18 



the only proper way is to photograph them out 

 amongst their natural surroundings, but for 

 photographing many other Natural History 

 objects, Mr. English advocates what is probably 

 the only workable plan — that is not to take the 

 camera to the object, but to bring the object to 

 the camera. As (in the advice of the cooking 

 books, which says "first catch your hare"), we 

 have to first obtain our specimen before we can 

 photograph him, this operation takes the photo- 

 grapherout into the natural haunts of thecreatures 

 themselves, when his knowledge of his subjects 

 must be brought into play in order to enable him 

 to make his captures, this method of work does not 

 deprive the photographer of that close acquaint- 

 ance with his subjects; nor dispense with that 

 knowledge of their habits and modes of life that 

 are as inseparable to him as to the worker who 

 preaches " stalking photography." 



Now it must be quite clear, when dealing with 

 such humble creatures, as rats and mice for 

 instance, it is quite impossible to expect to meet 

 with them out in the country and to photograph 

 them before they m^ke their escape, more especi- 

 ally as they are mostly nocturnal in their habits. 

 Some years ago, when at an exhibition of the 

 Royal Photographic Society, I saw a marvellous 

 series of photos of mice and voles, I wondered 

 how it was possible to photograph such creatures 

 until I read the explanation in the book. A box 

 of the size proportionate to the animal to be 

 photographed is taken and prepared by plastering 

 the sides and bottom to imitate the earth, a back- 

 ground of grasses and plants with stones and 

 such things as are necessary to give it a natural 

 appearance is prepared, the front and top covered 

 with plates of gUss. the animil to be photo- 

 graphed is then put inside a jd the fun commences. 

 Now this all seems delightfully easy, and one 

 would think it possible to get a good result every 

 time, but many a little difficulty appears before 

 we succeed. Our sitter may be a very restless 

 one — in which case it m*y be necessary 

 to insert another plate of glass between 

 back and front to restrict hisrange some- 

 what, as we know that in photograph- 

 ing at such short distances that the point of 

 focus— or depth of focus as it is called— extends 

 behind or in front of the exict spot but a very 

 little way, too much behind or in front of which 

 our subject is out of focus unless a small stop is 

 used in the lens, which is out of the question 

 where short exposures are a first necessity, when 

 dealing with restless creatures such as these, 

 which are not leally still for even the smallest 

 fraction of a second. 



Let us suppose we are now ready to try an 

 exposure. We select a part of the case which we 

 wish our sitter to occupy. We focus the spit, 

 stop the lens to say f 11 — it is rarely possible to 

 use a larger aperture because of the want of depth 

 of focus I just mentioned — and a smaller one 

 becomes out of the question for a short exposure, 

 as the length of bellows to which the camera has 

 to be reached out for these small objects at close 

 range allows so much less light to reach the plate 

 than if the camera were being used at its normal 

 length, as for instance in landscape work, set the 



shutter and insert the plate. Now comes the try- 

 ing part. We must wait until our sitter chooses 

 to come to rest on the spot we have selected, or 

 we must try and induce him to do so. It is quite 

 certain that he will come to the spot a dozen or 

 twenty time^ before he is in a nice position and a 

 suitable attitude, because it is worse than useless 

 to release the shutter if he is huddled up or with 

 bis back towards us, or without his feet showing, 

 or with his tail invisible, or with his eyes shut, or 

 in forty other ways, we do not want to show him. 

 We wait until we get a good pose showing all the 

 necessary parts of him, and if he has not rushed 

 away just at the critical moment, and if our 

 exposure has been about right, we may have 

 secured a picture. But I have found that two 

 good results out of a dozen plates is a very satis- 

 factory proportion. The two mice taken amongst 

 imitation out-door surroundings were field mice. 

 One is the ordinary house mouse, and of all the 

 lively sitters I have had this was probably one of 

 the very liveliest. Now anyone would naturally sup- 

 pose thata tame rabbit was one of the easiest things 

 in the world to photograph. I did, but I soon found 

 I had deceived myself. I spent a lot of time over 

 this animal, and this is the only presentable 

 picture out of eight plates. Even with l-30th 

 second exposure his head showed mo^rement in 

 almost all the others. That is why I use quarter 

 plates and advise cultivating an almost reckless 

 disregard of the number of plates used. It is best 

 to throw away plate after plate until we do get 

 a successful result, rather than pass a partial 

 failure, which we may be tempted, later on, to 

 print and exhibit against our better judgment. 



But, of course, all our sitters will not be quite 

 BO restless as the last one, although there are 

 many almost or quite as trying in other ways. 

 With the hedgehog we have almost or quite the 

 opposite nature. He is trying in his way, because 

 of his often too leisurely movements. Now, with 

 him it is worse than useless to try and induce him 

 to take up any other position than the one he 

 happens to occupy. We simply have to wait his 

 convenience entirely. Push him or poke him, and 

 he instantly rolls himself into a ball, and we have 

 the pleasure of waiting until he choosps to unroll 

 again. When I photographed him he took it into 

 his head to roll up and go to sleep for about an. 

 hour and a half in the middle of the sitting, and 

 I had to keep guard over him the whole of the 

 time, ready to make the exposure as soon as he 

 unrolled himself. 



Another branch of creatures that we can photo- 

 graph very successfully in the same manner at 

 home is that of the reptiles and amphibians. 

 Here we have four groups of three specimens 

 each. Of the snakes we have the grass snake 

 the viper or adder, and the much less com- 

 mon Coronella or smooth snake. Now, although 

 it is quite possible to come upon snakes asleep 

 in the sun and by very careful management 

 to get a photograph of them as they lie (I have 

 photographed one so ), it is not, as a rule, 

 that he is in the best position for a photograph, 

 as when, L-oiled up, the greater part of his body, 

 generally including his tali, is bidden, and so 

 we come back to our unnatural natural surround- 



