CHAPTER VII 



LOW-POWER PHOTOMICROGRAPHY 



PHOTOMICROGRAPHY strictly refers to the photography 

 of objects so minute that a microscope is necessary to 

 amplify them sufficiently to get a useful picture, but the 

 boundary line between objects that do, and do not require 

 a microscope is rather indefinite, and depends to some 

 extent upon convenience, and upon the apparatus avail- 

 able. Magnifications ranging up to about 12 diameters 

 can be easily attained with photographic lenses of small 

 focal length, so this survey of the processes of photo- 

 micrography is opened with a description of some of 

 the methods employed when these lenses are used. It is 

 generally the simplest plan to attach the lens to the 

 camera and dispense with the microscope; the latter, 

 however, forms such a convenient object- and lens-holder 

 that it may be preferred to make use of it merely for that 

 reason. 



The very simple arrangement to be first described is 

 useful for reduction in size as well as magnification, the 

 only alteration being a reversal of the relative distances 

 between object and lens, and lens and plate. The appar- 

 atus is also suitable for making enlarged prints and 

 lantern slides from negatives. 



Opaque Objects. Natural history objects of various 

 kinds, small works of art, and so forth, may be photo- 

 graphed in the manner illustrated in plan by Fig. 40. A 

 piece of white paper or card is bent as shown and an 



127 



