1072 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



quisite little white violets ; the way to do is to take them 

 Up, roots and all, in the most careful manner, and trans- 

 port them to the house in some carrier in which they 

 will not be disturbed in the slightest degree. When 

 proper precautions are taken, this is by no means a diffi- 

 cult feat ; and when carefully planted over night in some 

 suitable receptacle, they will be in excellent condition for 

 photographing the following forenoon. Now comes the 

 task which calls for all your skill; but knowledge of 

 lighting, natural posing, the background, and the acces- 

 sories are all so well exemplified in Figure 3, that to 

 write the matter out in detail would only needlessly con- 

 sume valuable space. This result was also made the size 

 of nature on the plate ; and it is interesting to note how 



suitable specimen close to your home, however, and by 

 photographing it under the proper conditions of light 

 and background in your studio, such a result as is shown 

 in Figure 6 may be secured. This was made with an 

 instantaneous six and a half by eight and a half dry 

 plate, the subject being natural size. With a good hand- 

 lens the most minute structures of the buds and blossoms 

 can readily be made out in fact, they are quite visible 

 to the naked eye. 



There is another way, however, in which such a pic- 

 ture as this may be made by one skilled in such pro- 

 cedures. It requires a perfectly clear day, absolutely no 

 wind, and a cloudless sky. By getting up on some de- 

 sired elevation such as a hill or a house-top where 



HIGH-VINE BLACKBERRY IN FULL BUD AND FLOWER 



Fig. 6 Natural size; indoors. Room highly lit by sunlight as in Figure 7. Background, smooth pine board (buffy yellow). Great detail secured 

 throughout entire photograph. Graceful arrangement. In Figure 7 and in this one, the sun does not shine directly on the plants. 



distinctly one may discern the fine, white pubescence on 

 the leaf and. flower stems. The structure-detail of the 

 flowers is likewise most perfect, and bears examination, 

 in the photograph, with a powerful hand-lens. 



Quite frequently we will meet with some plant bearing 

 delicate flowers, from which the petals are easily shaken, 

 and of which we desire a natural size picture, showing all 

 the characters of the leaves, stems, and the structure of 

 the blossoms. Such a plant is seen in the "high-vine 

 blackberry ;" and to photograph it in situ without intro- 

 ducing an objectionable, distracting background all out of 

 focus, is practically out of the question. By obtaining a 



there are no objects between your lens and the sky, the 

 blackberry branch may be secured in some fashion so 

 that the sky forms the necessary background, and you 

 can focus on the desired portion of the specimen, natural 

 size. The subject should be properly shadowed by the 

 use of an open umbrella held above it. Considerable 

 skill and judgment is demanded on the part of the 

 operator in order to obtain perfect photographs in this 

 fashion ; still, it can be done, and the results, if perfect, 

 will repay one for all the trouble they occasioned. 



One of the most difficult plants to handle or to get 

 good, natural size photographs of is the well-known wild 



