120 NATURE AND THE CAMERA 



too near the plant. For outside work a background 

 may frequently be used with advantage. It should 

 be without wrinkles and of a soft gray colour for 

 most flowers ; by placing it in strong sunlight or tilt- 

 ing it so that it will be in shadow, or by putting it 

 at different distances from the flower, it will give 

 many gradations of tone, from dark to very light. 

 When photographing flowers on branches, be sure to 

 secure the branch ; otherwise the slight swaying 

 caused by the least motion of the air will bring it 

 nearer to or farther from the lens, with the result 

 that it will not be in focus. 



Pictures of trees are made more interesting if sep- 

 arate plates are made of the leaves, flowers, fruits 

 (which should be all the same scale), and bark, as 

 well as the entire tree. Nonhalation isochromatic 

 plates are most satisfactory for tree pictures ; they 

 insure the necessary sharpness of outline, free from 

 the disagreeable defect known as halation. 



The lighting for all flower- or tree-work is very 

 important. For trees the most satisfactory results 

 are to be obtained when the sun is low and the 

 shadows long. For flowers the lighting must be 

 such as will best show the form of the flower. The 

 entire shape of flowers may be wrongly depicted if 

 the lighting is wrong. White flowers should never 

 have strong light streaming directly into them ; not 

 only does it flatten them, but it makes them too white 



