stand in a place where the 

 requisite shadow can be thrown, not only to include the 

 plants but for a considerable distance about them. 



On "gray days" no such procedure is necessary ; but 

 when photographing wild flowers in the open on such 

 occasions, especial attention must be paid to the selec- 



leaves of the plant almost entirely form the background, 

 cutting out what is always a most objectionable feature 

 m pictures of this class, namely all the vegetation in 

 the background, which is conspicuously out of focus, 

 notwithstanding your having used the smallest stop in 

 vour diaphragm. In this picture, where the leaves do not 

 cut out this defect, the wonderfully deep shadows do, 

 and this was anticipated through the precautionary study 

 of the subject on the ground-glass. This result was 

 obtained on a 5x8 rapid plate, with the plant natural 

 size. A gray sky at noon tempered the light much better 

 than an open umbrella could do, for the reason that the 

 produced shadow or shading was general ; whereas, 



AN UNUSUALLY FI.\E WILD GERANIUM PLANT OR CRANE'S-BILL 



Fi&- 5 — Tliis was photographed natural size indoors with proper sunlighting. Background of smooth pine surface — huffy yellow. Flowers pale purple. 

 Detail of minute structure perfect. With ordinary lens pollen grains may be seen on anthers. 



tion of subject and background. A few years ago, when 

 collecting examples to illustrate the present article, a big 

 bed of the common, blue violet was selected for the 

 [purpose. After some ten or more studies on the ground- 

 glass of my 5x8 camera, one was finally chosen, and 

 a reproduction of a photograph made from the negative 

 obtained is here shown in Figure i. These flowers are 

 of a rich violet color ; but the thing to notice is that every 

 delicate part of the structure of any of the three of them 

 is reproduced in the minutest detail. In addition, the 



in the case of an umbrella-shadow, it is deepest at the 

 center and grows weaker toward the periphery. 



Sometimes you will come across the very subject you've 

 been looking for all day after a hard tramp, with three 

 or four miles ahead of you before you can reach home, 

 and just as the sun is barely above the horizon ; but 

 there is no use of thinking about photographing the 

 tid-bit. Only one alternative is left you, and that is to 

 take them along with you. Suppose, for example, that 

 the specimen or specimens be a group of the most ex- 



