PHOTOGRAPHING WATER LIFE 



By THOMAS I. MILLER, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



The photographing of water life has always carried with it 

 difficulties which have heretofore deterred the amateur from at- 

 tempting this line of work. Many of the specimens need mag- 

 nification and the difficulty of doing this and photographing 

 them at the same time has resulted in leaving a fine field prac- 

 tically unworked. 

 There is no appar- 

 atus on the market 

 available for this 

 work, but the in- 

 ventive amateur 

 can construct his 

 own with very lit- 

 tle expense. The 

 advantage of pho- 

 tographing the 

 specimens in water 

 is readily seen 

 when we realize 

 the strained, con- 

 torted positions that water animals assume on being removed 

 from their natural element. The sea anemones shown in the 

 aquarium illustrate this, as well as the little crab which was also 

 photographed through water in a shallow dish. This was en- 

 larged as well. 



In the construction of the apparatus, both the photography 

 of large and small forms has been considered. The requirements 

 of the work are as follows : A compound microscope with a good 

 battery of objectives and eye-pieces; a suitable lamp for the il- 

 lumination of objects; a camera with a ground glass focussing 

 screen, a removable lens board and a bellows extension of about 

 ten inches ; and a photographic lens with focus of about four and 

 one-half inches. A camera for five-by-seven plates is most suita- 

 ble though one designed for four-by-five will give satisfactory 

 results. As both opaque and transparent objects must be photo- 

 graphed and these at times immersed in water, the following 

 apparatus covers both uses. With a few tools an efficient outfit 

 may be constructed as follows : 



For a baseboard take a piece of wood three feet three inches 



