652 



PHOTOGRAPHY, AMATEUR. 



tive and receives the image, although no image 

 is visible. When taken trom the camera, it is 

 held for a few moments to the light, and is then 

 placed in a bath, or is sponged off with a solu- 

 tion of red prussiate of potash, which imme- 

 diately brings the image in pleasant blue tints 

 before the eye. The simplicity and cheapness 

 of this process commend it to the amateur. It 

 is to be remarked that the two solutions can 

 be kept for a long period, and are not injured 

 by exposure to light. For immediate use, an- 

 other method commends itself. To half an 

 ounce of red prussiate of potash add three ounces 

 of water. In another solution add two ounces 

 of water to half an ounce of citrate of iron and 

 ammonia. Mix together, and carefully filter, 

 or allow the bottle to stand for a few moments 

 carefully excluded from the light. With a 

 soft brush, cover the paper to be used with 

 the mixture. After the photograph is taken, 

 throw the paper into a bath of clear water, and 

 expose to the light. The image seen in faint 

 purplish tones now appears in blue tints. If 

 card-board is used instead of paper, the photo- 

 graph is already mounted. This mixture loses 

 its sensitiveness in a few weeks. 



For the amateur's use, complete photographic 

 outfits have" been devised; and for out-door 

 work cameras are reduced to pocket-dimen- 

 sions. In summer, the amateur stows away 

 his equipment; and if he sees any object or 

 view that attracts his fancy, in a few seconds 

 he transfers it to his plate, puts his plate away, 

 folds up his camera, and his work is over until 

 he is ready to take it up again. 



The success of the amateur as a photog- 

 rapher is a more personal matter, and inde- 

 pendent of the mechanical methods employed. 

 The first radical distinction between the ama- 

 teur and the professional photographer is, 

 that the amateur expends his efforts in get- 

 ting a good negative. This is never retouched. 

 The success of the professional photographer, 

 on the other hand, lies in great measure on his 

 working up his negative. The choice of sub- 

 ject, arrangement, composition, one may call 

 it, of the amateur, is effective or not as he 

 brings to bear upon it those artistic princi- 

 ples which would govern him in the arrange- 

 ment of a picture, both as to composition and 

 ckiar-oscuro. The differences to be observed 

 in the work of amateurs are directly refera- 

 ble to their differences in artistic feeling. In 

 this respect, the photographs made by artists 

 have a particular value. By virtue of their 

 training, they select the most picturesque ma- 

 terials and view of the subject. This corre- 

 sponds to composition. The focus and length 

 of exposure are also adjusted with a view to 

 the artistic effect. The professional photogra- 

 pher, in taking either a person or other sub- 

 ject, adjusts his focus to bring out the lines and 

 details most sharply. The artistic amateur, on 

 the other hand, prefers soft lines, the blend- 

 ing of masses, as it were, not the prominence 

 of details. Accordingly, he adjusts the cam- 



era a little out of focus and approximates the 

 results for which he would strive with a brush. 

 One of the most successful of amateur photog- 

 raphers, a lady, by training an artist, observes 

 not only this rule in her work, but places her 

 subjects in shadow and takes her pictures, not 

 in the full light that the professional photog- 

 rapher seeks, but in a modified light. Her 

 pictures are remarkable not only for their 

 picturesqueuess but for that sense of mystery 

 which is one of the fascinating qualities in art, 

 and which is also not incompatible with the 

 truths of photography. In this sense, photog- 

 raphy appeals to the artist. The use of the 

 camera for furnishing memoranda for the art- 

 ist is invaluable, and has become extensive. 

 The conformation of a tree, a bit of suggestive 

 landscape, the details of architecture, a rap- 

 idly changing sky, or the pose of a figure, the 

 camera will more quickly and accurately pre- 

 serve than any sketch. An English artist in 

 summer takes his models into the country and 

 poses them in the landscape as suggestions for 

 studio-pictures. Photography appeals to an 

 ever -widening class of people. The traveler 

 takes with him his pocket-camera, and pre- 

 serves any souvenir of travel that he may de- 

 sire. Instantaneous photographs may even be 

 caught from express-trains. Through photog- 

 raphy, men of various professions can look 

 after their interests at home or at remote dis- 

 tances. A gentleman of New York city, who 

 has an orange-grove in Florida, keeps note of 

 all that is going on by means of a series of 

 small glass slides. Each improvement the sun 

 sketches for him, and through a microscope he 

 is even able to trace the growth, the budding, 

 and grafting of any special tree. As photog- 

 raphy has been freed from its drudgery, many 

 women take it up for their own amusement. 

 Several women of leisure in New York are ac- 

 complished photographers. Organizations are 

 springing up in different parts of the country. 

 The Society of Amateur Photographers, of New 

 York city, of which Frederick C. Beach is 

 president, has eighty-five members, and holds 

 its meetings on the evening of the second Tues- 

 day of each month. The purposes of the soci- 

 ety can be best set forth by giving the routine 

 of an evening's proceedings. The letters read 

 show the larger relations of the meeting. One 

 from England proposes an international ex- 

 change of lantern-slides, that the scenery of 

 each country may thus be made familiar to the 

 other. Other letters touch upon the exchange 

 of lantern-slides between the various local so- 

 cieties, that each may keep abreast of the gen- 

 eral progress of amateur photography. The 

 different committees report on the tests and 

 experiments that the society is carrying on. 

 One considers the relative durability of the 

 gelatinized plates prepared by manufacturers. 

 Another reports the tests made touching on the 

 best light for developing negatives, pending 

 the electric lamp which Mr. Edison is experi- 

 menting on in the society's interest. Follow- 





