142 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



illustration No. 7 at the end of the ABC. The 

 shadow of the photographer on the gound tells 

 us the sun was assuredly behind him, and this 

 fact accounts for the flatness of the picture. I 

 wish I could point to a hrst-class example of light- 

 ing, but can not find such in the book — at least 

 not of an apiary. Let me state the principle first, 

 and then we can look for examples. It takes 

 both light and shade to indicate solidity on a flat 

 surface like a sheet of paper. Broadly speaking, 

 one of the sides of a solid object ought to be in 

 sunlight and the other in shadow if we want to 

 get the best effect of solidity. Once more, look 

 under the heading of Hives, in the A B C, on p. 

 245, and note how the artist has made one of the 

 sides darker than the other; and it is also worth 

 while to observe that he prefers the front to be 

 lighter than the side. This is the whole problem 

 in a nutshell. When you want to photograph a 

 hive or an apiary, something you can not move 

 about to get the lighting you want, you must 

 wait until the sun comes round to a favorable 

 angle, and then make the exposure. Any old 

 time will not do if you want a first-class picture; 

 and I can say further you will have only about 

 half an hour's leeway if you want the best pos- 

 sible. Now turn to pages 238 and 239, and you 

 will see a bunch of photographs by a man who 

 knew what he was about, for in every one he has 

 the unimportant side of the hive in shadow. Then 

 turn to the end of the volume, just to see how 

 many good intentions were ruined by an ignorance 

 of this one principle. 



Lighting. I am afraid, never entered into Dr. 

 Miller's calculations; but several times he blun- 

 ders on to rather good effects. For instance, on 

 page 71 of his book the light and shade on the 

 band is very fine. Again, on page 91 the basket 

 is beautifully rendered, simply because the end 

 is in shadow. Note how effective is the illustra- 

 tion of the row of hives on page 107 due once 

 again to the strong sunlight falling on the fronts 

 of the hives, while the sides are in shade. But 

 our learned friend shows some awful examples be- 

 cause he did not know. Thus on page 123 we 

 see the shadow of his shoulders squared away as 

 he points the camera at the hive-stand on the 

 ground. Two pages further on the lens is point- 

 ing almost into the sun, and so all detail is lost 

 in the feeder. Yet on page 129 the feeder is plac- 

 ed right and lit right. 



The proper lighting of a small appliance is very 

 important, as the details must be brought out so 

 that one can see them. I like the doctor's book 

 just because he goes so thoroughly into the details 

 of his practice, and in many ways I am endeavor- 

 ing to follow him. He is the only writer who 

 goes minutely into hive-construction, so far as I 

 know, and I want to say that this past season I 

 would have been in a pretty fix if I had not had 

 his "Forty Years Among the Bees," as I am so 

 far from supplies, and was compelled to make my 

 own hives. It can, therefore, be readily under- 

 stood how much I had to rely upon books 



As a good example of detail lighting turn to 

 page 39 of this book and note how the shadows 

 pick out the details of the bottom-board. Then 

 turn to pages 117 and 119 and realize how much 

 F puzzled over the hive-covers. I notice our ed- 

 itor wisely depends upon drawings for such small 

 detail work; but if the original photographs were 



carefully taken there would be no necessity for 

 their being redrawn. 



When a small object is to be photographed it 

 should be set at a convenient height so that the 

 camera will not need to be tilted downward to 

 include all of it. Then it should be adjusted in 

 its relationship to the sun's rays until the upward- 

 projecting pieces are in shadow; but this shadow 

 must be confined to themselves — that is, the shad- 

 ow must not spread on the parts that are flat, 

 because with such a condition there would be no 

 definite line of demarcation between the upright 

 and horizontal parts. Once the lighting is right, 

 choose a point of view that will show the dimen- 

 sions of height, length, and width. If preferred, 

 the photograph may be taken indoors near a win- 

 dow; in fact, I should prefer such a place, as the 

 lighting would then be under control, and on a 

 dull day one could secure the contrasts of light 

 and shade that are not possible out of doors. 



Gentle reader, did you ever see a photograph 

 of a house that suggested that it had been on an 

 awful spree and could not possibly stand up 

 straight.' If you look through the volumes I 

 have been discussing you will find quite a few 

 awful examples. The fault lies with the pho- 

 tographer. No, he was not drunk, but his camera 

 was out of plumb, that was all. With every ex- 

 posure the plate ought to be absolutely perpen- 

 dicular, and its bottom edge perfectly hoiizon- 

 tal; but the ordinary person can not see any thing 

 wrong with the average landscape, even when 

 this rule has been neglected. I can, and it jars 

 on me just as much as my singing would on the 

 nerves of Dr. Miller if I were audacious enough 

 to tune my vocal cotds in hie hearing, which I 

 am not. But the defect is very readily noticeable 

 in the case of a building. Many hand cameras 

 these days have a level on them, and when mak- 

 ing an exposure on a building, a hive, or some 

 detail work, one ought to pay as much attention 

 to this level as to the fnder. When no level is 

 with the camera, then use a pocket level on top 

 of the instrument, leveling it both ways. 



Do not underexpose. Take care to give enough 

 time; and if you have any doubts, just double 

 what you thought would be right; and if you 

 still feel doubtful just double again. Very few 

 photographs are flat from overexposure. The 

 truth is, they are so from flat lighting, as I think 

 you have now learned from the examples that 

 have been under consideration. 



The printing process is worthy of a great deal 

 of study. Most amateurs are delighted with the 

 gaslight papers, such as Velox. They are assur- 

 edly a great convenience; but, like most things 

 in life, they have their drawbacks. In the first 

 place, they are short-scale papers. Let me ex- 

 plain what that means. From intense s.unlight 

 to deep shadow there is a decided range, as every- 

 body knows We can on paper show this grada- 

 tion and adjust a scale to mea5ure it by. For 

 convenience in one popular system, the range of 

 gradation from fleecy clouds to black velvet has 

 been divided into 32 degrees. Now, if we take 

 a npeative graduated according to this scale we' 

 shall find that mon brands of gaslight papers can 

 not render more than half the tints on the scale; 

 and, of cou'se, if they can not do that they can 

 not print all the delicate gradations in a fine neg- 

 ative. When the blacks are nicely rendered you 



