NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY 



81 



in a serviceable blank book 

 of a kind best able to with- 

 stand the effects of climate 

 and traveling; they cannot 

 be too full, and must be 

 legible to a fault. Exact 

 dates, time of day, and 

 localities, are essential ; 

 form and color in life or 

 thereafter must invariably 

 be recorded. This not only 

 refers to flowers and other 

 parts of plants and trees, 

 but to the fleshy parts of 

 mammals, eyes, bills, feet, 

 hair, and similar struc- 

 tures. If weights can be 

 obtained, make records of 

 these likewise, while full 

 measurements (in the me- 

 tric system) must be taken down in all instances. 



In the case of animals of various kinds, brief notes 

 on habits are also important and add value to your photo- 

 graphs. All such data can be closed by a few paragraphs 

 of "Remarks," in which may be written out points not 

 covered by any of the 

 above requirements as the 

 number of negatives se- 

 cured, rarity or abundance 

 of the subject photo- 

 graphed, if specimens were 

 obtained, and so on. 



In matters of form and 

 color, many marvelous 

 shells are to be found in 

 various countries, espe- 

 cially in the East Indies, 

 and in the tropics of other 

 parts of the world. Unless 

 the traveler is devoting 

 himself to the collecting of 

 these, their weight becomes 

 a very serious thing to be 

 considered, and it does not 

 take long to fill many trunks 

 with them. Hence it will 

 be appreciated that good 

 photographs of rare or un- 

 described shells become 

 both valuable and interest- 

 ing material for the ex- 

 plorer to obtain. These 

 can be photographed either 

 indoor- or out. Any white 

 material will make a back- 

 ground for them, and they 

 may be taken natural size. 

 I f photographed out-of- 

 doors, it is well to use 



ONE OF OUR BIGGEST GRASSHOPPERS 



Figure 7. Pictures like this one can only be secured by using a white 

 background and selecting a perfectly sound and healthy insect. 



LEAVES OF THE WILD GRAPE-VINE 



Figure 8. A fine "six-spot beetle" is resting on the upper leaf of this 

 grape-vine found in the Eastern United States. It is an insect very 

 partial to this vine. It is also called the Spotted Pelidnota (Pelidnota 

 punctata). 



some white surface, such as 

 a big sheet of white paper, 

 to throw light upon them 

 from the opposite side of 

 its source; while an um- 

 brella, or any other conven- 

 ient thing of the kind, 

 should be held over them at 

 the time the exposure is 

 made, to do away with the 

 high-lights on their glossy 

 surfaces. As in the case 

 of photographing anything, 

 living or dead, in taking 

 shells much depends upon 

 the point of view from 

 which the specimens are 

 taken. First we aim to 

 show the chief characters of 

 the shell, and next to secure 

 an artistic and pleasing result. The two shells here 

 shown in Figure I will illustrate these two points ; they 

 were photographed natural size; lighted as suggested 

 above, and their essential characters made distinctly evi- 

 dent. Had an expert conchologist never seen either of 



these shells, upon seeing 

 this photograph of them, he 

 could instantly tell what the 

 parts not in view were like. 

 This is a great secret, and 

 it requires not a little ex- 

 perience to carry out suc- 

 cessfully in any particular 

 instance. The record for 

 these two shells might be 

 completed by a photograph 

 of the place where they 

 were collected. 



Many of the principles 

 applying to the photogra- 

 phy of shells hold true in 

 the case of flowers. With 

 them, however, it is far 

 more important to secure 

 the specimens in situ in na- 

 ture, and this will frequent- 

 ly require all the experience 

 and skill the traveler com- 

 mands. A fairly good re- 

 sult is shown in Figure 2, 

 it being the photograph of 

 a Jack-in-the-Pulpit, taken 

 in a swamp, on a gray day, 

 with but little light to help 

 out. Considering the con- 

 ditions under which it was 

 obtained, it is a good pic- 

 ture. Were it a rare 

 orchid, photographed in ari 



