( -' ) 



a plate ; yet it is only on acquiring such knowledge that the photographer 

 is able to excel, or that really artistic pictures can be produced. 



To some these matters present little difficulty, they grasp or overcome 

 them without apparent effort, in some instances are hardly conscious of 

 having exercised any discrimination in their choice, and, if questioned on 

 the composition of their pictures, could only tell you " they liked 

 them that way best." Others are not so happy; they never get successful 

 pictures — their horizon is too high or else it is too low, sometimes too 

 dense, at others hard to find ; the front elevation of a house appears to 

 afford them interest ; whilst a large tree in the centre, with a smaller one 

 equidistant on either side, seems to them quite an ideal picture, the 

 embodiment of perfection in composition — having a due regard to the 

 equal balance of parts. Sometimes they essay figures or portraits (?) of their 

 friends, and, remembering the triangular form has been, by some, greatly 

 extolled, they straightway place their central figure in a standing position, 

 carefully arranging the residue of their victims in sloping order, on either 

 side, with a result too dreadful to dwell upon. 



One could multiply these instances, but enough has been said to show 

 how necessary it is to have either some knowledge of pictorial effect, or, 

 failing this, the desirability of becoming acquainted with a few of the 

 rules of art. 



Composition is the art of properly disposing or arranging in the most 

 effective manner the various forms and objects which constitute a picture, 

 or, in other words, the judicious selection and combination of various 

 parts which, when united, form one perfect whole. Sir Joshua Eeynolds, 

 when speaking of painting,' says : " Composition, taken generally, is the 

 principal part of invention, and is by far the greatest difficulty the artist 

 has to encounter. Every man that can paint at all can execute individual 

 parts; but to keep those parts in a due subordination, as relative to a 

 wliole, requires a comprehensive view of the art, that more strongly 

 implies genius than perhaps any other quality whatever." Let us now 

 see of what this quality consists ; and, in the first place, consider the 

 arrangement of lines. 



Lines. 



The term "line" is not altogether satisfactory, as there are no actual 

 lines in nature, but it must in this instance be understood to refer to the 

 apparent boundary of different objects, the limit at which they seem to 

 merge the one into the other. The most important line, or that which 

 has the greatest influence on all the others in a picture, is known as the 

 horizon, or " horizontal line," which should always indicate the height of 

 the eye of the spectator. This line varies in height with the position 

 chosen, so that, when standing on a common or the seashore, the horizon 

 appears low, but in ascending a cliff or hill it is found to rise in proportion 

 to the height attained ; hence, in the former case of the seashore, the 

 horizon would be situated about a third or a fourth of the height of the 

 picture above the base line, whilst in the latter instance it would be much 

 nearer the top. It should not on any account be allowed to divide a 

 picture exactly in the middle, as in this case all lines receding from the 



